With all the hoopla over how the K&N does not filter small particles well, that oiled cotton gauze material is an inefficient filter media, and the possibility of oiling your MAF or whatever sensor, would it not be wiser to leave the stock filter and induction system in place? Or even just replace the filter with a True Flow? I’m not arguing that the AF 1 or K&N does not make more power than stock, but what about the long term effects on your engine? Isn’t the AF 1 filter essentially a copy of the oiled cotton gauze of K&N?
Asking this b/c I am having a dilemma over what to do with my truck Troyer tunes are a definite, but on stock intake and filter, stock intake with True Flow filter (don’t think they make an intake kit for the F-250 5.4), or AF 1 system. I know the AF 1 would make more power, but what about my peace of mind?

 

Ever since K&Ns patent expired, all these other manufacturers of so called high performance filters claim that the K&N product is no good. But before the expiration of their patent everybody praised their filter as the best. I've been using K&N filters for years with no problems. My MAF sensor has never been fouled by the oil in either of my vehicles. One thing you don't want to do is spray oil on the filter, reinstall it and right away go racing down the street. You need to let the oil set in first, says so on the box. I'm sure alot of the other filters out there are good as well, but I don't believe they should bash their competition just to sell their own.

 

I agree with ADT. I have a 95 Mustang GTS that I put a K&N filter on when it passed 1000 miles. The car now has 83,000 miles on it and I have had ZERO problems with it. Since then I have put one on my 98 Explorer (that my son still drives -- over 110,000 miles), a 2004 Honda Odyssey with 24000 miles, a 05 F-150 with 12500 miles and a 2006 Odyssey that has 800 miles on it. All have seen small acceleration gains and not a single problem with "oil in the MAF". I think this is a myth being propagated by other manufacturers that are trying to erode some of K&N's marked share. That's my opinion.

 

Well, it CAN be very dangerous, but you just have to be careful. My buddy had a K&N intake on his Tacoma and he over-oiled his and it ended up ruining sensors and ran him up a bill of $500~.

 

I'm with the folks that like the K&N. I've put well over 100,000 miles on them and never had a problem.
Rich

 

I realize this is an oooold thread.

I've had mine on the F150 for 7 years now, 2 years ago I bought a 1 inch thick foam pre-filter, to go over the cone, the pre-filter has caught most of the grunge but the main filter hasnt caught jack crap, as a matter of fact the inside of the maf sensor is usually coated with oil and the inside of the tube has a slight layer of dust on it. I'll take a picture of mine and post it next time I clean the sucker, if it lasts for aother cleaning, the filter material is becoming transparent.

I'm not to happy about having the filter that doesnt trap small stuff, the factory crap filter did a better job, but the box & air tube was as restrictive as a straw. I live in sandy conditions and filters clog sooner than they do elsewhere. I was gonna buy a K&N 6" tall filter for my camaro stingray hood scoop but after this recent ordeal forget it, cheap frams are the way to go. I cant complain too much as I have gotten 7 years of hard use out of the filter, it cost me $257.00 7 years ago not too bad, considering I would have replaced a stock filter every other weekend as I was averaging 1000miles a week.