Wildfires and your air filters

I am sorry I didn't take a photo of it, I drove 2 days in the Los Angeles area. I drove up to LAX twice from San Diego County (January 8th and 9th).

My odometer just hit 15K, I had my tires rotated and I was doing my own oil change. I checked both air filters and both had signs of ash.. My cabin filter wasn't horrible because I was able to vacuum it, but my engine air filter, with its fibrous pre-filter was just loaded, jam-packed with ash.

I was able to get the made in Japan filter through parts.toyota.com

I remember seeing that some people couldn't get the filter with the pre-filter mesh on it, it is available, no extra cost, through the parts website, I paid $19 and change through Capistrano Valley Toyota. It is part number

$29 17801-38051 Genuine Toyota - FJ CRUISER AIR FILTER NEW - 17801-38051

17801-38051. Again, made in Japan! All those 1GR-FE drivers should celebrate, right?

In the meantime, I had removed the mesh top to get a couple of days of driving out of it.
I removed the top of the air box to vacuum and wipe out any remaining ash that I could get.

My entire engine compartment is dirty. On super ice cap white, it was really easy to see how bad it was when I took a Starbucks break driving home. I came back to a car just covered with ash.

As a side note, I also took the opportunity to do some mass air flow sensor cleaning. Too bad the CRC can is leaking profusely. I'm not going to get too many cleanings out of this can

 

Yup the 38051 you can usually get if you order online rather going up to the parts counter and asking for an air filter they most likely give you the YZZ13.

I used to get the Denso 143-3025 (OEM of the toyota filter) when it was cheaper, but now its cheaper to buy toyota filters at $19 + 20% off parts they have every few months.