210,000 miles with K&N air intake system

[Georgiey22]

This week I was at my local Toyota dealership getting a tire rotation on my Tundra. This 2010 Tundra with 210K miles pulled up for an oil change. Got to speaking with the owner, who was kind and shared all about his truck. Owned since new and installed a K&N cold air intake system on it when he first purchased 13 years ago. He has never had a single issue with this truck and runs great.

I personally choose to use OEM Toyota (Denso made) paper filters, but this is a lot of miles with a K&N and he loves it. Maybe we should all re-think K&N if you want to run a vehicle to high mileage. Thoughts?

 

[fisher83]

The Tundra is a great truck. I think his trouble-free experience probably has more to do with that than the fact that he uses K&N.

 

[billt460]

While there is nothing "wrong" with a K&N air filter system. That said, I stopped using K&N Air Filters because they're a PITA and messy to clean and reoil. It's much easier to toss a dirty paper filter, and replace it with another.

Also, there is the question of being denied warranty work if you have one. This happened to a guy on one the Hellcat / Demon forums. He had a Hellcat that he replaced the air intake with a "K&N Intake System".

He had some major internal engine problems, and his warranty was denied because the dealer said he, "altered the vehicle". He took it to court and lost, and ended up being on the hook for thousands of dollars. Just be careful installing these things on vehicles still under factory warranty.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I had a K&N filter on my Civic for about 60,000 miles but I took it off due to increased noise on acceleration. I had on on a Ford F-150 too and I don't think they really hurt anything as long as you keep them clean and very lightly with K&N filter lubricant. I do prefer factory style filters.

 

[AZjeff]

No thanks. There's just no good reason to use a K&N other than the cool factor, they certainly don't filter better. The gains their charts show are at the upper RPM range where 1% run their vehicles.

 

[Mainia]

While there is nothing "wrong" with a K&N air filter system. That said, I stopped using K&N Air Filters because they're a PITA and messy to clean and reoil. It's much easier to toss a dirty paper filter, and replace it with another.

Also, there is the question of being denied warranty work if you have one. This happened to a guy on one the Hellcat / Demon forums. He had a Hellcat that he replaced the air intake with a "K&N Intake System".

He had some major internal engine problems, and his warranty was denied because the dealer said he, "altered the vehicle". He took it to court and lost, and ended up being on the hook for thousands of dollars. Just be careful installing these things on vehicles still under factory warranty.

Can you link me to the forum where the guy with the Hellcat said he lost the court battle? I just want have that when I post to a Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act absolutist that there are going to be times you will loss.

 

[doublebase]

I wouldn’t use one, there’s multiple test online saying that they allow more silicates to bypass the filter and enter the engine. I’m not saying that means catastrophic engine failure, but I’m asking...why would you do that? On a site where we split hairs regarding HTHS/TBN/Noack/and everything else...you’re going to put something on your vehicle that won’t filter as well as an everyday air filter?

 

[supton]

If I was building an engine to see frequent WOT, and was afraid not of rebuilding and/or scattering parts while having fun at WOT, i’d run K&N without a thought.

On something I need to start daily, which won’t get WOT and about which I gripe about the price of gas, parts and repairs… not so much.

 

[wemay]

I agree with the OP. I've used K&N panel filters my whole life. Never had dust in the intake tract, oil on sensors or a high Si uoa.

 

[Cujet]

I use them in everything. But South Florida is not full of dust or dirt. The air is clean and the filters rarely get dirty. There is absolutely no question they help performance on some vehicles/engines. Even my Cessna uses a K+N air filter. It gets cleaned once a year, whether it needs it or not.

However, I would never use one in dusty conditions.

 

[loneryder]

I use them in everything. But South Florida is not full of dust or dirt. The air is clean and the filters rarely get dirty. There is absolutely no question they help performance on some vehicles/engines. Even my Cessna uses a K+N air filter. It gets cleaned once a year, whether it needs it or not.

However, I would never use one in dusty conditions.

South FL on the Gulf side is filthy. Prevailing winds must sweep across the sate from the east must pick up all the dust inland. It's black dust/dirt. Nnything outside gets dirty after a few days.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

A CAI is fine on a naturally aspirated vehicle but I would not use one on a turbo engine. I had an AFE on my Cummins Ram and with the air velocity and volume it actually sucked the oil out of the filter. I took it off and sold it after about 30k miles and put the OEM setup back in. I’ve used Mopar of Fleetguard filters since with no trouble.

Just my $0.02

 

[JohnnyG]

It's always nice to hear stoies about people that are smarter than the engineers that built their vehicle!

 

[AZjeff]

A production car is one big compromise to suit as many buyers as possible. Not talking about corvettes, hellcats etc. There's always room to make it suit you better. IMO dirty air isn't one. None of the dune running guys I know will touch one. Extreme example sure but they're all about WFO performance.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

For your viewing pleasure.

 

[Revving2Redline]

This week I was at my local Toyota dealership getting a tire rotation on my Tundra. This 2010 Tundra with 210K miles pulled up for an oil change. Got to speaking with the owner, who was kind and shared all about his truck. Owned since new and installed a K&N cold air intake system on it when he first purchased 13 years ago. He has never had a single issue with this truck and runs great.

I personally choose to use OEM Toyota (Denso made) paper filters, but this is a lot of miles with a K&N and he loves it. Maybe we should all re-think K&N if you want to run a vehicle to high mileage. Thoughts?

I use the K&N intake but only used the AEM DRYFLOW filters. The oil is simply a pain in the rear, too much down time and time after time the DRYFLOW has a better filtration which keeps the engine cleaner and with less particle wear.

 

[thescreensavers]

While there is nothing "wrong" with a K&N air filter system. That said, I stopped using K&N Air Filters because they're a PITA and messy to clean and reoil. It's much easier to toss a dirty paper filter, and replace it with another.

Also, there is the question of being denied warranty work if you have one. This happened to a guy on one the Hellcat / Demon forums. He had a Hellcat that he replaced the air intake with a "K&N Intake System".

He had some major internal engine problems, and his warranty was denied because the dealer said he, "altered the vehicle". He took it to court and lost, and ended up being on the hook for thousands of dollars. Just be careful installing these things on vehicles still under factory warranty.

Got a source? Also let's not confuse a panel filter with an aftermarket intake system.

 

[Chris142]

If he lives in an area that's not dusty a K&N may be ok. Don't run one in my area.

 

[billt460]

Got a source? Also let's not confuse a panel filter with an aftermarket intake system.

With today's new vehicles, I wouldn't chance it. But as you say, if you're just swapping out the filter itself, you could replace it with OEM if it has to go in for any warranty work.

 

[billt460]

Got a source?

This is 6 years old, and the video attached to it is now private and not viewable. Basically it's yesterday's news.

Video - Hellcat warranty denied

Hello guys. Found a disturbing video on Youtube today. A Hellcat owner (SRTMUSH) got his warranty completely voided because he had a K&N air filter in his car when he took it in for bad bearings in the supercharger! Heads up! I've posted the video for all to see. RPproductions also did a video...

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