General Opinion of Oiled filters

[Jim Bowen 1]

What do people think on here?

 

good thing, bad thing, doesn't matter.

 

i hear some say it can lead to problems with MAF and ISV sensors

[dinkus 10]

Mine seems to do the job just fine (good point tho - I should check to see if it needs re-oiling!) but if you over-oil them the excess oil ends up sticking to the MAF and can damage it.

[Toad 0]

I have one (K&N) on my 1.8 16v so it doesn't matter if I get over heavy with the oil, however I'd feel nervous about fitting it to my vr as I don't want to cock the maf up.

 

Oh, and I'd probably not go to the trouble of buying one, but this one was fitted. It is nice being able to clean the filter every year or so,

[Bendy 0]

got one on my vr and had no probs with it, had a foam cone filter before and that had it. if you do go for 1 just make sure that when you oil it up that its fully dry before re fitting. as has already been said it can foo bar the maf right up!! :lol:

[Supercharged 2]

New ones are fine - problems usually arise after cleaning and re-oiling... ie it's very easy to spray too much on...

[coolrado 0]

yep follow the cleaning instructions to the letter and you cant really go wrong with them i would have thought you would have to seriously over oil them to actually cause any problems though, most of the oil would probably get deposited on the walls of the piping before it reached the maf sensor and would it actually cause permanent damage if it did get on the sensor?

judging by the amount of crap that comes out of my filter when i rinse it out it must be doing its job quite well.

 

Make sure you use the proper k&n or Green cotton filter cleaner and oil though I have seen people cleaning them in petrol, blasting them with water at full pressure and even blowing them out with an airline, all of which will completely destroy the filter.

[Jim Bowen 1]

yeah, i already have the K&N "recharge" kit

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The K&N cleaner is both schitt and expensive imo.

 

I've been cleaning my K&Ns for years with dilute washing powder. It is cotton after all.

 

Washing powder gets the cotton proper white, all traces of dirt and oil removed. K&N cleaner solution does not!

 

What does concern me about K&Ns and the like is when holding it up to the light..... you can clearly see gaps of daylight through it.....daylight a turbo or MAF sensor will also see....in the form of chunks of grit!

 

This is why I think these are a better bet and they're oil-less too:-

 

http://www.aempower.com/ViewCategory.aspx?CategoryID=32

[coolrado 0]

I have cleaned my K&N about 10 times since i have had it and it comes up pure white every time, spray the cleaner on evenly leave it for 15 minutes and then rinse off, there are also no holes that i can see light through once its been oiled.

 

although it wouldnt surprise me if the cleaner was just a weak laundry detergent solution, it certainly feels alkali when you get it on your hands just like washing powder does.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Spray cleaner? Things have changed then because the last time I used K&N cleaner it was in a bottle and you had to bathe the filter in it....and it was pants!

 

Every cotton gauze filter I've seen has little gaps in it when held up to the light, not huge holes, just little gaps ni the weave, which is inevitable......so yours is quite unique then.

[coolrado 0]

yeh the cleaner is now in a small pump spray bottle, you just apply it to each pleat and let it soak in and loosen the crap.

I have just been having a look for info about different filters on the net and all the tests have concluded that, disposable OEM paper or napa filters are still the best for filtration but worst for power (most restrictive) and although K&N and other oiled cotton filters are not quite as good at filtration, they are much less restrictive, foam and mesh filters performed worse at filtration than the K&N but better at flow.

it seems the sticky oil in the K&N holds onto the particles of dust more effectively, mesh and foam filters seemed to stop the particles initially but finer particles eventually worked theyre way through the filter.

[Jim Bowen 1]

thats something i have looked into, the micron rating of the filter materials. Oiled cotton is supposed to perform very well, better than foam

 

If people can see daylight, then that doesn't bode well, i'll be throughly checking out any filter before i fit it.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I've just realised it's probably me regarding the daylight thing..... I brush the pleats with a paint brush to hoik out as much crud as possible, which probably moves the weaves about a bit, LOL!

 

I like the sound of the AEM dry filter I linked to above.....there's some reports on there that indicate it outperforms K&N on both filtration and flow.

[davidwort 0]

I've just realised it's probably me regarding the daylight thing.....

 

My Jetex panel filter is the same when cleaned, has always looked like it.

 

Never thought about washing machine detergent, I've used that on other oily things though, it's great, good for getting oil off your skin, only not very good for your skin!

I bought a cleaning solution bottle and spray can of Jetex oil at inters a couple of years back for a tenner which seemed good value, will do at least 3 cleans and probably 10+ re-oils, will last me for years.

[ZippyVR6 0]

My K&N went through the dishwasher, and lightly re oiled. All is good. Love the sound, dont care what people say about it being to noisy or the spurious claims about actually reducing the power,

 

It pulled 202 bhp at stealth with it on.

[Jim Bowen 1]

i'm thinking more over long term, especially where i work is a lot of dust from a woodwork shop that car sit every where on car.