WTK: Does K&N filter improve mileage and speed or not?

[siner69]

Can anyone who has K&N filter installed in their van give their opinions on these? Does it increase mileage and speed? How would I know what is the right filter for my b2500 van?
Thas with the WL turbo engines, 2.5L.

When I bought my van, it came with a cone filter, I admit, at first to hear that turbo spooling was nice, and I think the acceleration was quick, but the mileage was poor. So I went back with the stock filter.....So far, I think I've hear mixed reviews with the K&N filter....

Someone please enlighten me....

[venum]

I get on average 50 km more per tank with my K&N in my L200

acceleration is improved a bit, but negligible, the mileage gain is the real benefit

at first the turbo spooling sounding cool, but now it just firetruck annoying

[sweeks]

I've used them but not during the dry season or in dusty conditions. You do get better mileage and acceleration but more air = more dust particles and that shortens the life span of your oil IMHO. I took out mines and replaced it with an OEM filter.

[Cooper]

I get better mileage plus a bit more power during acceleration. On the downside, you do have to keep it clean to maintain performance. In my case, I clean it every three months and also I discovered from research (and other posts in this forum) over a period of time the fibers in the filter break down with every cleaning..... still like the turbo spooling noise though




(I'm currently researching foam filter options)

[plk]

I saw an improvement in my Sportero in both milage and performance.

According to the manufacture these filters are good for 25 washings.

[venum]

^^^ so that 25 washings have to span their million miles guarantee that they used to promote

[CD4Accord]

Personally, for a turbocharged diesel I cant justify the trouble of using it....
if you want extra power, a 1psi increase to your boost will make much more difference than changing a filter which can potentially let more dirt into your engine...

[lighthammer]

^^^ so that 25 washings have to span their million miles guarantee that they used to promote

Well according to the little piece of paper that comes with the filter, each filter-cleaning interval is about 25,000 miles or 40,000km. So for 25 cleanings, that's 40,000 x 25 = 1,000,000km.

Which is probably a little more than the average lifespan of a diesel engine.

[lighthammer]

- Power: yes, anywhere betw. 3-5hp in a N/A engine, up to 10hp in a turbocharged engine
- Speed: yes. More HP = more speed
- Acceleration: yes
- Mileage: Depends on your driving style. If you take advantage of the increased power, your fuel economy will go down. If you drive coservatively, your economy would increase. The engine ECU will basically determine that u have more oxygen coming in so it would need a little less fuel to be injected & compressed in the combustion chamber.


I'd say that I saw all of the above in my frontier when I installed the K&N. Even the drop-in filters give u a noticeable difference in power & speed. And before I used to make about 600km's per tank, now I can reach up to 650-675km.

[Dj_Bee]

^^^ so that 25 washings have to span their million miles guarantee that they used to promote

Well according to the little piece of paper that comes with the filter, each filter-cleaning interval is about 25,000 miles or 40,000km. So for 25 cleanings, that's 40,000 x 25 = 1,000,000km.

Which is probably a little more than the average lifespan of a diesel engine.

so do you wait till 40k kms is passed to clean your filter?
i installed one a few months ago, and im doing about 12000km with it currently and my conscience is telling me to clean it....
any advice?

[speedaholic]

well trinidad is a dirty place! my stock paper filter does get noticably dirty after 1 month or so... the paper goes from white to a light grey color. i seriously considering buy a k&N tho...

[PariaMan]

http://www.midnightmods.com/2010/01/6637-mod.html

Maybe you should check this article first especially the comments at the end. In a nutshell they are claiming that K&N and Turbo not a good idea because the turbo pulls air through the system and any dust that gets in can damage your turbo.

[Cooper]

This is a quote from the link above:

I have a 2001 7.3 I bought new I used amsoil and did religious oil analysis as soon as I put a K&N air filter in my silica levels jumped to some thing like 300 ppm. Using an amsiol foam air filter the silica level was always less then 3ppm. Oil Analyzers Inc called me immediately to tell me about the high silica readings, they told me to check for a dusty film on the clean side of my air box. And their was a shocking amount of dust there. I dumped the oil and the K&N, went back to the foam filter and the next oil sample was good.

Every time I pull out my K&N I check the inside of the intake box and intake tube for any residue/dust..... so far nothing, it's as clean as the day I bought the truck and I've cleaned & recharge the filter twice in the past 9 months and it's due for another cleaning.

[PariaMan]

Was just reading a foreign forum where there was a long argument about K & N filters . Seems to be people on both sides of the fence . However they both seem to agree that for extremely dusty enviroment they will not use them but for normal driving they are ok. As for me I will just change the OEM regularly and not have to worry about real dusty enviroment 9where I go sometimes) or if I over oiled it and did not let it dry properly.

Also note that this guy may be doing his driving in the desert while all your driving may be on the highway and around town

[nicholas7129]

yea but on my ranger it pulling air from in d fender doh think much dust would be inside dere

[lighthammer]

However they both seem to agree that for extremely dusty enviroment they will not use them but for normal driving they are ok.

^^^ Correct.