I have a K&N drop-in in the Sentra and love it (75,000 miles of use). I know you guys say that they pass dirt and they show up in a UOA. I'd like to see them (search of K&N UOA results in nothing). Although I "love" the K&N, I'm willing to go back to OEM in a heartbeat if they promote wear. Mine seals tightly in the air box, BTW, but i know a lot of them don't and I wonder if that is the cause of wear showing up in a UOA.
Looking for a UOA from K&N users
- Thread starter Nayov
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I believe the reason for the "passing of dirt" is the media, not a lack of sealing. There's an air filter test around where K&N, Amsoil Foam/Oil air filters, and many others were tested: a traditional paper filter worked the best. I believe that an
OEM and a Napa/Wix were the best.
OEM and a Napa/Wix were the best.
I saw that test linked to on another forums. It [the test and results] is *really* outdated. Amsoil hasn't had foam filters for years. Filtration has come a long way in the past 5 to 10 years. Synthetic media (for air and oil filters) are becoming the future.
That Sentra will last another 200K miles if you keep that K&N and just clean/re-oil every few years.
More recent test results can be seen here filter efficiency tests, just click "skip" at the bottom right then "view test results". I started a thread to discuss the findings in these tests and their validity in order to pick the best long term air filter.
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Originally Posted By: Nayov
I have a K&N drop-in in the Sentra and love it (75,000 miles of use). I know you guys say that they pass dirt and they show up in a UOA. I'd like to see them (search of K&N UOA results in nothing). Although I "love" the K&N, I'm willing to go back to OEM in a heartbeat if they promote wear. Mine seals tightly in the air box, BTW, but i know a lot of them don't and I wonder if that is the cause of wear showing up in a UOA.
FWIW, I had a conical K&N on my wife's jeep when I used the air box space for a filter setup. The thing did fine for about 6 cleanings. I cleaned it way more than it called for. It was mainly due to it sitting exposed in the open versus being in an air box that has it's own (more or less) dust collector. There's usually a chamber that lets anything suspended in the intake flow to drop out.
After about 6 cleanings, my silicon numbers started to climb. I was cleaning it maybe every 6 months.
I have a K&N drop-in in the Sentra and love it (75,000 miles of use). I know you guys say that they pass dirt and they show up in a UOA. I'd like to see them (search of K&N UOA results in nothing). Although I "love" the K&N, I'm willing to go back to OEM in a heartbeat if they promote wear. Mine seals tightly in the air box, BTW, but i know a lot of them don't and I wonder if that is the cause of wear showing up in a UOA.
FWIW, I had a conical K&N on my wife's jeep when I used the air box space for a filter setup. The thing did fine for about 6 cleanings. I cleaned it way more than it called for. It was mainly due to it sitting exposed in the open versus being in an air box that has it's own (more or less) dust collector. There's usually a chamber that lets anything suspended in the intake flow to drop out.
After about 6 cleanings, my silicon numbers started to climb. I was cleaning it maybe every 6 months.
When I had a 5.0 Mustang, I cleaned my K&N every 50K miles (2 years). I used a very mild mix of water and Fantastic/409 to clean my K&N.
I've heard that cleaning it too often will damage the cotton gauze. No need to over-spray it with oil.
I've heard that cleaning it too often will damage the cotton gauze. No need to over-spray it with oil.
I think most people are ruining these oil-impregnated filters by cleaning them way too much and overoiling them. K&N has always called for 50k cleaning in normal conditions. I think most of us fall in the normal conditions category. Plus, they reccomend only putting a little oil on it and letting it wick down. Ive seen many people just saturate the filter with oil.
Improper maintenance will certainly cause the filter to be less efficient and last much less time. One gripe I have w/ all cotton gauze filters is the fact that each time you clean them you wash away part of the media (more than you would w/ a synthetic media). Granted if you only clean it every 50k miles it's not really an issue, but I'm no fan of K&N.
my BMW came with a [censored] & Nasty. It went in the bin where they belong. Amsoil EaA from Pablo replaced it, better filter, better looking too.
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