wcc_71

i have a 3.0 v6 in my 92 pickup and i was wondering about the K&N intake is it a good buy or a bad buy? thanks

just a 22re

not sure about the 3.0 but when i went from under hood open air filter to my snorkel there was a big differnce

plus heres a bumper bump

abecedarian

it flows slightly more air than a fram paper filter but doesn't filter as well
you decide if an extra hp or two is worth shortened engine life

91diesel

shortened engine life? I've heard that and about the oil causing issues, I don't know about any of that, but I do know that Bell helicopters and the US Army use K&N filters on an engine that costs a lot more.

abecedarian

what do you think the dust kicked up by rotor wash would do to a heli turbine without some filtering?
how long would a paper filter be able to pass air in the same conditions?
they've traded good filtering / poor airflow for acceptable filtering / better airflow at the expense of accelerated turbine wear, but also have extended turbine life compared to an unfiltered intake by giving it at least some filtering.

ozziesironmanoffroad

honestly, i like KNNs. sure the holes may be a little bigger, but thats what the oil is for. usually when you buy one, it comes preoiled, something not a lot of people know. and you oil it every time you clean it. used correctly, they make the engine last just as long as the original filter. flame suit on, but i think KNNs are great.

abecedarian

you said the correct phrase: "used correctly..."

but I get a kick out of this excerpt from http://www.knfilters.com/warrnty.htm

Matt16

Cold water intake.

abecedarian

Jay351

I don't trust them. Lots of people say great things about them.... but you can't argue with results!

abecedarian

I don't think I'd comment as much as I have about them if this were say a rice racer forum, but for trucks going off road where there's a lot more dust....

Jay351

...oh and by results I mean the lack of filtration that Bob the oil guy found.

abecedarian

Jay351-
you mean this: http://bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

INFINITY

be careful... my friends 94 HAD one but the outer rubber seal was about 1/2" too small so that you had to guess/line it up very carefully so that it sealed in the factory box. this one of older ones so i dont know about the new ones. but yea it is nice to not have to replace the $16 filter every oil change (if you drive on dirt a lot). you will find a 50/50 split on opinion's here.

UKMyers

OH boy here we go again with the K&N bashing from people that have never ran one nor have zero proof of them being bad. It must be true though if someone wrote it on the internet. K&N has been around forever. They make filters for EVERYTHING with an engine. Do you think they would still be around if they produced a defective product???? I've had one in my Runner for the last 115K and it runs like a top and it spends about 80% of it's time in the dust offroad. A K&N must be properly oiled to work effectively. Too much causes issues and too little does as well. As long as they are taken care of properly they are awesome. Like anything else though if you neglect them or don't oil them right your going to have issues.

abecedarian

Glad I don't fit in that category of basher- both my trucks have them. I ran one in my 84 Laser, and my 78 and 81 Sciroccos. The only one that saw any noticeable benefit from it was the Laser and it went 95,000 on it before I traded it in. My motivation for changing to them was the return on investment compared to how many paper filters I'd go through.
I went in, back in '87 knowing they didn't filter as well as paper but proper maintenance of the k&n makes the difference negligible.
My experience is that most people do not maintain them properly. Therefore, I do not recommend them to most people.

thook

Woohoo....another K&N thread!

I've used a drop in/OEM style K&N for my '86 off and on for a number of years. Fits very well. I've never noticed any performance gains, but my motor is stock and will most likely remain that way. As far as filtering, I've never noticed any significant detriments from using it, but from comparison tests I've read they don't filter as well under dry, dusty conditions. So, when summers hits and the rain basically stops, I drop an A/C Delco paper filter. Otherwise, I run the K&N. This way, it basically saves me money on buying filters regularly and eases the doubts in the back of my mind.

I did ask a buddy of mine who's family and he races dirt track. They've used K&N filters for years and years. (3 generations of racing.) So, they're always building and tearing down motors. As far as he's concerned, the K&N's do make a difference on motor wear (and performance), but then they also clean and reoil their filters about every other race and change the oil a lot more often compared to an everyday driver.....so

The only thing I can deduce from what I've personally seen, read, and heard is that it all depends on enviromental conditions/application and.....most importantly...maintenance. I wouldn't use them if I live in an arid climate or went offroad where there's a lot of fine dust. I just don't fully trust it. But, anywhere else I don't see a problem.

My opinion, of course.

X-AWDriver

I used one on my very modded Eclipse for 5 of it's 8 race seasons (before that it was a HKS foam filter) and turbos have nearly a zero tolerance when it comes to particulates and my turbos never had any issues due to filtration and while it didn't see the damands of off roading it did see about 9k miles (just over 400 timeslips at the strip) a year of daily driving and still ran high 12s with 117k on the stock motor. (I bought it with 20k on it and I added plenty of fun bolt-ons)

I think they are fine and there's no proof they hurt engine life but with our sensitive MAFs you do need to watch overoiling but that goes with any oil based filter.

I have a K&N but right now I'm using a Puralator paper filter and will be going back to the K&N and just doing my own MPG studies which will also include numbers with and w/o my Loadwarrior up top.

1990Runner

well i read an article in i think it was petersons 4x4 mag and they tested i think 5 big name filters and K&N flowed the best but it also let in the most particles. they came to the conclusion that K&N not so good for off road vehicles. i think it was the amsoil that was the best balance of air flow versus particles passing through. and this was like a year ago and ive drank a beer since then so sorry for the "I thinks"

82yota

I think they work fine. I put one in my 82 and never ever noticed and dust or dirt in the intake where the outside was filthy. It seemed to filter pretty decently. I've also got on in my diesel. But the reason it is there is because I could not buy the paper filter in North America so was forced to go the K&N route. Its been in there for about 3 months and nothing has gone wrong with the turbo yet.