[megatron]

Engine air filter. No chunks of any kind and yes as clean and white as when it went in.

I don't think it's physically possible for the air filter to be THAT CLEAN after 30,000 miles unless you drive only in Class 100 clean rooms!!! Have you had any maintenance done recently where they may have changed it for you and you didn't know it???

 

[megatron]

No maintenance done. The air in south Florida is pretty clean no manufacturing and very close to the ocean so there's always a breeze - that may have something to do w/it.

I still don't think an engine air filter can be clean as new after 30,000 miles even in South Florida. I live in Seattle and we are by the ocean as well, and we get enough rain that our air is amongst the cleanest in the country (that's our reward for tolerating rain 10 months out of the year). Yet, STILL, after 30,000 miles, I can easily see dirt on the air filter.

I still think something is wrong with this scenario... either the air is not going through that filter, or someone changed it without you knowing, or there is a serious gap or hole somewhere in your air intake.

But to answer your original question, of course if it is clean as new, there is no point in changing it. But I would seriously look over the entire intake system to see if air is really going through that filter. I don't buy that it is if no one changed it recently...

 

[megatron]

I bought the vehicle w/25k on it. There was no record of it having been changed but I suppose it could have been.

Ah HA! That's the little missing detail that we needed to know! Air filters are usually changed between 20-30K miles, so it's likely the place you bought it from have the vehicle completely serviced before putting it up for sale, thus you have a new air filter (amongst other things). I CAN BELIEVE an air filter can look clean as new with only 5K miles on it.

So there you go.. that has to be the answer... so if your filter looks new, don't worry about it and go with it till the next air filter maintenance minder notification.