K&N air filter

If you google K&N comparison testing, you will never consider the K&N to protect your engine. Even if...IF....it did increase fuel mileage which is debatable, it isn't worth the amount of dirt it passes thru.

Alone the K&N will not increase power, or mpg. To get any benefit from opening the intake, You also have to open the exhaust. So a good Flow thru muffler should be installed as well. I like Magnaflow. Sounds pretty as well.

They are bogus claims and a waste of money

Remmag wrote:
Anybody have any opinions on K&N air filters and the claims of increased power and gas mileage? Thanks

The KN air filter will not significantly improve fuel economy. Reverse the claim: What method does the stock air filter use to burn extra fuel? I certainly can't think of any. Pumping loss at anything but full throttle would be identical (either filter restriction or throttle restriction for given rpm and power output) . And full throttle could have increased burn rates if the airflow is increased. Air fuel mixtures are established by the computer and sensors. Not the air filter on modern engines.

The KN air filter may increase power very slightly at the tip top of the RPM band. Is that a band you operate in and is a few hp noticeable?

Nearly all sources indicate the factory filter does a better job of filtering air (removing dirt particles).

Google Spicer diesel filter report. You'll have lab grade comparison of how good or how bad K&N filters work, or don't work, at keeping dirt out of your engine.

Readers Digest condensed version: Not one engine manufacturer uses them from the factory, on any of their equipment. Any motor that needs to really filter, in industrial on critical conditions like mining or agriculture with a limited window or time for harvesting when ripe, they ALL run paper air filter elements for final filtration.

There's your sign.

OEM filters for me.

I don't think you can use the fact that no factory installs them as a reason for not using them. The factories use the most cost effective items to maximize their profits, so putting a high dollar filter makes no sense. And they make money by selling parts like air filters, oil filters, brake pads, etc.

OTOH many aftermarket performance parts use K&N, and other similar, filters as the supplied item.

got one on my F-150 no real mileage gains. did over oil it had to clean the mass air flow sensor. sounds cool though....

Oooooo bring those K&N wonders down here to dust country and get an automatic cylinder bore job inside 10,000 miles. One camper who braaaaaged about just how good the filter was had nods all around the campfire - next best thing to sex...

So I challenged them. Next morning remove the filters then wipe their finger across the throttle body or choke plate. All three fingers came away lumped with cigar ash grade desert tan "valve grinding compound". In places that aren't dusty the filters may not do the same miserable job. But this is sorta like a resident of Nome Alaska bragging how well his gas refigerator works "Gawrsh it lasted 23-years and kept ice-cream hardder n a rock".

Dry foam filters stretched over pleated paper filters do keep the paper filters cleaner. Saves replacing the element every 2000 miles. Simply pry off the dry foam filter and whack it against your bumper to clean.

Proponents of oil soaked foam filters live in clean air - sort of like a gaggle of penguins discussing heat waves.

fj12ryder wrote:
I don't think you can use the fact that no factory installs them as a reason for not using them. The factories use the most cost effective items to maximize their profits, so putting a high dollar filter makes no sense. And they make money by selling parts like air filters, oil filters, brake pads, etc.

OTOH many aftermarket performance parts use K&N, and other similar, filters as the supplied item.

K&N doesn't warranty your motor... and you'll never see a K&N filter on any mining or farming equipment, the most severe operating elements and conditions. Your argument is false about "being the cheapest", not when it could come down to warranty repair work, or replacing mass air flow sensors under warranty.

Wipe the inside of the intake tube that sits behind your K&N air filter, with a white glove, after riding down dirt roads in farm country, and you'll see the dirt that got into your motor. Fine if you tear down your motor after every race, but RV'ing isn't racing. Wrecks MAF's and doesn't filter much better than a sieve.

K&N never spends the money on a professional, by peer review Labratory test on their air filters? Why don't they, if their filters are so good?

Spicer lab report, amount of dirt filtered out and caught, by brand.

Paper air filters are cheap insurance compared to the cost to replace a motor. Saying you got 180,000 miles on a motor with a K&N filter is inconclusive... test two motors, side by side, with paper and K&N filters, and keep running them until one of them starts having compression problems or oil consumption problems. Tear down the motors, measure the bore, measure the ridge at the top of the bore, measure the ring gap on each piston. Present what you find to a Failure Analysis Engineer for a better understanding.

Then compare the K&N to the paper air filter motor, and you'll have something conclusive, as to which fails first.