I've seen and read a lot of articles about the "fuel tank air filter" so I finally replaced the one in my '07 Kia Optima. I bought the filter long time ago when first got the car because I took the recommendations of the Service Schedule seriously. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!!!!!
My first attempt to change the filter in my driveway failed miserably because I could not get any 10MM wrench to fit up into the extremely tight space at the top/back of the filter to unfasten a little nut back there! I asked a Kia tech about this and he smiled and said he has a "special" 10MM wrench for that BUT he does not replace that "burried" nut when reinstalling a filter.
So I tackled the fuel tank air filter one more time. This time, after I tried all my 10MM wrenches up there, I decided to CUT the damned filter off! Way harder than I realized but I finally got the filter loose enought to get a small wrench up there and - WALLA - that little nut came loose! I installed the new filter with just ONE nut and left it standing up in there tightly stuck in place. I even left the two unused nuts attached to the filler tube with some wire for some more adventurous guy to use if he ever wants to. As for me, I will never change that filter again because, unless some extreme disaster occurs, there is absolutely no reason or need to ever change that thing and I wish I had not bothered to do it at all!
I'm saying this because I blew and sucked on the old filter to see just how filled up and blocked it had become over the years and found absolutely NO air resistance whatsoever in the old air filter! It was as free & clear as the day it was first installed back in 2007 and probably would never have needed replacing even though Kia recommends a "frequent" change (helping their dealers rake in more $$$ for utterly uneeded work & parts!)
Now I feel like the victim of a (bad) practicle joke. That filter did NOT need and would NEVER have needed replacing (unless I drive the car around in a swamp or mud hole). But I know from experiece that the dealer's main objective is to sell (ignorant) customers as much service and repair work as possible ($$$) so long as the customer is completely ignorant about the SCAMS the dealers play on them. And this fuel tank air filter thing is a TOTAL SCAM...........so don't bother with it and don't let a SCAMY dealer sell you the service!!!!!! Your car doesn't need it!!!
Every time I go to the Kia dealer, they try to sell me all kinds of "NECESSARY" work: flush and replace the brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, serpentine belt, on and on and on!!!!!!! And they don't even flinch when quoting their INSANE prices for these "necessary" services!
They wanted $104 for checking out my car and then to tell me it needs MOTOR MOUNTS! The manager didn't even bother to tell me up front that it would cost $104 just to examine my car!! I objected so he dropped the charge! The motor mount job would have been near $400! I said I'll do it myself!
It always thrills me to work on my own car rather than give some SCAMMY shop tons of money for a job that they might not even do as well as I can at home.
My first attempt to change the filter in my driveway failed miserably because I could not get any 10MM wrench to fit up into the extremely tight space at the top/back of the filter to unfasten a little nut back there! I asked a Kia tech about this and he smiled and said he has a "special" 10MM wrench for that BUT he does not replace that "burried" nut when reinstalling a filter.
So I tackled the fuel tank air filter one more time. This time, after I tried all my 10MM wrenches up there, I decided to CUT the damned filter off! Way harder than I realized but I finally got the filter loose enought to get a small wrench up there and - WALLA - that little nut came loose! I installed the new filter with just ONE nut and left it standing up in there tightly stuck in place. I even left the two unused nuts attached to the filler tube with some wire for some more adventurous guy to use if he ever wants to. As for me, I will never change that filter again because, unless some extreme disaster occurs, there is absolutely no reason or need to ever change that thing and I wish I had not bothered to do it at all!
I'm saying this because I blew and sucked on the old filter to see just how filled up and blocked it had become over the years and found absolutely NO air resistance whatsoever in the old air filter! It was as free & clear as the day it was first installed back in 2007 and probably would never have needed replacing even though Kia recommends a "frequent" change (helping their dealers rake in more $$$ for utterly uneeded work & parts!)
Now I feel like the victim of a (bad) practicle joke. That filter did NOT need and would NEVER have needed replacing (unless I drive the car around in a swamp or mud hole). But I know from experiece that the dealer's main objective is to sell (ignorant) customers as much service and repair work as possible ($$$) so long as the customer is completely ignorant about the SCAMS the dealers play on them. And this fuel tank air filter thing is a TOTAL SCAM...........so don't bother with it and don't let a SCAMY dealer sell you the service!!!!!! Your car doesn't need it!!!
Every time I go to the Kia dealer, they try to sell me all kinds of "NECESSARY" work: flush and replace the brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, serpentine belt, on and on and on!!!!!!! And they don't even flinch when quoting their INSANE prices for these "necessary" services!
They wanted $104 for checking out my car and then to tell me it needs MOTOR MOUNTS! The manager didn't even bother to tell me up front that it would cost $104 just to examine my car!! I objected so he dropped the charge! The motor mount job would have been near $400! I said I'll do it myself!
It always thrills me to work on my own car rather than give some SCAMMY shop tons of money for a job that they might not even do as well as I can at home.
