Profile
Jamie Benaud is a 4WD expert who discusses all things 200 Series Toyota Landcruiser with his online audience. He has driven throughout Australia and is well-versed in tough Australian conditions when it comes to 4WD vehicle management and maintenance.
Jamie explained that a common issue for Landcruiser 200 Series owners is dust reportedly getting through (or past) the air filter due to the original underperforming vehicle airbox. This case study discusses previous issues encountered by Landcruiser 200 Series owners and how the Donaldson PowerCore® 4X4 air filter housing + filter kit helps provide the solution.
Situation
Australian conditions are unforgiving and 4WD vehicles are subject to extremely dusty and harsh environments. Dust getting past the air filter can potentially cause damage to critical components through a process known as a ‘dusted engine’ – i.e., dust getting on the ‘clean side’ of the engine. A dusted engine can lead to major issues with the vehicle’s operation, such as potentially causing turbocharger and/or engine failure.
This issue was backed up by the shared experience of Australia’s 4WD community and expert commentary on the topic. This included Jamie’s own testing* of various filters where he found some level of dust passing through each of the filters tested, and that each had a significant airflow restriction increase.
Jamie’s testing was reinforced by Donaldson’s independent Air Lab Test. The Donaldson test included dust-fed and element weight averages as per ISO5011**. The results showed the OE filter average efficiency was 99.87%.
So, what was needed to solve this issue? Jamie explained that to achieve the best result, he believed that an airbox that can use an industrial-quality filter element with an efficiency of at least 99.9% would be required.
Solution
Donaldson’s PowerCore® 4x4 air cleaner housing and filter kit were specifically designed for the Toyota Landcruiser 200 Series diesel engines and combine the latest in air filtration technology. Released in 2022, this product features genuine PowerCore construction using Donaldson’s Ultra-Web® media that works to deliver a good, clean supply of air to the vehicle’s engine.
Donaldson’s robust Air Lab Testing determined that utilizing PowerCore with Ultra-Web media results in 3x more effective filtration area than the OEM Panel Filter for the Landcruiser 200 Series. It also delivered 30% lower initial restriction at the same airflows when compared to the OEM Panel Filter. Most importantly, when using the ISO5011 test standard, Donaldson’s PowerCore 4x4 filter delivered 99.99% efficiency, compared to the 99.87% efficiency of the OEM panel filters.
Outcome
Jamie received an early production model of the PowerCore 4x4 Air Cleaner Housing and Filter Kit to fit and test on his LC200. He ran this for over a month, driving more than 3,000kms in a variety of environments.
Through his experience*, he found no measurable amount of dust passed through, meanwhile, there was only a small amount of extra airflow restriction, despite holding back so much dust.
“I really can’t think of any alternative that comes remotely close to the performance of this airbox and filter,” he said. “If you own a 200 and drive in dusty conditions, the PowerCore airbox should be at the absolute top of your modifications list.”
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