For those that still defend K&N

[widman]

I took this off a Tacoma. It doesn't take a genius to see the holes where dirt passes. No "proper oiling" will fix this. It looks like it had also been installed upside down at one point, as the ridges are bent, probably against the safety filter that fortunately Toyota put in that truck.

 

[SteveSRT8]

It's interesting to note that all my off road racing buddies use a pre-filter when they run K&N. I guess a post-filter is just as good!

We switched them out of the entire stable here years ago due to the evidence on this. Plus I got UOA's with high silicon in extended use.

Not for me.

 

[Jim Allen]

K&N is also only one brand of oiled cotton gauze filter. There are others. Given other aftermarket choices in the market, and a general improvement in OE and OE replacement filters, I think OCG filters are fast reaching dinosaur status . The only way I would run an OCG filter (I keep wanting to type OCD) is with a foam sock.

 

[widman]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
It's interesting to note that all my off road racing buddies use a pre-filter when they run K&N. I guess a post-filter is just as good!

We switched them out of the entire stable here years ago due to the evidence on this. Plus I got UOA's with high silicon in extended use.

Not for me.


for off road, nothing beats changing over to this PowerCore

 

[SteveSRT8]

Nice off roader! I like it!

 

[barlowc]

I've been running K&N air filters in all my vehicles for 10 years now and have never had a problem. When serviced, the filters have always been in perfect condition. And with proper oiling, I've never encountered any sensor (or otherwise) problems.

With that said, if I got a new vehicle today, with what I've learned and read here on BITOG I probably wouldn't put one in. But at this point I don't see any reason to remove them from service. My UOAs are coming out with silicon readings right at the universal averages. If they go up, then I'll reconsider.

 

[hounddog]

On other auto/truck forums I read a lot of how K&N gave them a seat of the pants feel in power and one or two mpg more.I used them a few years back.I felt and saw no such thing.Just more noise.Plus just about every UOA I read on this site has high silicates with K&N. I make comment of such on other forums and get argument in return.

 

[kcfx4]

not to be rude, but a pic is worth a thousand words....... the original post notes that it may have been installed upside down, also whos to say the owner didnt use compressed air to clean it, that is if it were ever cleaned at all....the key word to K&N is maintence

 

[Drew99GT]

The key words to K&N are swiss cheese.

 

[crw]

About seven or eight years ago I gave in to temptation and put a K&N on my Mustang. Until that time, I had been accustomed to the color and "look" of my oil at the end of an OCI. After putting the K&N on, my oil came out MUCH darker. Then I got rid of the K&N...

I live in a dusty area. Some of you who live in urban/suburban places might rarely encounter airborne dust, but for me a K&N is not a good idea. On modern cars with computerized air-fuel ratios, it doubt it helps much without being in a race application and as part of a more holistic approach to modifications.

 

[Chris142]

Here every Honda car and Toyota Prerunner has a K&N air filter. The filter is just flopping around on the inner fender and has a golfball sized hole in the bottom where it's rubbing the inner fender.

 

[barlowc]

Let's assume...

1) That a properly serviced and installed K&N filters as good a conventional filter.

2) That there is no horsepower, fuel efficiency, or other performance difference between the two.

One of the things that appealed to me was the cost of ownership aspect. For under $50, I could get a K&N and the service kit which would last the entire time I owned a vehicle. I would spend more than that in conventional filters. Also, it made it so that I didn't have to service the filter as often. That was appealing when I had a 98 Grand Prix GTP with the supercharged L67 whose air filter was a PITA to get to.

 

[Spazdog]

What did he do? Throw it in the washing machine with bleach?

I've run K&N filters on virtually every motorcycle I've ever had (when I wasn't running UNI). Wash, oil, reinstall. No problems. Long lived engines.

My PT has a K&N panel filter. I hold it up to the sunlight every time I wash it. No perforations even on the high boost 2.4. (high boost = more air drawn through)

I have a friend with a wheel lift Silverado 3500 wrecker. He said that before he put the K&N on, the OEM filter elements would get sucked into the intake. I never actually witnessed the filter wedged into the intake but I don't know why he would lie about that.

 

[widman]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
What did he do? Throw it in the washing machine with bleach?

I've run K&N filters on virtually every motorcycle I've ever had (when I wasn't running UNI). Wash, oil, reinstall. No problems. Long lived engines.

My PT has a K&N panel filter. I hold it up to the sunlight every time I wash it. No perforations even on the high boost 2.4. (high boost = more air drawn through)

I have a friend with a wheel lift Silverado 3500 wrecker. He said that before he put the K&N on, the OEM filter elements would get sucked into the intake. I never actually witnessed the filter wedged into the intake but I don't know why he would lie about that.



For a filter to get sucked in, it either got wet, was a poor fit, or got really clogged.

 

[kcfx4]

really clogged as in never cleaned! ive read stories of K&N users never ever cleaning and the filter was nearly sucked inside out, this pic proves nothing

 

[Nick R]

I dunno, I've heard stories of big diesel engines in heavy duty/superduty pickups sucking paper filters in because they didn't flow enough, or something. Don't know how much truth there is in that but it's just an interesting thing I've heard. Might have been on here, as a matter of fact.

 

[Seguino]

No amount of "proper oiling" will fix a filter damaged by improper installation, K&N or otherwise.
That Power Core is no doubt a top notch filter. I notice that they also have a large sponsorship decal on the side of your car. Using a K&N in that thing wouldn't be a wise business decision.
I'm not defending K&N, and I find your posts to be informative and entertaining to read for the most part.
This one however could be taken by some to be misleading and with an agenda.

 

[widman]

No agenda, other than getting tired of seeing engines ruined. Same goes for my dislike of most of the filters made with short fiber cellulose that is what is in most of the southern hemisphere filters.

 

[kcfx4]

how many engines have you seen "ruined" because of k&n airfilter?

 

[RnR]

Originally Posted By: kcfx4
how many engines have you seen "ruined" because of k&n airfilter?
While my first and only flirt with one before I wised up cost me a couple weeks of meals due to MAF failure and associated diagnostics. POS.