Damaged K&N Air Filter - With pictures

[901Memphis]

Here are some pictures of my K&N air filter i removed from my 2002 Buick Century. The car has less than 95k miles on it and the filter was on the car most of its life. I am still trying to find out more details about the exact time of purchase and mileage of the filter but its likely been on there for just under 10 years. I have had the car only since the beginning of this year. I bought it from my father in law.

The seal is barely hanging on and brittle in some places. The outside of the filter is deformed enough that i am worried about what got in my oil. The pleats are deformed a bit but i don't see any holes in it. For some reason the filter is extremely dirty around the deformation as if it was sucking air only in that part. I believe air was getting past the filter but i am not sure if or how much. There was a piece of something on the honeycomb right at the air tube inlet, so i am sure something got past. I believe it was a small piece of a leaf.

Needless to say i got this sucker out of there and put a Purolator Pureone in there.

The engine is the 3.1 liter v6. These things are quite a pain in the rear to get the filter in carefully. Theres just enough room to move around in there without removing anything.

Thoughts?

 

[morepwr]

Send it back! I believe K&N has a lifetime warranty.

 

[Artem]

Don't these come with like a million mile warranty or something like that?

 

[redhat]

^+1

Get K&N to give you a replacement and then sell it!

 

[901Memphis]

It's 10 year or a million, and i am not the original owner so i don't know if i qualify.

 

[R80RS]

Can't say I've ever seen an air filter in service for 10 years, so I guess the deterioration is not surprising. I think you made a good choice in using a Purolator Pureone replacement filter - they are good quality.

It's a certainty that you were bypassing the filter. Your discovery of a leaf confirms that. You can be sure that smaller material made it past too. I'd be less concerned about what got past the K&N and into the oil than about what got past and into a combustion chamber, valve seat, or other top end moving part. I assume there is no evidence of top cylinder damage (loss of compression, oil blow-by, etc.) so maybe you dodged a bullet.

I've seen similar staining on air filters when there is something like a crankcase breather that vents onto the air intake near the filter. Years ago I had an old Mercury with an inline 6 that would stain the air filter due to a vent line off the rocker cover that discharged into the AF enclosure.

Good luck to you, your air filter issue notwithstanding, the Century should be a very reliable vehicle for you.

 

[Artem]

Still contact K&N and see what they say.

 

[Voltmaster]

I doubt K&N gonna replace it for free.

Its too damaged , this is odd, have you taken your car to mechanic/oil change places? I wouldnt be surprised if the idiot closed it wrong and destroyed the rubber around it and things went south from there.

 

[bvance554]

Originally Posted By: Voltmaster
Its too damaged , this is odd, have you taken your car to mechanic/oil change places? I wouldnt be surprised if the idiot closed it wrong and destroyed the rubber around it and things went south from there.


^^ This is what I was thinking. Looks like it didn't fit properly and someone made it fit, or installed it improperly. I have a K&N going on 11 years and it looks great.

 

[901Memphis]

The last time the car was worked on was quite a bit ago when there were new intake manifold gaskets replaced.

It looks to me as if it dry rotted in some places and then deformed afterwards, but i can't be sure.

 

[davebarnum]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
It's 10 year or a million, and i am not the original owner so i don't know if i qualify.


You don't have to volunteer such info either.

 

[901Memphis]

I guess i could give it a shot. I will post back if i get anywhere.

 

[Jim Allen]

I am pretty sure some of that is installation damage, possibly from a ham-fisted technician at the time the intake was done, or impact damage. The way the sealing media look deteriorated looks like chemical damage... something that happened to me once when I took my truck into the Ford dealer for a recall.
They got something on my AEM filter that literally melted it in places. AEM replaced it but they wanted the old one to run analysis on. The analysis result on what cause it was indeterminate but they said it was chemical damage. They really wanted to find exactly what chemical caused it because they thought their unit was pretty much immune to everything used in and around cars, but they couldn't make a determination.

I ran a K&N longer than 10 years. I only had to replace it because mice got into the air filter housing and it was physically damaged (in some ways very similar to this). My Banks turbo kit, which I installed on the Ford truck in 1987, came with a K&N and I had to replace it in 2004. Nothing wrong with it until the mice got to it. K&N uses a very high quality sealing material because they do advertise "lifetime" and the filters have to last. If only the media was more efficient.. but I digress.

901.. if you play this right, I think it very likely you can get a new filter. Send them the pics along with your (very polite) note with the details. K&N has a very good test lab and I'm pretty sure they would be interested to see yours based on the sealing deterioration.

Whether you want to run another K&N is a sperate question. They are actually very well constructed filters, but their media efficiency leaves a lot to be desired... something you can read a lot about here.

 

[Scum_Frog]

Obvious neglect towards the filter. That thing looks like it hasn't been touched in years or installed incorrectly like already stated.

I just cleaned and re-oiled my K&N in my Nitro. Been in service for three years/60,000 KMS. As per K&N clean schedule of 50,000 Miles I did it a little ahead of time. After following the cleaning and re-oiling it looks brand new.

 

[Colt45ws]

I'd say its a combo of age and the air filter box design. Which as you noted is distilled FAIL. Ive definitely damaged my share of filters in those trying to get them out/in.

 

[circuitsmith]

The Century was one of GM's most reliable cars.
Too bad it was jeopardized by aftermarket junk.

 

[Smokescreen]

On cars these days simply changing the air filter hoping for a power increase without anything else (intake, exhaust, tune) is just silly. A stock air filter & housing made within the past decade is almost always already a CAI and the designed structure will flow more air than the engine is capable of ingesting. They have to design it that way for performance and longevity reasons.

These days unless one has made modifications and the vehicle is inclined to react to those modifications (not placebo or sound effects either), I leave it more or less stock.

 

[901Memphis]

Only took a couple of emails with a little information and pictures and they are sending me a replacement filter. I am un sure if they want the old one back but i think they do.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
I am pretty sure some of that is installation damage, possibly from a ham-fisted technician at the time the intake was done, or impact damage.

I should think so. If it's hard to install the air filter in the vehicle in question without damaging it (as was the case with the old Audi), it's probably best to avoid using a reusable type filter and be very darned careful when installing the air filter. Do it oneself and take the time and care needed.

 

[901Memphis]

I didn't have any trouble installing the filter itself, that went in without a hitch. It was getting the air box piece back in and the hose back on the air box that was the troublesome part.