In the past year I have found my K&N air filter completely detached from the intake tube. I noticed a noise coming out of the engine compartment last October, when I got to my destination I popped the hood and low and behold the filter was completely detached. The same exact thing happened this morning without any sign of loosening or any problem for the past year, and I have been checking it religously. If anyone can tell me why this is happening or any way to avoid this problem I would greatly appreciate it.

 

really, air filters aren't really needed, unless you drive in a very very dusty environment. i know a guy that took the filter off his mustang and it's been off for 8 years and he's had no problems, you should keep it on just check it every once in a while, but it's no big deal if it falls off.

 

an air filter is insurance. you can drive around for years without it but get caught without it and your busted. better to have it on and not worry about your engine blowing up than to keep it off.

is the o-ring tight? got a picture to help us out?

 

Check my galleries. I think theres a pic. of it there.

 

Are you tightening the living hell out of the clamp? You are using a socket wrench and all to tighten it? You cant go gentle with it

 

I thought I was tightening it enough with a screwdriver but obviously not.

 

Try it with a socket wrench, I am going to guess an 8mm, the intake sucking air down vibrates quite a bit, especially on the start up & idle calm down.

 

I have a K&N cold air kit on the girlfriends Blazer and I found that I had to crank it on pretty tight to get a good seal. I also found that the rubber around the clamp area had become hard and almost brittle over time. I assumed it was a combination of the filter oil and the exposure to the elements. A million miles my a**. I also had to clean the MAF a lot. I am sure I over oiled the thing but I was afraid of not oiling it enough. In the end I picked up an AFE dry filter that mounted right onto the kit and have never looked back.

 

Yep, years ago I did the K&N filter on my 97 150. I didn't like it all, to many problems and it wouldn't even give a good seal. Had to clean the TB a couple times because it just wasn't doing it's job-Filtering! So I now use a OEM filter that works great, fits and seals like it should be. Never again will I use a K&N anything.

 

I know this is old, but I'm glad I saw it. This same issue has come up on my '05 F-150 twice in the last 3 months. Don't think I will be going K&N again.

 

Yeah old thread , but this seems pretty common with the K&N CAI's. It used to happen to me all the time when I was running that kit on my '04.

Removed it a couple of years ago. Its nothing but a pile of parts in my basement now. LOL

 

Man, I must be the lucky one. 3 years with the knn and no problem like this and a half a year with the amsoil dry filter and no problems. I guess i got lucky ha

 

With the K&N, your getting a lot of dirt (and oil) ito your engine any way, so if it comes off the intake tube, no big deal.