So here is my story...

Last weekend I had my overflow tank chip under the cap connection and start stewing coolant so I pulled off the road and let is sit until the new tank came in. Today is the day it came in so me and a friend went to put it in. In the process we went to take out the filter box and found the filter had a BIG burn hole in it. We were both astonished at what could of done something like that within the last 4 months since the last full service oil change. Anyone have any ideas on what could do something like this in such a short amount of time?

I've tried searching to find if anyone else has experienced anything like this. Can't find anything like it.

 

I've never seen or heard of that before.
I wonder if it's possible for a lit cigarette to get sucked up in there.
I see bozos flickin those things out all the time.

 

There isn't anything that gets anywhere near that hot there. All the heat is on the other side of the engine.

Beats Me

 

based on it's position being lined up with the box air horn my guess would be a backfire or something similar

 

^ Yup. I've seen a backfire blow out the plastic intake manifold on a LS motor (05?? CTS-V), so I'm sure a backfire could damage a paper filter. I would check the integrity of the intake downstream of the filter for other damage; especially in sensors. Hopefully your car didn't inhale too much of that missing section.

 

Guys thanks for the heads up on the backfire. I looked into the intake and didn't see any debris or melting but will look at it better tomorrow when I have better lighting.

The only debris was a small piece of the paper in the bottom of the air box. it was in the part before the air would flow through the filter. Like you said, hope it didn't inhale any pieces.

 

the car probably sucked up some lit up cigarette

 

usually the only time i see holes in an air filter are due to rodents in the airbox nesting. it could also be the air horn somehow came loose from the box and is rubbing on the filter.