Oiled Cotton Air Filters, Good or Bad?

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TheLoneRanger

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I'm referring to the K&N's here. There seems to be a lot of controversy on whether they will filter small particles or not. Does anyone have any experience with them, or have any opinions? Thanks.

(I currently have one on my Bronco.)
 
I ran a K&N on my 94 Dakota V6 from ~15K until I traded it at 49K. When I removed the factory element(Paper w/a fiber "sleeve" around it) at 15K, I noticed a sparse, very fine white dust on the black steel housing bottom, inside the filter. Wiped a finger on it, & got a light coat of white, brown, & black very fine dust! Hmm..Cleaned it all up, installed K&N. Pulled & cleaned it at ~30K- no dust showed up on the "wipe test". Again at 45K-ditto. It seemed to be doing better than the factory paper in cleaning the air. Never saw any difference in power or gas mileage w/Dakota.

Bought Neon 7/97, drove lots, changed paper panel element every 12K miles. Never noticed much dust inside at all-nothing like Dakota had, but still a small trace. Installed K&N last spring ~84K, wiped out housing & pipe as best I could. Just cleaned it a few weeks ago, ~109K. Tried the wipe test as far up intake pipe as I could reach-no visible/feelable dust on finger.
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Also,throttle response has been a little crisper, & gas mileage more consistent from tank to tank, for a bit better overall average w/the 5 spd Neon.

So, IME, a *properly cleaned & oiled* K&N seems to have cleaned the air better than paper elements. My advice? Follow the directions when cleaning, *BUT*: be sure to let the element *Dry Completely* before re-oiling. This may take a day or so, & I believe a lot of people get impatient here. I just saved my paper elements, & ran them for a day or two while the K&N dried in the house.

There are some articles floating around on the I-Net saying that oiled cotton filters let too much dirt in. Maybe so, but my experience seems to indicate the opposite.
 
Ranger, check out my Red Line oil analysis results in that section. During that 7,200+ mile interval, I was running a very dirty K&N cone filter and my silicon levels (sand particles) were very low. That's a good sign.

I'll have another analysis in another week ... but that was mostly running the factory air filter and box with the K&N cone on only since the beginning of April.
 
From what I understand about the K&N, it actually filters out more dirt when the filter is dirty, so if you clean it too frequently you'll allow more dirt into your engine. I know guys that clean their K&Ns a couple of times a year, and I always tell them they aren't doing themselves any favors. I also know a few people that don't reoil them properly, one guy I know tried to oil both sides of the filter!
shocked.gif
 
Thanks Terry, I read the post. Good advice.

Thanks for all the replies. I am feeling better about the K&N now. I have done the wipe test, and have found no apparent dust going through the K&N either.

I too, think the key to good filtration with them is proper maintence.
 
Over 25 years using K&N AF. Never ever have I experienced an oily or dusty intake tract. A couple of vehicles with well over 175,000 miles racked up. Very satisfied with K&N.
 
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