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Changing an air filter?

Look it up on your user manual.

It should have two choices: normal and severe. You decide which condition and change your air filter accordingly.

I just look it up in my manual and 30K for normal <typical> and 15K for severe <dusty>.

BTW, don't let anyone charge $ to change the air filter. It only takes about 5 minutes or less to do it, very easy.
 
I think most engine air filters are good for 20-25K miles unless you live in a dusty area. Best bet is to look in your manual like already has been suggested.
 
Originally posted by: BassBomb
10k? Mine has lasted about 70 so far without a change, still clean

(2002 Civic)
Click to expand...

Um... That's way too long. If you use a pleated paper filter it may look clean on the tops of the pleats but down in there will be tons of crap. It's a cheap way to get better gas mileage. It doesn't need to look that dirty to be time for a change.
 
Take a look through it and see how much light passes (hold it up to a light bulb or look at the sun). I have found that sometimes I end up replacing my air filter at close to 10k intervals.
 
Agreed. The K&N is a top notch filter, which will give you
better fuel enconomy and more horsepower (about 2-3HP).
You will need their Cleaner and Filter Oils to clean & reoil it.
Should be done once a year on average. Filter will need to
dry for about 2 hours or so after the cleaning before you
lightly reoil it. Works great, have it on every car I have owned.
As to changing filter yourself, easy on most cars. On some it
is in an air box and you need to be sure you close it properly
when done. And it is a good idea to Vacuum out the inside
of the air box, as invariably, it will contain some dirt & grit.
 
Originally posted by: Blain

Invest in a K&N filter and clean it as often as you like.
Click to expand...

DO NOT DO THIS. K&N filters let in substantially more dirt.

http://home.stny.rr.com/jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm


People who don't know any better use them. And they'll always defend them by saying racecars use K&N, etc etc... How long is a race car engine meant to last? Common sense... How do you think they flow more air? And the ONLY time the extra 2 horsepower matters is at wide open throttle. In every other situation you are using as much throttle as you need to go the speed you want. If you got 2 more from an air filter, you'd just throttle down slightly to compensate, adding restriction at the throttle plate to compensate for the better flow at the filter. This is why the mpg increase claims are BS. The way you control the engine's horsepower IS by restricting airflow, which the ECU adjusts fuel flow for.
 
Originally posted by: Throckmorton
DO NOT DO THIS. K&N filters let in substantially more dirt.

http://home.stny.rr.com/jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm


People who don't know any better use them. And they'll always defend them by saying racecars use K&N, etc etc... How long is a race car engine meant to last? Common sense... How do you think they flow more air? And the ONLY time the extra 2 horsepower matters is at wide open throttle. In every other situation you are using as much throttle as you need to go the speed you want. If you got 2 more from an air filter, you'd just throttle down slightly to compensate, adding restriction at the throttle plate to compensate for the better flow at the filter. This is why the mpg increase claims are BS. The way you control the engine's horsepower IS by restricting airflow, which the ECU adjusts fuel flow for.
Click to expand...



This is simply untrue. Lots of people like to claim that the K&N is not good a filter. Then of course there's the 'evidence' of some flow numbers and particle counts. I don't want to imagine how much time that guy wasted doing the tests and then putting together the plots. I've had a K&N on my truck since the day I bought it 8 years ago. I don't know how long the previous owner had it on but I've got almost 80,000 miles with it.


My counter: Blackstone Oil Analysis


EDIT: Forgot to add the link
 
I replace when dirty and I check every couple of months. I have personally replaced air filters after just a few hundred miles of exceptionally dusty conditions.
 
Originally posted by: franksta
Originally posted by: Throckmorton
DO NOT DO THIS. K&N filters let in substantially more dirt.

http://home.stny.rr.com/jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm


People who don't know any better use them. And they'll always defend them by saying racecars use K&N, etc etc... How long is a race car engine meant to last? Common sense... How do you think they flow more air? And the ONLY time the extra 2 horsepower matters is at wide open throttle. In every other situation you are using as much throttle as you need to go the speed you want. If you got 2 more from an air filter, you'd just throttle down slightly to compensate, adding restriction at the throttle plate to compensate for the better flow at the filter. This is why the mpg increase claims are BS. The way you control the engine's horsepower IS by restricting airflow, which the ECU adjusts fuel flow for.
Click to expand...



This is simply untrue. Lots of people like to claim that the K&N is not good a filter. Then of course there's the 'evidence' of some flow numbers and particle counts. I don't want to imagine how much time that guy wasted doing the tests and then putting together the plots. I've had a K&N on my truck since the day I bought it 8 years ago. I don't know how long the previous owner had it on but I've got almost 80,000 miles with it.


My counter: Blackstone Oil Analysis


EDIT: Forgot to add the link
Click to expand...


What do you mean "this is simply untrue"?? What's untrue? It's a fact that K&N lets more dirt through per volume of air. How exactly do YOU think they make it less restrictive? I don't see how he wasted time though-- he proved that K&N doesn't filter as well as a paper filter. And you know what? An air filter's job is to filter air. Like he says, too much dirt is any more than necessary.

Your engine may have been running for a long time, but that doesn't mean it likes sucking in more dirt. Your oil may be relatively clean because your oil filter does its job, or because you live in a clean environment. You'd have to compare the numbers to averages for your locality, otherwise it's not scientific at all.

Of course you'll be defensive because you don't want to believe that you're putting more dirt into your engine than you would with a regular filter, or you might tell yourself it's not doing any harm, but you really need to ask yourself what benefit you see from K&N. How often do you use wide open throttle, and do you notice the 2hp?
 
Originally posted by: Throckmorton
Originally posted by: Blain

Invest in a K&N filter and clean it as often as you like.
Click to expand...

DO NOT DO THIS. K&N filters let in substantially more dirt.

http://home.stny.rr.com/jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm
Click to expand...
K&N filter efficiency of 96.8% vs the highest AC Delco at 99.93%...
Yes, now I see that the extra 3.13% makes all the difference. :laugh:

It's a good thing I've been driving on the streets rather than in Arlen Spicer's test lab back in 2004. 😛

 
Originally posted by: Blain
Originally posted by: Throckmorton
Originally posted by: Blain

Invest in a K&N filter and clean it as often as you like.
Click to expand...

DO NOT DO THIS. K&N filters let in substantially more dirt.

http://home.stny.rr.com/jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm
Click to expand...
K&N filter efficiency of 96.8% vs the highest AC Delco at 99.93%...
Yes, now I see that the extra 3.13% makes all the difference. :laugh:

It's a good thing I've been driving on the streets rather than in Arlen Spicer's test lab back in 2004. 😛
Click to expand...

Lets put it this way, would you prefer to use birth control that was 96.8% effective, or 99.93% effective?
 
Originally posted by: Blain
Originally posted by: Throckmorton
Originally posted by: Blain

Invest in a K&N filter and clean it as often as you like.
Click to expand...

DO NOT DO THIS. K&N filters let in substantially more dirt.

http://home.stny.rr.com/jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm
Click to expand...
K&N filter efficiency of 96.8% vs the highest AC Delco at 99.93%...
Yes, now I see that the extra 3.13% makes all the difference. :laugh:

It's a good thing I've been driving on the streets rather than in Arlen Spicer's test lab back in 2004. 😛
Click to expand...

The difference between 96.8% and 99.93% comes out to the K&N letting through 4500% as much dirt. 3.2% is a hell of a lot more than 0.07%.

K&N fanboys :roll:

My Jeep came with a K&N filter and 109k miles. I swapped it for an AC Delco. I may have lost 2hp, but I sure as hell don't notice that 1%. I'd rather have 99% the horsepower in exchange for 1/45 the dirt.
 
Originally posted by: Throckmorton


What do you mean "this is simply untrue"?? What's untrue? It's a fact that K&N lets more dirt through per volume of air. How exactly do YOU think they make it less restrictive? I don't see how he wasted time though-- he proved that K&N doesn't filter as well as a paper filter. And you know what? An air filter's job is to filter air. Like he says, too much dirt is any more than necessary.

Your engine may have been running for a long time, but that doesn't mean it likes sucking in more dirt. Your oil may be relatively clean because your oil filter does its job, or because you live in a clean environment. You'd have to compare the numbers to averages for your locality, otherwise it's not scientific at all.

Of course you'll be defensive because you don't want to believe that you're putting more dirt into your engine than you would with a regular filter, or you might tell yourself it's not doing any harm, but you really need to ask yourself what benefit you see from K&N. How often do you use wide open throttle, and do you notice the 2hp?
Click to expand...



According to your link the K&N passes more solid particles than a conventional paper filter. "Too much dirt is any more than necessary" doesn't quantify anything. The 96% that the K&N stops seems to be enough in my case to not cause any issues with my motor.

Yes, 80,000 miles of use doesn't mean my engine likes it. However, it doesn't seem to suffer from any ill effects.

I'm defensive because I think a lot of people look at pretty graphs like in the link you posted and then conclude that the K&N is garbage. In my experience it's just not true.

My only complaint about the K&N is that cleaning it is a bit of a pain. 😀

I use paper filters in my wife's car that I change every 25000 miles.
 
80k miles on your truck doesn't quantify anything either. "Any more than necessary is too much" means erring on the side of caution. Obviously we love our vehicles-- why put 45x as much dirt into them than we have to for an unnoticeable horsepower boost? Some people swear by regular oil and fram oil filters and run for many many miles, but a lot of us use synthetic to get some extra life out of our engines and make them run better for longer. Why would we make an exception for air filters, and say "oh well, 3.2% dirt isn't so bad"? I put the best synthetic oil in my Jeep, the best oil filter, I put the best synthetic wax on the paint, the best tires for my application, etc... and likewise I put the best air filter that I know of.

Keep in mind the difference between an engine that runs well and an engine that runs but doesn't have good compression and is less efficient is only a few microns of tolerance.
 
I replace the filters in my cars (engine and cabin) once a year...
I replace the filter in my truck about every other oil change, since it gets dirty fast. (Dodge truck with a 318.)
 
K&N on my Dirt Bikes, Paper on the auto's. There is nothing that has come close to the filtration of paper, except the the new synthetic elements. I change mine every year which equates to about 8-10k, usually the beginning of the year when I do plugs and all the oil drainage.
 
Originally posted by: Throckmorton
80k miles on your truck doesn't quantify anything either. "Any more than necessary is too much" means erring on the side of caution. Obviously we love our vehicles-- why put 45x as much dirt into them than we have to for an unnoticeable horsepower boost? Some people swear by regular oil and fram oil filters and run for many many miles, but a lot of us use synthetic to get some extra life out of our engines and make them run better for longer. Why would we make an exception for air filters, and say "oh well, 3.2% dirt isn't so bad"? I put the best synthetic oil in my Jeep, the best oil filter, I put the best synthetic wax on the paint, the best tires for my application, etc... and likewise I put the best air filter that I know of.

Keep in mind the difference between an engine that runs well and an engine that runs but doesn't have good compression and is less efficient is only a few microns of tolerance.
Click to expand...

You're right. 80k miles of use with a K&N mean nothing. However, the wear metals and silicon content of my oil do mean something. The Blackstone report suggests my air filtration is doing just fine. Would it be better with a regular paper filter? Maybe. Perhaps I'll put one in at my next oil change and run 3000 miles with paper and see if it makes any difference.

I'm only trying to help dispel some of the bashing the K&N filters get. I probably wouldn't even use one if it wasn't already in my truck when I got it. I don't have any real motor mods, I can't feel any claimed HP or torque gains, and I didn't sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
 
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