What is this?

[Mountain Gnome]

What is this thing in the pictures, attached to the top of the cold-air intake from the filter housing to the turbo?


It has not wires, nothing attached to it. Inside the intake tube is...nothing...there is just a hole there on the inside.


I can't begin to imagine what it does. It does have some drawings on it, but they make no sense to me (some are worn off). One does look like a drawing of a "filter" but this thing is not filtering anything.


Just curious

[Lubbock Jason]

Holy cow!!!! I’ve never seen one of those in person!!!!!!!!!

It is a bonafied flux capacitor. That should be worth some crazy money. GREAT FIND!!! Lol

[Mountain Gnome]

Originally Posted by Lubbock Jason

Holy cow!!!! I’ve never seen one of those in person!!!!!!!!!

It is a bonafied flux capacitor. That should be worth some crazy money. GREAT FIND!!! Lol

Didn't they use them on the Enterprise for warp speed?

[Lubbock Jason]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

Didn't they use them on the Enterprise for warp speed?

Unfortunately not. They were the backup power source.

[bus-bro]

Looks like an air pressure (or rather vacuum) switch to let you know if you have a dirty air filter. It would appear from your description that its guts have been removed.

[Mountain Gnome]

Originally Posted by bus-bro

Looks like an air pressure (or rather vacuum) switch to let you know if you have a dirty air filter. It would appear from your description that its guts have been removed.

But there is no place to connect a wire or vacuum tube.


But that answer would make sense. Maybe it is a "dummy" that is not an option in my bus?

[bus-bro]

I have seen dirty filter indicators that just pop up a red button, no electrical attached.

[bp1791-unleashed]

That looks like it should be functional. It's non-electrical. Basically it's a diaphragm that is spring loaded, this one indicates it is set to 25 inches of water, or 62.3 millibars.

The way it works is that if your filter is clogged up, air doesn't flow freely, creating a vacuum in your air intake. When that vacuum reaches 62.3 millibars, that diaphragm opens, and lets in some small amount of air, and more importantly, lets you see through the little window that it is happening. Usually a little red tab will pop up, or the part not visible behing the black plastic is red, and shows up through the clear part. You can throttle up your engine while watching it to get an idea of how much your filter is resisting air flow. No red means good.

A quick, simple way to test the air filter, designed for operators that don't need to be mechanics and don't want to open that huge filter can to check the filter as part of a checklist each morning.

[Mountain Gnome]

Originally Posted by bus-bro

I have seen dirty filter indicators that just pop up a red button, no electrical attached.

OK. Cool. Thanks!


I know I changed my filter when I bought it, and noticed an immediate difference in idle and power. The old was dusty dusty. I didn't notice the indicator thing, though.

[Mountain Gnome]

Originally Posted by bp1791-unleashed

That looks like it should be functional. It's non-electrical. Basically it's a diaphragm that is spring loaded, this one indicates it is set to 25 inches of water, or 62.3 millibars.

The way it works is that if your filter is clogged up, air doesn't flow freely, creating a vacuum in your air intake. When that vacuum reaches 62.3 millibars, that diaphragm opens, and lets in some small amount of air, and more importantly, lets you see through the little window that it is happening. Usually a little red tab will pop up, or the part not visible behing the black plastic is red, and shows up through the clear part. You can throttle up your engine while watching it to get an idea of how much your filter is resisting air flow. No red means good.

A quick, simple way to test the air filter, designed for operators that don't need to be mechanics and don't want to open that huge filter can to check the filter as part of a checklist each morning.

There is no little window, but there is a round button-thing on the "top" that looks like something in it could pop up.


Thanks!

[bp1791-unleashed]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

There is no little window, but there is a round button-thing on the "top" that looks like something in it could pop up.


Thanks!

that clear part above the printing RBX00-2252 is the window.

Try pushing down on that button, see if it shows some red through the clear part. My last bus had one of these indicators, but that was 10 years ago, so my memory of it isn't so clear. The picture on the "upper" black ring shows a finger pushing the button. I think that's how you test the indicator.

It's a purely mechanical device, and quite clever in design.

The one on my bus was larger, and had a green zone, a yellow zone, and a red zone. I wish I still had pictures from those days.

In any case, it's something you can generally forget about 99% of the time.

Have fun,
jim

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

But there is no place to connect a wire or vacuum tube.


But that answer would make sense. Maybe it is a "dummy" that is not an option in my bus?

Its just a lil universal "air filter meter". They don't connect to anything except the intake or airbox.

[Mountain Gnome]

Oh now I see...


I had to go back and look again. My lighting at first made it look like solid black plastic. Now with a flashlight I can see the clear part all the way around. I can see the spring inside, and the red part hiding up in the "top".


Cool! Thanks again!

[bp1791-unleashed]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

Oh now I see...


I had to go back and look again. My lighting at first made it look like solid black plastic. Now with a flashlight I can see the clear part all the way around. I can see the spring inside, and the red part hiding up in the "top".


Cool! Thanks again!

Lol, yeah, sometimes it's easy to miss the obvious (like me not reading the directions correctly on how to open my escape hatches earlier today). All I could go by was your photos, and they were clear enough.

I'm glad you got it figured out, and I enjoyed the humorous answers (flux capacitor).

jim

[demoman]

I have seen those on the dashboard of semi tractors before. They had a tube going to the air intake and allowed you to see if the air filter needs to be changed without opening the hood. Easy to reset by pushing a button after replacing the air filter.