K&N vs OEM Paper Airfilters

[Hahnsb2]

+1 on trusting Gale Banks but i think that diesels do not have a MAF sensor to get crudded up by air filter oil.

The turbo blades don't care for the extra dirt/oil though. After 20,000 miles with a k&n on my buddies CTD the compressor blades were darkened by oil and the leading edges of the compressor blades were noticeably rough from encountering dirt.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I see a staff member already moved this.

The product review forum is for you to post your opinions/evaluations of particular products so others can read the feedback and help decide if they want to purchase the product.

The original post is a comparison and not a review.

 

[stegomon]

this should become a sticky or even a tec page

 

[ZMan]

this is like the 3rd time I'll be posting this, but whatever, I'll post it again...

I made a 4" intake for my Supercharged Buick, and have a 7"x4" K&N cone behind the bumper. Cleaned it a couple of months ago and not a spec of dirt or oil was inside of my intake tube or on my MAF. It was a little wet however because of its location, to help counteract that I got a "water repellent" pre-filter to help. Had this intake on the car since July, and have had no problems.

 

[truckmanson]

I have bought and used a K&N filter in a number of vehicles with varying results
1. 97 ranger 2.3, got 2mpg more and better throttle control with the k&n
2. 00 s-10 2.2, slightly better mpg about 1 mile or less with k&n
3. 95 saturn sc1, better throttle control and minimal mpg gain with k&n
4. 05 ranger 3.0, minimal mileage gain maybe 1 mpg at most with k&n
Every time I have switched to the k&n I have seen some sort of improvement, mostly with the 97 ranger however that had a round filter not a flat filter like the other 3 vehicles.
Cost analysis alone warrants me purchasing a k&n
ex. avg paper filter cost about $12 for these 4 vehicles if you change it every 6000 miles that equals $120 in 60,000 miles, in contrast a k&n is roughly $50 per vehicle plus if you re-oil it at 50,000 miles for $10 a "recharge kit" can accomplish about 2 recharges in my experience, so it would cost a total of $60 for the k&n ($50 filter and $10 recharge kit= $60). so over 60,000 miles you would save an average of $60, if you are like me and put 25-35k on a year it adds up.
just my $.02

 

[MrE_Powers]

A guy shows the actual filter ability of k &n vs other types. and after reading it. i pulled my k&n and replaced it.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

 

[Bob Ayers]

I'm convinced. I'm going to throw away my Motorcraft filter and go buy a Delco. Hopefully it will do as well on a Ford as it does on a Chevy. Same air flowing thru the same system, right. Guess I'll keep my Fram tho as it wasn't tested, so I guess it is ok.

This thread is like a political argument. A lot of bluster, and fluster that doesn't change anyones mind.

One poster with some kind of vendetta against K&N, goes to the extreme of purchasing filters to tear apart to show they are different, which most already knew. Discounting the bricks, not very scientific at all.

K&N filters are made for the high performance market for engines inhaling huge amounts of air. A common filter would not work for this application.

Being that they are used in the high performance market, hot rodders see this as a possibility to help modify their daily drivers. Now, is K&N as a for profit company going to discourage this huge market for their product? They would be fools to do so. So, they make the product available in different forms for the marketing public.

As long as they don't mis-represent their product, they have a perfect right to do so. And the feds will slap them hard if they get out of line.

Most know that the filter isn't of benefit powerwise, or mileagewise for a stock engine. However, it is a huge benefit in parking lot pissing contests, and the wow factor when it is placed on the end of a piece of chrome pipe with flourescent rubber connectors. As they toke their joints, drink their beer, they pass around stories of huge power gains, and the bitchin sound these things make. That big ass black box and plumbing simply isn't cool.

If you ever attended one of these parking lot meetings, you would be astounded by the information passed around, much of it false. That is why you see some really off the wall posts in this and other forums.

But it doesn't matter how truthful any of this, or how any argument tries to disuade those from using the product, they are going to do it anyway due to the factors stated above.

So save your long disertations, product displays, links to tests, etc., it doesn't matter to these youngsters. The wow factor is what it is all about. Plus, it's their money, and they can spend it any way they want, and their engine isn't going to explode if they experiment with it.shady

K&N's were originally developed for off road races like Baja. The OEM paper filter would plug up in no time from the amount of dust. The same amount of dust was flowing with the K&Ns, but they wouldn't plug up. Guess were the
dust was going?

 

[Bob Ayers]

I don't really have an opinion, but I do have a K&N. It's sold in the kit for my aftermarket turbo on my diesel and there is no paper replacement because it's an aftermarket cast aluminum airbox. It does require oiling, which the paper one does not so I don't know that rolling out the element really means anything. It's a pain to clean so I wish it had a paper one, but I trust that Gale Banks and crew knew what they are doing when they went with K&N.

I've seen these kind of posts over and over:

I seriously recommend you NEVER run a K&N on a 7.3. mine had one on it for awhile and I could see the dust on the inside of the tubes (and have seen a couple turbo's dusted by them) I did the switch to the 6637 air filter and its spotless in there and did make a huge difference in not only spool up time, but actual boost levels (gained 2-4psi boost)

But if anyone wants one I have a airraid air system with the conical K&N filter sitting here I will sell ya.

 

[Bob Ayers]

I'm convinced. I'm going to throw away my Motorcraft filter and go buy a Delco. Hopefully it will do as well on a Ford as it does on a Chevy. Same air flowing thru the same system, right. Guess I'll keep my Fram tho as it wasn't tested, so I guess it is ok.

Shady, looks like your thinking ability hasn't improved any! Neither Motorcraft or Fram were tested in the report, yet your going to throw away your Motorcraft and go to the Delco, but your keeping your Fram!

 

[shadetree]

Shady, looks like your thinking ability hasn't improved any!

Neither has yours. My comment was tongue in cheek, but you don't have the ability to recognize it.

Buying filters, tearing them up and stretching them across your driveway to make some kind of dumb point says a lot about you.

You get on your high horse in some of these threads as if you are lord an master of all things mechanical, and go to the extreme in trying to make some kind of inane point.

As I said in my post, it is not always about practicality in the use of a product, it is the mindset of the purchaser.shady

 

[JohnnyU]

As I said in my post, it is not always about practicality in the use of a product, it is the mindset of the purchaser.shady

So if the user believes the sticker gives him more power, does that mean it really does?

 

[Bob Ayers]

As I said in my post, it is not always about practicality in the use of a product, it is the mindset of the purchaser.shady

So if the user believes the sticker gives him more power, does that mean it really does?

Dementia must have set in!!!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

So if the user believes the sticker gives him more power, does that mean it really does?

Placebo effect, unless he dyno's it he will probably think it did.

 

[RumpRanger98]

My experience with K&N's is that you can take a 70,000 mile 4.0L, install a K&N, run it for 100,000 miles, only clean it three times, then tear the heads off the engine after 100,000 miles and find the cylinder walls, piston tops, and valves in pristine condition. So I'm not very worried about the "huge particles" it's letting through. They obviously aren't causing any harm. The biggest problem is the stupid pcv valve being hooked up to manifold vaccuum and EGR which together allows all sorts of combustion byproducts and oilly residue to end up in the intake track.

If they made nice round cheap paper filters that you can clamp on the end of a pipe (or MAF or VAM) I'd use them and just replace 'em instead of jacking around with cleaning a K&N. The problem is they don't make them, and using the stock airbox just ain't an option on some engine swaps like my turbo ranger. A round clamp on filter is all that will fit.

They do make a filter system for the pcv system. I forget what its called Ill find the website. I own one myself. I had it on my maxima for a while. I noticed every 6 months I was dumping an oily type byproduct out of it. Which would normally be getting sucked back into combustion.

you put the hose from the pcv valve into this plastic cylinder that has this special thing inside of it that releases oil and grap from that air is its sucked through the pcv and into the intake.


ok I went and looked at mine. Its called, The condensator. Here is a picture of it installed on someones vehicle.

When I had it on my maxima, I didn't notice any performance gains or any of that. But seeing all of the oily garbage that would build up inside as it filtered it out of the pcv-->intake, really gives you a visual on what gets sucked back into the intake.

here is the condensator home page

 

[sweetwaterbroncoII]

Bob you just can't let things go can you.