k&n filter, letting particles in?

[98warrior]

Well I've had my k&n for a year and after a muddy ride a few days ago I figured its time to check it again. Well the filter was pretty dirty and clogged up, should of cleaned it a while ago but never got around to it. But anyways I noticed a good bit of small dust particles in the boot, I didnt realize the k&n would let this much dust and little particles in?

 

[Guest]

do you have an outerwears for it? if you dont you should get one, they keep a lot of **** off of the filter and out of your motor

 

[98warrior]

No, I dont have an outerwears but I run it with a lid unlike most people. I'd hate to see it if I ran no lid.

 

[97warriorrider]

will the outerware restrict airflow?

 

[ratchracing]

will the outerware restrict airflow?

nope

 

[ratchracing]

Well I've had my k&n for a year and after a muddy ride a few days ago I figured its time to check it again. Well the filter was pretty dirty and clogged up, should of cleaned it a while ago but never got around to it. But anyways I noticed a good bit of small dust particles in the boot, I didnt realize the k&n would let this much dust and little particles in?

you mean you have not checked / cleaned your air filter in a year?

 

[jasonp]

Yes it does.
If properly oiled though the filter should do the job.

 

[98warrior]

[quote:a530976t]Well I've had my k&n for a year and after a muddy ride a few days ago I figured its time to check it again. Well the filter was pretty dirty and clogged up, should of cleaned it a while ago but never got around to it. But anyways I noticed a good bit of small dust particles in the boot, I didnt realize the k&n would let this much dust and little particles in?

you mean you have not checked / cleaned your air filter in a year?[/quote:a530976t]

No, lol. Actually probably 3 months which is too long.

 

[griff]

A K&N will filter better if its a little dirty.

A visual inspection is usually enough to tell if it needs cleaning, and by that I mean lightly caked-on dirt, or you can see more brown that red.

K&N's do flow better, but it is at a minor filtration penalty. If you clean your K&N too often, all youre doing is letting more small particulate in, more often. Then the second line of defense has to pick it up (i.e. your oil and oil filter - and thats not a good thing).

An Outerwears will not stop smaller particulate, theyre made for larger particulate and repelling water.

If your seeing dust in the boot, then either its WAY too dirty, OR it wasnt oiled properly before. If you get a **** load of mud on it, clean it immediately! If the mud dries on the K&N, it can damage the filter media and let all kinds of **** in.

I always recommend running an Outerwears when using K&N's, but you still have to maintain the filter properly.

Hope that helps.

 

[dswwarrior350]

I have always felt a single stage uni pod fiter not only out flowed a k&n but when oiled correctly also out filters. Notice i said single stage pod ... not the dual stage. This is only an opinion but from what i saw when i was younger at the dirt drags and hillclimbs was when k&n was pretty new on the scene alot of people used them. But the guys that were winning were running uni pods. My dad even tried the k&n, it was on there for one ride then he ditched it for the uni. The bike did nothing but load up on the k&n and lost alot of its top end kick. Ive been running a pod on my warrior for about 4 years now and after the many horrors ive seen k&n filters cause on both cars and quads i think ill stick to my sponges.

K&n's completly f**k up mass airflow sensors on vehicles.... i do not.. and i repeat do not reccomend running one on a car. Most of the newer filter companies coming onto the scene are using dry filter elements... id imagine thats the reason. Now maybe if you dont oil it you wont have a problem.... but the thing doesnt filter for crap heavily oiled. With no oil you could most likely get away with running some window screen in place of it and still get the same results. Of course im only kidding so dont take that serious... but i really do not have any faith in k&n's.

Really though its all in preference. Me i know the pods work better for me (notice i said me not everyone) and are less than 1/2 of the k&n.

 

[griff]

I have always felt a single stage uni pod fiter not only out flowed a k&n but when oiled correctly also out filters. Notice i said single stage pod ......

K&n's completly f**k up mass airflow sensors on vehicles.... i do not.. and i repeat do not reccomend running one on a car.

I have to disagree to some extent on your points there.

A single stage Uni Pod will not flow better than a K&N pod. It will filter better initially - but speaking from direct experience, I lost 5hp on my B12 on the dyno using Uni single stage pod filters. I immediately switched back to K&N RU2922's. Same type of deal on my old Banshee, lost 2-3hp across the entire powerband.

K&N filters can damage MAF/MAP/MAS sensors on cars, but its almost always when using a CAI, and using an over-oiled filter. I've run K&N stock replacement filter in most of my previous vehicles and all my current vehicles, and never had a single CEL issue. Including and Acura 3.2CL-S, Mazda B4000, Ford F-150, Dodge SRT-4, Suzuki Grand Vitara, a new Honda Civic EX.

A lot of CAI kits use K&N clone filters (i.e. not the real deal), and are usually over-oiled, and those things throw CEL's often.

 

[dswwarrior350]

I guess a dyno doesnt lie. But i still prefer uni.. its just a cheaper more effective way of filtering without sacrificing as much flow as stock.

 

[2kwarrior]

The problem with K&N's is there is a sweet spot for the amount of oil to apply. It's a trial and error thing, Unfortunatly it can be an expensive trial and error. To much oil is not good and not enough is not good. On vehicles the damage done to mass airflow sensors are from to much oil. I run 2 different filters depending on sand conditions (I basically only ride the dunes) in wet sand I run a K&N pod with outwears, when the sand is wet Ive never had a problem with particles getting thru the filter. In dry sand I run a foam Twin Air dual stage pod with an outerwears and dont have problems with particles getting thru. The K&N in dry sand always have let the fine sand thru.

 

[galaxy5oo]

Thanks for the info 2kwarrior. My K & N with outerwears did good at the dunes this year, but it was wet. I may have to look into another setup if I go when the sand is real dry.

 

[jasonp]

+1 to griff.
In school we had a flow bench and the foam filter was the worst flowing filter out there.

 

[jasonp]

What made me a believer on k&n's was when a group of three of us went on a 3 day 250 mile trip with are fourwheelers. Katie was the last person in are group and it was dusty as ****. You couldn't even see her and she wasn't that far behind. When we got back I cleaned her filter for her and honestly that ******* thing was so packed full of dust/dirt it was unbelievable. I took it off and looked with a flashlight in the intake boot. Nothing, was a little wet from gas but no dirt what so ever was in there. That changed my mind about k&n's filtering.

 

[jasonp]

I know on my bike too... I had a uni pod filter and switching from that to a k&n made a big gains in the top end that I could actually feel.

 

[Guest]

ive used k&n filters with outerwears on every quad ive ever had and never had any problems with them

 

[98warrior]

only thing i dont like about the k&n is it takes a long time to dry, i set mine in front of my fan at put it on speed 3 and 45 minutes later it still was'nt completely dry but i oiled it and put it back in anyways.

 

[jasonp]

Also single stage uni filters are ment for snowmoble riding or none dusty conditions because the pores are larger in the foam allowing greater airflow but a lot less filtering. Dual stage are ment for ATV's.
Still the K&N of the same size out flowed it (uni single stage) by 300 cfm on the flow bench at 20" of water.