Just like your body needs clean air to function properly, your vehicle’s engine needs clean air to operate efficiently. Let’s do some chemistry for a minute. For every gallon of gas we burn driving on Reno streets, 20 pounds of carbon dioxide comes out the tailpipe. Question: how can a gallon of gas that weighs a little over six pounds produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide?

The answer is the carbon comes from the gasoline, but the oxygen comes from the air. You see, it takes about 12,000 gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your engine. Clearly, your vehicle needs a lot of air to keep going in Reno. Clean air is best, the more the better.

You’ve seen the pictures of people in Japan wearing face masks. They use the masks as filters to keep unwanted pollution and germs out of their lungs. Well, your vehicle also works better when its internals are clean. When your vehicle air filter becomes dirty, it simply can’t trap any more dirt, letting pollutants just pass through into your air intake system. From there it can clog your fuel injectors and even get into the motor itself. Not surprisingly, burning dust and pollen in your vehicle engine does you no good.

Replacing a dirty air filter at Wayne’s Automotive Center in Sparks can improve your fuel economy by up to 10 percent. At today’s Reno fuel prices, you should be able to pay for a new air filter before your next oil change.

The verdict: When your vehicle engine air filter needs to be replaced; it needs to be replaced. How often depends entirely on the level of air pollution where you drive in Nevada. A simple visual inspection at Wayne’s Automotive Center in Sparks will tell you when you need a new engine air filter.