Save a whole lot of money and think Wix, Motorcraft or Purolator.

 

I have had my K&N for 6 years and fully clean it about every 6 months and re-oil every 3. The recharge kit cost $10 and lasts me about 3 years. Other than the initial cost of maybe $40, I say it is well worth it. It is the closest thing you can get to an oil-bath filter which never should have been made obsolete. I hate paper filters.

 

dang, I would try to clean the MAF sensor. I have a 95 5.8l turbocharged with 42's that is running rich. I drive it like I stole it and just yesterday I checked and got 13mpg all city driving.
I would be interested in seeing what you come up with.

 

I think the K/N filters are a big wast of money and they dont protect your engine nearly as well. when new they flow slightly better than a good paper and filter only about 99 % as well as paper ones but each time you clean and reuse them they flow less and pass more dirt. down here where we realy have dust peple only try them once. K&N own sponsor teams in the baja off rode races wont even use them. that should tell you something.


Bruce

 

Never had a problem with mine. Of course, you do have to follow the maintenance instructions.. Not meant towards you Bruce but I have seen people with K&N's that look like the inner deck of a mower.

 

Paper filters are fine. They take like 5 minutes at most to replace and are cheap at that.

K&N seems to be a little over-hyped IMO.

 

So far I'm getting 14.2mpg to 14.6mpg with my '93 F150 super cab, 4x4 with just over 100,000. Originally got 10.5 to 11mpg when I bought it.

What worked--Replaced the exhaust with a 3inch pipe after the cats to a single inlet dual outlet Pypes Perf muffler, exiting in front of the rear passenger tire. Full tuneup, found a chunk of carbon on the #4 plug. Person I bought the truck from thought it was a tranny problem. The truck would ping a lot going up hills so I dropped in a hotter coil. No more pinging and a little more umph. Cut the inlet that leads to the intake box/filter. Just cut the bottom part with the holes in it. Left everything else as is so it seals tight.

Driving wise I use highways as much as possible and usually start slowly. Moving 2+ tons does drink a lot of gas. For the same reason, if you get caught in rush hour traffic try not coming to a full stop as much as possible. Leave a buffer.

Hear a lot about changing o2 sensors on other threads. Hear it works on '97 up F's withover 100. Might try it. Tonneau cover also might help. Anyone have any luck with these mods?

 

I put exactly 10 gallons in the rear tank and have been doing all in town driving. The tank isn't empty yet and I am at 152 miles. The first test before the synthetic oil and exhaust work was 68 miles. I put 10 gallons in the front tank today to run a follow up test. I will see if the MAF needs to be cleaned and wash out the intake.
The second test will be a highway mileage test. I will put like 2 or 3 gallons in a dry tank and drive about 60 until it sputters. I will keep the results current. To think like last year i was getting 17 in town and 24 on hwy.

 

The result of 10 gallons in town only driving is 155.7 miles.

15.5 mpg is pretty good for a 5.0 in town.

Next will be a 2 gallon highway test. I can drive around Lubbock's loop and never stop. Speed limit is 60 mph with maybe 20 overpasses. I might do 2 tests. Tailgate up and tailgate down...just to see if common sense prevails over government propaganda that says tailgate down uses more gas.

We will see.

 

I cant wait for the tail gate test resoults



Bruce

 

Just did another fill-up. Did 200.2 miles on 13.991 gallons, comes out to a rounded off 14.31 MPG.

Radio, I would say 15.5 is good.

 

what kind of driving was that city or highway?

 

Every day driving. A mix, highway and NY rush hour, which is just like city driving.

 

The second city driving test is almost complete. After 10 gallons, the mileage is at 151 miles and the tank isn't dry yet.

The last test results were 10 gallons @ 155.7 miles = 15.5 mpg city.

As I had said before I will do two highway tests, one with tailgate up, the other down. So far I would say that the synthetic oil and exhaust work is a significant improvement.

 

On myth busters (this is what a friend told me) I guess they tested the theory and they concluded that you get better gas mileage with the tailgate up apposed to down.

My question is, would gas mileage improve if say you had a hood scoop and had forced air instead of the side airbox.