We have a fleet of 2017 F-250's with the 6.2 Liter gas engines. We put on about 4,000 miles every 3 weeks. One of the trucks had the air filter element installed upside down. This destroyed the engine. It had about 30k on it at the time and not covered by warranty. The filter had a little dirt between the pleats so it was installed correctly at one time so it didn't happen at the factory. We have a very good idea how this happened. We have a contract with a chain of drive thru oil change places. The contract is for oil changes only, no wipers, lights, air filters etc. They often come walking up with the filter in their hand saying "Sir, look you have some dirt on your air filter, would you like us to install a new one". Our contract does not cover parts, so the answer is always no. 2 weeks after this $8,000 engine replacement, one of our drivers watched an employee at the oil change place reinstall the filter in his truck upside down after showing it to our driver. The driver informed the employee what he had done. He had no clue. This filter will easily install upside down, just as easy as right side up. This a very poor design. You'll be hearing more about this mistake in the future I'm sure because others don't put the miles on that we do but someone will find this happened to them sooner or later. If you have this style air filter, you better go check it. The two circle things go down. The large opening goes up. #ad

 

No, sadly we are not. There is no way to prove they did it. Just because we watched them replace another one upside down doesn't mean they did it to the one with the destroyed engine. We did secure the covers with heavy duty zip ties and tags that says do not open, so hopefully it doesn't happen again.