jbrew - if Carquest doesn't have a Wix, go over to NAPA and get a NAPA Gold. Same thing.

 

napa good stuff there

 

Yea , I got it already - thanks , no NAPA'S around here . Ther use to be one about 40 miles from here - not sure if its still there. That place had the best aluminum cleaner - haven't been able to match it yet..

 

i've never had any mas problems, never found any oil past the filter on my intake tract, and i've never found any dust downstream of the filter on the inside of the intake tract so far with my k&n filter

lots of people report the above happening, but i've yet to experience it myself

i've been in some pretty severe dust storms with the k&n filter, and after one especially bad one about a year ago, i pulled the filter for cleaning since it was about time anyway and did a white tissue-paper swab of my intake tract only to find nothing but white tissue paper...not that i believe dirt sticks to a dry plastic intake tract, but to test the claims i've heard about the idea

i would surmise that dirt would stick to the intake tract if aided by a sticky substance not unlike the oil on an oiled filter, and it makes sense that if the oil is pulled into the intake from the filter, this would provide the adhesion necessary to affix dirt to the inside of the intake tract as well as foul a mass air sensor...yet i haven't duplicated the phenomena

my filter certainly trapped a lot of dust in that particular storm, as evident by the sheer weight of the filter when i pulled it and the bottom of the sink after cleaning it...while i can't deny any dust infiltrated the filter (it's certain an amount did), i can't deny any dust infiltrates a paper filter in that environment either (it's also certain that a certain amount does)

what isn't certain is the difference in the amount of dust that infiltrates each media...is it enough to kill an engine? is it negligible? is it going to take 10k miles off the life of an engine?

questions with no definitive answers

until i find more definitive answers, i'll use my own experience to guide my choice to keep running the k&n filter

imo, one's cleaning, re-oiling, and re-installing method will have a great impact on the functionality of an oiled gauze filter...i keep a napa gold filter that i swap in when i pull the k&n to clean, i clean throughly and gently with low-pressure water, leave to dry at least 24 hrs, apply oil in very light passes until an even coat is evident, then allow to sit for at least another 24 hrs, inspect and wipe any excess oil, reclean and oil if it appears i've over-oiled, and finally swap back in when no excess oil is evident...it takes almost as long to type the method as each small step takes to complete

we'll see how well it holds up

 

Wal-Mart is now selling a Fram "Washable" filter, part #WA8039. Is this the same as the older "Tough Guard" filter element? Claims soap and water cleaning is OK up to 20 times.

 

Use the Motorcraft, just picked up another the other day from dealership and it was actually 5 buck's cheaper than the Fram replica and WalMart.

 

I can't help myself, whenever anybody mentions Fram Air Filters, I have to post the following pics I got off of another forum. Imagine the owners surprise when he opened his filter box and saw this:



From the guys post, the filter you see has about 20,000 miles on it. It still looks fairly clean to me meaning it has been like this for a long time. Since this post, I always glue my end caps on regardless of manufacturer. I use Gorilla Glue FWIW.

 

Labnerd - I was trying to figure out what the heck this user https://www.f150online.com/forums/19...-box-help.html had found in his air box. Never seen anything like that before.

 

Wow! I'm glad I saw this thread... this is way too funny...

I go OEM all the way...

Oh, and the OEM has been electrically charged too from what I've been told... you know like those dusters that you use around the house dusting? Well, it's supposed to trap and hold on to the dirt and filter particles down to something like <3 microns in size... something that the other filters don't have.

 

Trust me you dont want FRAM... that thing in the picture is exactly what I encountered. Definately a omen...

 

Maybe he just got one of those "high performance" air filter elements I've heard so much about. That thing will certainly flow well.

 

Good grief!

 

I love K&N. Only problem, after a few washes they start to let more particles in. Anything washable has that problem im sure. You minus fibers, you minus filter mass. But while their new, K&N is the pWnag3

 

Well Jbrew, since cH1r0420 chimed in on this thread, we know that this isn't the only failure of a Fram air filter. Personally, I see it as a design flaw. If the end cap falls out, you don't have an air filter. That's a lot riding on the glue line. Like I said, I reglue all of mine as a just in case kinda thing. As you can tell from the pics, the guy rides ranches and the truck is subject to a lot of fine white koliche rock that is used for ranch roads in South Texas. The stuff is finer than face powder and in dry condition, I've been in my truck going down one of these roads at 30 mph and you can't see the tailgate for the dust. I imagine this guy is going to come up short on engine life. All of you might consider putting another bead of glue on the end caps. It's real cheap insurance.

 

Yeah, I was thinking of that before I installed my Napa Gold, it looks sturdy, but rather be safe than sorry. I don't want to open up my air filter box to find that end cap sitting near the fender wall again! F that... Tough Guard Filter my @$$ I'll reglue mine soon, I just wanted to get rid of that filter that scared me half to death.