air filter blew up!

i dont know how the hell that happened but it did. i went to turn on the car and it just BOOM! i thought it was the combustion chamber or something so i was scared. i go and look under the hood and the air filter is blown to hell. ironically, the car starts better than it did before. before then the car wouldnt start even if i gave it gas. eventually it would start ( any one know what could cause that?) i was going to check the fuel injectors this weekend... and this couldnt have come at a better time. i have court tomorrow and other than this car, i have no ride! and im ditching school for it.

all in all... anyone know how much a replacement air filter would be? and is it a wise choice to use the car in the state its in? thanks for your help.

p.s its a quad 4 engine

air filter exploded?

I can only imagine the stock paper/metal mesh filter being extremely clogged...

That would of woke ya up.....

Sound like it back fired and busted it.
You just hav the stock air box?
IF so the filter isnt much, $10 or so, and I would get one in ASAP.
running it without one will mess up your MAF and they arent cheap($350), like the filters.

Since you were having starting troubles, How are the plugs and wires, they are cheaper than injectors.
You didnt mention what year, but Many things can make starting difficult. You EGR system could be not working right.
Vacum leaks(essecially in the air intake), bad valve springs could even be the culprit, but start cheap . Dont need buying parts just for the hell of it :)

Wow, that's a first for me.... I've never heard of anything like it before. But I guess anything is possible. I think I probably would have crapped my pants, lol....

Wow, that's a first for me.... I've never heard of anything like it before. But I guess anything is possible. I think I probably would have crapped my pants, lol....

LMAO :lol: I have to agree with this......... :lol: :rofl: :cwm27:

The car is a 95 Grand Am () i replaced the spark plugs a while ago when it had the same problem. We replaced the Ignition coils with those of a 2.4 Twin Cam (the mechanic did not me)) and it worked great. got a new trans. everything was perfect.... until recently. i added some fuel injector cleaning fluid.we'll see how that goes... and again today when i went to start it again it backfired again...

......You EGR system could be not working right.
Vacum leaks(essecially in the air intake), bad valve springs could even be the culprit, but start cheap . Dont need buying parts just for the hell of it ............... :)

Sounds like you might have a fuel problem of some sort with bad spark timing. Might wanna check that out. I'm only familiar with this through a dirt bike as they will do the same if your ignition timing is slightly off and the float bowl is full of fuel it will backfiring occasionaly causing a damaged filter. Good luck finding the cause.

Sounds to me like a fuel injector is leaking fluid into a combustion chamber causing the explosion. Maybe time to check out the injectors.

i will admit...when i saw the title to the thread my exact thoughts were "what an idiot, air filters dont blow up"..so out of curiosity i decided to check it out. Ive NEVER heard of this happening to ANYONE in any part of the world for any reason what-so-ever.......thats insane...well good luck with that one