K&N air filter


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I thought I would pass this on to us that are on dirt roads. Some of you know I do Jeep tours here in the valley. Well on one of my tour truck I was wondering for months now why on a new eng I was getting bad blow-by. Now I found out why. I have a new guy working for me who was a mechanic. We got on the subject of K&N filters. He was telling me that the K&N filter will let dirt get pass it. The K&N filter relies on oil for it to work but here in AZ the oil can dry out. He said you can look on the other side of the filter and see if there is dirt getting pass. Well sure enough I could feel the dirt/rocks on the other side. I can't believe you think your buying the best and that S O B is letting dirt get in and now the eng is shot. Anyway if you have a piece of crap K&N filter on your ride I would get it off right away.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Hey Azaware,

Years ago I owned a 1985 Toyota 4x4 pickup truck. I loved the truck for prospecting. I had a Rancho 3-inch lift, nice BFG tires, Rancho 9000 shocks, roll bar with lights and the whole kit and kaboodle. A friend of mine that was the manager of Desert Rat convinced me you had to have a K&N filter, everyone was using them. I experienced the same thing, it was a bitch to clean and seemed to collect tons of dirt. I finally tossed the damn thing. They might work awesome when you're on the road and away from the dirt roads, but off-road I wasn't a fan.

Just my thoughts!

Rob Allison

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I have actually had the opposite experience. I have had a K&N filter on my 2003 Dodge Dakota for quite some time and I have not had a problem with it allowing dirt into the engine. It does get dirty and collects a lot of dirt during my peak prospecting season, but I just take a couple of minutes before each trip to drop it on the concrete a couple of times and she is good to go. I also remember to recharge it on a regular basis. As long as I keep it clean and oiled, it does a great job. I have yet to find any dirt in the bottom of my air box. If, and when, it starts doing that it will be gone. Find a ton o' gold!

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The K&N air filter is a horrible idea and really old automotive tech. Most vehicles now have mass air flow sensor or air intake sensors on the intake manifold. These sensors really don't like oil and the K&N filter will inroduce oil into the air and shorten the life of the air sensor on your vehicle. In addtion they are grossly inefficient in comparison to modern syntheic fleece fibers that todays best engine air filters are made of. The synthetic filters allow more air and no damaging dirt into the air stream. I have a snorkel on my Jeep with a Pre-Filter basket that traps most of the dirt in the basket, then a high grade syntheic fleece air filter. Make a switch to a synthetic fleece air filter if you can find one for your vehicle they run about $30-50 bucks.

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Amzoil air filters use the same tech as the US Army's A1 Abrams.

Chris C,

The dirt that gets past the K&N is ultra fine and goes straight into the engine. The intake side of the air box is vacuumed clean with every drive :)

K&N doesn't recommend them for off road use or dusty environments.

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