Air filter Perkins t6.354

A little concerned about the "air filter" on my Perkins t6.354 engine. The filter is actually just a mesh screen that keeps the "nuts and bolts" out as quoted by the engine surveyor at time of purchase. He suggested looking into Walker air-sep air filters. I am forever cleaning the ER and am meticulous about regular ER checks etc. I know the marine environment is relatively clean and free of many airborne contaminants but am still a bit paranoid. My faithful companion of almost 14 years (yellow lab) sheds constantly and I swifter and sweep to try and keep up. Any thoughts and/or suggestions appreciated. Just figured a post here would be worth a try before I take the leap into a relatively expensive (Walker air-sep) solution. Thanks TF!

I took that "trombone" screen off mine years ago and replaced it with a PVC pipe fitting/s and a large (easily obtainable) shop vac filter.

Thanks Brooksie, and I must assume you've had no air flow obstruction issues? I opined to surveyor would it be prudent to use a finer mesh screen (i.e. pantyhose) and he worried about air flow volume being decreased. Evidently you've had no such issues?

20,000hrs on a Perkins HT 354-6 with the mesh .... no problems

That's a relief boatpoker, thanks! Only 1320 hours on my engine and plan on many many more! We were in your neck of the woods last weekend at Aschbridges and went to the Jazz Festival. Toronto has got it going on!!

Vahevala said:

That's a relief boatpoker, thanks! Only 1320 hours on my engine and plan on many many more! We were in your neck of the woods last weekend at Aschbridges and went to the Jazz Festival. Toronto has got it going on!!

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So come over to Port Credit for Busker Fest and the Blues Festival

Tell me more! Dates and other info would be appreciated. We're at Tuscarora Yacht Club and have reciprocal privileges. Would love to come for visit and hear tales of adventure!

Vahevala said:

Tell me more! Dates and other info would be appreciated. We're at Tuscarora Yacht Club and have reciprocal privileges. Would love to come for visit and hear tales of adventure!

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Every Yacht Club on the Lake claims to be the "friendliest" as a regular visitor to Tuscarora it is in my opinion the friendliest on the lake. Look up Jeff Jordan and find out when he is coming over. There are several boats from Tuscarora that come over every year.

Port Credit Blues Festival
Port Credit Busker Festival | August 15-16-17Port Credit Busker Festival

If you have not already experienced it, you are right next door to the cheapest and best trawler cruising around. Check out my Cruising the New York State Canals

Greetings,
Mr. V. There are some sort of thin foam filters over the gravel guard mesh on our Lehmans quite similar to a shop vac filter as mentioned.

Thanks RTF. A buddy of mine with a Ford Lehman used something very similar. He doesn't use his boat much so was just wondering if issues may arise. Sounds like a viable alternative.

boatpoker, We know Jeff very well! He's quite the ambassador for our club. We will definitely look into a visit to Port Credit and will let you know.

We had the same screen installed on our Perkins in a Monk36. I found a pleated filter with steel mesh on the inside of the pleats that fit at Advanced Auto Parts. Be careful about a do it your self filter as anything ingested by the engine can be bad news. I think Perkins did the mesh screen as a KISS full proof method of avoiding a rag, etc being sucked into the engine.

This is what I put on mine

Vahevala said:

boatpoker, We know Jeff very well! He's quite the ambassador for our club. We will definitely look into a visit to Port Credit and will let you know.

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Tell Jeff, Wallace says hi.

Pack Mule said:

This is what I put on mine

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Does your ER have a venting system to keep the engine from starving of air?I actually have that same Specter filter on my car.

I kept ours factory stock with the plastic fence, but ALWAYS wanted to add an air filter to it. Seem silly not to have it, but that beast needs so much air to run, I opted to not temp it. Someone told me that it will quiet it down a few db to have one, but never could confirm that.

ben2go said:

Does your ER have a venting system to keep the engine from starving of air?I actually have that same Specter filter on my car.

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Yes one on each side of cabin in front of doors to engine room.

Pack Mule said:

Yes one on each side of cabin in front of doors to engine room.

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Beautiful.

Thanks all! Now I have some options to consider. All research to date tells me DO NOT inhibit engines thirst for clean air

Hi, I have the Perkins 4236 4 cylinder version in both my boats and can maybe shed a bit more light on the subject. I fitted an plastic aftermarket air filter with a paper element filter maybe 20 years ago with an extension reinforced rubber hose and routed the hose in the engine room well away from your driving position. Obviously you need a large enough filter housing and filter to supply the engine, you can get one from any parts supplier or agricultural/forklift dealer.
It's very surprising the amount of dust it does catch and I replace mine when servicing the engine. No detrimental effects in fact the opposite as I know the engines getting clean air.
Yes, it will also definitely cut down the noise from the engine and makes cruising more pleasant as a result.
A Walker airsep is nice piece of kit but totally unnecessary. K.I.S.S

I have a Perkins 4.108 with a similar mesh air filter. I had the same concerns. I not only asked several Perkins dealers (Trans Atlantaic Diesel, British Marine, and S&W Diesel) and was told the mesh is sufficient for marine environments; and these engines are rather bullet proof in that dust or small airborne particles won't damage the engine. My mechanic has worked on many of these engines for decades and has never come across a situation where the engine was damaged from something that entered through the mesh. Just make sure the mesh is secure, and you're engine will be happy.

Foley Engines (in MA) offers an aftermarket air filter kit for several older Perkins engines. I personally see no need for it. If air filtration inadequacies were in issue with these engines, it's safe to assume we would be flooded with aftermarket products.

You know, I wonder if when an aftermarket air filter starts to fill with particulates and the air flow restriction increases, if there is a chance that it could suck the filter element into the motor? It would have to be a pretty cheap-o filter, I guess. Yes, far-fetched and hypothetical for sure (it would have to get pretty bad... I am just speculating), but I have seen a runaway diesel (in a truck shop... not on a boat) and it could probably swallow a phonebook thru the intake if you let it ;-)

Tom.B said:

You know, I wonder if when an aftermarket air filter starts to fill with particulates and the air flow restriction increases, if there is a chance that it could suck the filter element into the motor? It would have to be a pretty cheap-o filter, I guess. Yes, far-fetched and hypothetical for sure (it would have to get pretty bad... I am just speculating), )

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I'm sure it would if you let it get mostly plugged. I change mine (the shopvac filter) every 3 years and find quite a bit of sand and stuff in it.
No, sand is not good for any engine and a Perkins is no different.

I put K&N filters on my Hinos, because years ago I was sent to a IH class on their diesel engines. Part of the class was about filters and their maintenance, the one thing I remember the instructor told us was "a 1/4 inch hole in a air filter would allow enough dirt into the cylinders to ruin a engine in 8 hours". This was a class geared to excavating equipment and we know how dusty and dirty that environment is. On your oil samples if the chrome is high that is wear from the piston rings, the advice from the sampling company (Caterpillar in my case) is to check the air intake plumbing connections and filters. I consider clean air just as important as clean fuel, just because you can't see the dust doesn't mean it won't do damage over time.

No, never a problem with the shopvac filter and yes they do have a hardware cloth reinforcement inside them. Mine is a turbo so maybe flows twice the air of a NA.

KN air filter has a huge selection of misc air filter I just went online with my measurement and order one. It was easy and painless I have used it for 10 yrs now.

funangler said:

KN air filter has a huge selection of misc air filter I just went online with my measurement and order one. It was easy and painless I have used it for 10 yrs now.

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Is the air walker system worth it? Sorry for shifting the subject slightly just curious.

funangler said:

Is the air walker system worth it? Sorry for shifting the subject slightly just curious.

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With an old engine or one that is pushed hard, yes (lots of blowby) but just ending your breather near the filter should be fine for the rest of us. The K&N's are suppost to be oiled anyway.

Something like this is my plan.

Vahevala said:

A little concerned about the "air filter" on my Perkins t6.354 engine. The filter is actually just a mesh screen that keeps the "nuts and bolts" out as quoted by the engine surveyor at time of purchase. TF!

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Most marine 6.354M's and 6.354T's came from Perkins with just a screen guard and crankcase ventilation nipple. That's all mine had for the first 2,000 hours. I later added paper filters out of concern for the large amount of dust that was blowing onto the boat at my marina, which must surely be getting sucked into the engines. The filters don't seem to collect much dirt, I clean and inspect them annually and I've only changed them twice in 15 years, mainly because they get stained from the oil vapor return line.