K&N first disappointment

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Originally Posted By: jayg
No. The Corolla wont notice any difference with any filter. Airaid does nothing better than an OEM replacement.

The only benefit to a reusable oil mesh filter is if it is kept for the life of the vehicle and is cleaned and reoiled only at 50k intervals or marginally sooner in extremely dusty conditions. Too much or not enough oil is what makes these worthless. If you kept it for 200k miles you save a little coin, if you care enough to drive the car that long.


Originally Posted By: jayg
The problem with oiled filters is people over oil them. They change color and people wash and heavily oil them when you only do it at 50k miles. People don't read the instructions.


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Originally Posted By: CT8
I can't understand the draw to Anything K@N. They are a fools filters.


And yet, my 4.6L powered F150 has well North of 300,000 miles, does not use oil between changes and runs perfectly. I wonder where the problem really is.
 
Originally Posted By: heyu
And so many will never understand ~ more airflow will make a computer controlled engine use more gasoline resulting in horrible fuel mileage / I gladly parted with my new K & N at a flea market for a couple bucks
Your engine is basically a vacuum pump itself, it will pull in as much air as it needs. So unless your filter has a mouse nest in it and has 200,000 miles on it, your car isn't going to know the difference.
 
Originally Posted By: jayg
The problem with oiled filters is people over oil them. They change color and people wash and heavily oil them when you only do it at 50k miles. People don't read the instructions.


There is a sticker in the box that says clean every 50,000 miles - but people can't leave them alone. They keep looking at them, cleaning them, oiling them. You just need to leave them alone, clean when it gets really, really, really, really dirty....they need more loading than a paper filter. I've used them a lot on carburettor engines, never on an injected engine.
 
take that nice new filter and hold it up to the sun.. see all those little holes that dust and dirt go right through and dust you engine... awesome filters those are.
 
Originally Posted By: jayg
The problem with oiled filters is people over oil them.


I was planning on just changing mine out instead of washing and oiling it, but even after 5 years of use, it never got dirty.
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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: jayg
The problem with oiled filters is people over oil them.


I was planning on just changing mine out instead of washing and oiling it, but even after 5 years of use, it never got dirty.
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Five years and no dirt would scare me. I'd replace it with an OE filter and be done with it for good.
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K&N advertises their filters for airflow and reuse not filtering ability. I buy a filter to filter. Better to out with the old and in with new and protect the engine, rather than worry about oiling it properly and periodic cleaning.
 
You must apply the K&N bumper sticker to the rear of you car to fully extract the advertised additional 30HP.
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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
I have one for my Buick that I ran on there for 5 years. The filter would never get dirty, so I never had to wash it. The dirt would hit the filter and then fall off to the bottom of the air cleaner box. Worked like a Teflon frying pan. When I replaced the MAF sensor, I went back to a paper filter out of fear that the oil from the Airaid filter possibly destroyed the MAF sensor, but is probably all hype. I believe Airaid makes a better quality filter than K&N.


Not sure if that was a common problem on your car, but no K&N, my old car went over 200k with the original MAF. There's many stories out there of the MAF getting destroyed by the oil from the filter. Why pay extra for potential trouble?
 
This cracked filter has nothing to do with the filter's quality or how it filters.

Haven't we all received damaged mail order parts before?

I am just speculating, but if you are just wanting an oiled filter, you should look into the Purolator P1 or the Fram TG.
 
Re. air filters affecting MPGs, they don't:
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/pdfs/Air_Filter_Effects_02_26_2009.pdf

Here are some pages related to K&N and other aftermarket filters:
http://www.autospeed.co.nz/cms/A_111486/article.html
http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

I recommend a filter minder, which indicates the filters condition without guesswork:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014BI1KA
I have 38k miles on an OEM filter and restriction is between 8 and 11".
I plan to replace the filter when it reaches 11", which causes a little under 3% loss of maximum power.
 
When you change any air filter, especially a K&N spray the MAF with some CRC MAF cleaner. I clean mine every filter change but it's never looked dirty. With a K&N I would do it more often because of the dirt that gets by and any oil from the thing.
 
Originally Posted By: sprite1741
When you change any air filter, especially a K&N spray the MAF with some CRC MAF cleaner. I clean mine every filter change but it's never looked dirty. With a K&N I would do it more often because of the dirt that gets by and any oil from the thing.


Yeah, when you use a regular paper filter, you don't have to do that. Or buy MAF cleaner on top of the K&N air filter.
 
Originally Posted By: sprite1741
When you change any air filter, especially a K&N spray the MAF with some CRC MAF cleaner. I clean mine every filter change but it's never looked dirty. With a K&N I would do it more often because of the dirt that gets by and any oil from the thing.


I think this is great advice in general, but the MAF sensor on my FXT is a PITA to get in/out.
It's at the very left edge of the engine compartment with the screws facing left, so I had to use a tiny screwdriver that I ended up dropping just when I had the 2nd screw almost completely tight after cleaning the sensor. Luckily, it ended up laying on one of the plastic shields below the engine and I was able to recover it without much trouble. I have to balance the benefits of regular cleaning with the likelihood that I'm going to screw something up getting to the thing...
My daughter's car has the same engine without a turbo and the MAF sensor is a piece of cake to access...
 
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Unless you change ECU programming, exhaust and live at 1000RPM next to red line, OEM filters are the very best for engine longevity and filtering ability. They can also flow more air than your engine can ingest.

I had 125,000 miles on my factory first air filter for the Corolla. When I took it out it looked great, could have gone another round. Alas after 5 years I thought that the age of the filter might affect the glue etc so I swapped it out, haven't even looked at once for 3 years.

Maybe I'll take a look at it again at the end of the year, I know it will be good though so I am no worried.
 
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