Our '08 Impala has nearly 85,000 miles and I decided to change the air filter today. This took a good chunk of the afternoon but I finally got it done. In Round 1, I tried using a Fram Extra-Guard filter and couldn't get the housing cover back on without a wedge-shaped section of orange filter-edge showing at the bottom. I fiddled every which way and the tabs on the bottom of the housing wouldn't fit into the hole sat the bottom. I was getting frustrated so I tried assembling the air box without an air filter and it went together tightly and evenly. "It must be the Fram filter!" said I. That big old rubbery orange border must be too thick.
Round 2 saw me heading for Pep Boys before they closed. I bought a Purolator filter that seemed to have a marginally thinner border. I still had the dreaded gap along the sides of the housing, only this time the black rubber of the Purolator was exposed.
Finally, I removed the rubber air intake accordion completely and this allowed me to get the air cleaner housing to go together properly. Voila, no more gap. This is something the Youtube videos I watched did not mention.
The moral of the story is that it really is possible to replace an air filter without ending up with the gap in the bottom of the housing. I hope this helps anyone with a similar situation. Sorry about the rant.
Harold
Round 2 saw me heading for Pep Boys before they closed. I bought a Purolator filter that seemed to have a marginally thinner border. I still had the dreaded gap along the sides of the housing, only this time the black rubber of the Purolator was exposed.
Finally, I removed the rubber air intake accordion completely and this allowed me to get the air cleaner housing to go together properly. Voila, no more gap. This is something the Youtube videos I watched did not mention.
The moral of the story is that it really is possible to replace an air filter without ending up with the gap in the bottom of the housing. I hope this helps anyone with a similar situation. Sorry about the rant.
Harold