Thread: K&N Air filter ?

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I was doing some pre-winter maintenance on my daily driver it's a 2000 Ford F-150 truck (yes I own Chevy as well as Ford). That being said I changed the oil and then was going to clean the air filter. The air filter has about 20,000 miles on it since being installed last year

I went up to the auto parts store and bought the cleaning kit for $9 and sum change. This was the first time I had cleaned one of these types of filters so I read the directions. The directions stated in a nut shell:

1) Brush off any loose debris with a brush.
2) Spray on cleaner and let sit 10 min.
3) Wash Filter from inside out with water.
4) Dry by shaking off excess water and then air dry naturally.
5) Apply supplied lubricating oil, wait 20 mins. and reapply to any remaining white areas.

That's all fine and dandy but the things that got my attention were:

1) Clean every 50,000 to 100,000 miles to let the dirt build up work for you which will actually help increase performance? Huh?

Do not use compressed air to dry the filter after washing with water? Huh?

Well those two things didn’t make sense to me so maybe you guy's can help shed sum light on this?

How does a dirty filter increase performance? I can see that it might help trap more dust and dirt but that also means that it is getting less air because it's more restrictive?

What is wrong with using compressed air to blow the excess water out of the filter instead of waiting a couple of hours for the darn thing to dry?

Originally posted by JCT400SB

How does a dirty filter increase performance? I can see that it might help trap more dust and dirt but that also means that it is getting less air because it's more restrictive?

What is wrong with using compressed air to blow the excess water out of the filter instead of waiting a couple of hours for the darn thing to dry?

A) Yes, that's how it works up to the point where it gets TOO plugged up.

B) Because with direct blast of compressed air it's likely BIG holes get blown in the media that let in bigger particles. It could probably be done if one were to use the air stream sensibly, e.g. from a distance, at low force, with a diffuser nozzle..........but the instructions need to be written for the lowest common denominator.

I cleaned it anyway.... maybe it was my imagination but it did seem to run better and have better pickup after it was cleaned.

I did use the airhose and I guess some common sense because I didnt blow any holes in the gauze filter.

Had I had known it was gonna take a 1/2 day to clean and let the filter dry I would have pulled it in the street and out of the way. My wife was breathen down my neck to let her out of the driveway to take the boy's somewhere.

Originally posted by JCT400SB
I was doing some pre-winter maintenance on my daily driver it's a 2000 Ford F-150 truck (yes I own Chevy as well as Ford). That being said I changed the oil and then was going to clean the air filter. The air filter has about 20,000 miles on it since being installed last year

I went up to the auto parts store and bought the cleaning kit for $9 and sum change. This was the first time I had cleaned one of these types of filters so I read the directions. The directions stated in a nut shell:

1) Brush off any loose debris with a brush.
2) Spray on cleaner and let sit 10 min.
3) Wash Filter from inside out with water.
4) Dry by shaking off excess water and then air dry naturally.
5) Apply supplied lubricating oil, wait 20 mins. and reapply to any remaining white areas.

That's all fine and dandy but the things that got my attention were:

1) Clean every 50,000 to 100,000 miles to let the dirt build up work for you which will actually help increase performance? Huh?

Do not use compressed air to dry the filter after washing with water? Huh?

Well those two things didn’t make sense to me so maybe you guy's can help shed sum light on this?

How does a dirty filter increase performance? I can see that it might help trap more dust and dirt but that also means that it is getting less air because it's more restrictive?

What is wrong with using compressed air to blow the excess water out of the filter instead of waiting a couple of hours for the darn thing to dry?

its a computer thing, if the air filter gets a little dirty the computer will compensate by leaning the fuel out, so up to a certain point you are using less gas. past that point then you start starving the motor out, then you would have a driverbility problem.