K&N Air Filter [/align][hr]

The guy who I bought my car from had the K&N Air Filter. The one you clean with a special Solution & then coat with oil. It's suppose to last forever I hear. Well the dealership told me it was dirty. I don't have the solution or oil to clean it with. I'm wondering is this filter all it's cracked up to be ? What am I gaining by using it instead of a disposable Filter ? People say better gas mileage & horsepower. Is all this hype true ? I want to find out before getting all the solutions & oil for the K&N Filter. Thanks in advance.[/align]

 

you are gaining a little horsepower by having it instead of having a regular disposable air filter. the gas mileage thing is all up to how you drive. if you drive hard, you won't gain much mileage off of it. if you drive it easy, you will. i would definitely keep it though because what you will spend on the recharge kit is pretty close to what you will spend on a new filter, but you will get a lot more recharges out of that kit than you will get out of a disposable filter.

all i am going to say about the life of the filter is that my friend still has the same filter that he has had on his car for the last 5 years and it was on his last car for about 6-7 years before the car got totaled. so, basically, i'm not saying that the filter will last forever, but it should out last the car by a few years.

 

broght my car to dealership for leaky radiator & egr and the only thing the tech reported was radiator & dirty air filter. how can you tell when these filters get dirty? I can't tell. There was no crap on or around it.

 

hold the filter up to the light.
if you can see light thru it, it's clean
if you cant, its dirty.

i dont know if this is the same for K&N filters tho...

 

by looking at it does it look brown or black? compared to a off white?

but wsoape is right. if you drive like Mrs Daisy then you will have great MPG.
if you drive like speed racer then it goes quickly

 

The K&N filters ARE Red in color. I went on Website just to see if mine was the right color. It's red with some black lines on it.

 

i do have some advice for the recharge process. everyone always worries about over-oiling the filter so much that they under-oil them. when you under-oil the filter, you run the risk of getting water in the intake when there is bad weather. if you over-oil, you run the risk of getting oil in the intake. all that i have to say is make sure the filter is damp with oil but not saturated. if it doesn't get damp with oil, it will let water through. so blot it with a cloth after you spray it and if it comes off thin and even, it is oiled correctly, if it comes off red and makes the rag slick, it is over-oiled.

 

I guess I will get the Oil & Cleaner and use the K&N,

 

bought it today. Willgive it a cleaning & put the K&N back in. Thanks for the advice.