This post is about efficiency and gas mileage, not squeezing out the ponys...
Ive searched and searched but I'm tired of reading posts from 2006 about MAF sensor madness and oil flying off the filter.
Ive read many random articles and tests, including and all of K&N's own footage and testing, as well as the write up on BITOG

Conclusively, all Ive got is what I assumed all along, a cotton filter impregnated with oil will flow better whilst sacrificing, what I hope is, marginal filtration (K&N may say differently)

I am limited to round, tapered, "cone" filters because I have the shiny pipe, when I first put my intake on many moons ago I immediately replaced the e-bay filter with a K&N because admittedly their advertising works on me, sounded damn good to me, plus thats what everyone else uses...right? Back in highschool, buddy had a 99" A4 that came with one STOCK ffs, it MUST be good.

Well, heres my story:

Spring is here, so the maintenance begins, part of which is cleaning the trusty old K&N for the first time
It was NOT dirty, even by K&N's standards, quoting them they say when debris meets or exceeds the mesh, its time for cleaning.
..So this was preventative maintenance, a filter with the proper amount of oil cant be "too clean".. can it?

Naturally, I wanted to do a thorough job..
Allowing adequate time for cleaning, air-drying, oiling, saturation etc. over the course of a few days..

So I subbed in the temp replacement. The e-bay special. You know, that pos of a filter that came with your first shiny pipe upgrade?
This guy V


Well, swapping out the K&N for the e-bay special solved 2 problems I had been having..

Firstly, for the first time that I can remember in a long time, the car didn't sound like it was about to stall when I put it into gear.

Secondly, gas mileage improved greatly, almost staggeringly. I don't have any numbers for you guys but I drive a ridiculous amount everyday and no my car quite well.

This would all make sense had my filter been dirty, but dirt was not even visible on the outside, if anything it was slightly discoloured..

So I went ahead and cleaned the K&N with great detail, washed once, let air dry for a day, cleaned again..

Here she is, it appears white in person..



Road block: I'm not the first one in my house to own a K&N, so we have a recharge kit kicking around in the garage
The cleaner is unchanged from what I remember, but the oil came like this V



This has to be a joke right? an aerosol can??
These filters require a SPECIFIC amount of oil, measured to the tenth of a OZ for ffs (my box says 1.05oz (31ml))
But this is all just a waste of ink because apparently you can just paint the filter up like a christmas tree, going by looks? ok...

So I went in search of the squeeze bottle oil

Figures, non in stock...So I had them order me some, and so here I sit..



So now what I want from you is what I don't know, Ive got a 80 dollar filter waiting on 10 dollar oil
While a basically free, supposed piece of junk is under the hood, outperforming it..

Again, going back to the stock filter isn't an option, its gotta be a cone..

If you have a K&N what have your experiences been??
If not, what do you use? how confident in it are you?

i've been rocking the k&n for a while now... and honestly, so long as you give the oil proper time to dry before installing, it doesnt matter how much you put on it. the gauze will only absorb so much, the rest will drip off while you let it set.



JBO Stickers! Get yours today!

I have an aem dryflow right now on my intake. It doesn't need oil on those.


www.gmofhouston.com

your butt dyno measures flow and cfm of air filters? you gotta remember, weather, temp, gas, all change your mileage....

Spectre cone, no oil, no problems, cheaper than K&N but offers the same visual look...I still heard K&N was better for performance, IMO I don't think it makes that much of a difference on my car since I'm stock.

@BuiltNBoosted-Off topic, is your bumper paint peeling under the headlight, bottom right corner of the sig? Just something I noticed, last I remember seeing a huge pic post of your car, it was mint.

Rich Grayo Jr. wrote:i've been rocking the k&n for a while now... and honestly, so long as you give the oil proper time to dry before installing, it doesnt matter how much you put on it. the gauze will only absorb so much, the rest will drip off while you let it set.

Thanks for the replies, This is my first time actually servicing my filter myself, although I am not new to K&N's..
I just find it strange that they are so specific with the filter re-oiling amount they print on the box, then they turn around and carry a product that has no way of gauging coverage or amount used, at least with the squeeze bottle there is a level indicator with a scale so you can make sure you aren't over/under oiling.

My hypothesis is it is for quick at-the-track use, and for the average lazy car enthusiast who is enticed by spray bombing..

GM_Mike wrote:I have an aem dryflow right now on my intake. It doesn't need oil on those.

I planned to make mention of these, I will have to do more reading on them.

BuiltNBoosted wrote:your butt dyno measures flow and cfm of air filters? you gotta remember, weather, temp, gas, all change your mileage....

Good on you for suspecting me, most times the loose nut is the one between the ears, but I wouldn't make that long winded post unless I was SURE its gotta be the air filter. I have been driving the same route at least 5 times a week since 2009 and I have never seen the range I am getting now. I am willing to bet it is because the ebay filter flows like a tap but isn`t filtering squat..

The other thing is switching out filters directly solved my gear engagement problem, proving that something is not right..

95LsCoupe wrote:Spectre cone, no oil, no problems, cheaper than K&N but offers the same visual look...I still heard K&N was better for performance, IMO I don't think it makes that much of a difference on my car since I'm stock.

Yeah, an intake really is a supporting mod, it doesn't do much on its own, and is better coupled with other flow mods but now my shiny pipe(or the filter rather) is causing me shift engagement problems as well as sucking back the fuel for no reason.

I don't want performance gains, I want maintained efficiency.

95LsCoupe wrote:

@BuiltNBoosted-Off topic, is your bumper paint peeling under the headlight, bottom right corner of the sig? Just something I noticed, last I remember seeing a huge pic post of your car, it was mint.

what? no.

BuiltNBoosted wrote:

95LsCoupe wrote:

@BuiltNBoosted-Off topic, is your bumper paint peeling under the headlight, bottom right corner of the sig? Just something I noticed, last I remember seeing a huge pic post of your car, it was mint.

what? no.

I'm sorry lol looking at it now, it looks like a reflection of 2 legs of someone in black pants lmao quick glance made it looks peeling haha idk

switching out filters directly solved my gear engagement problem

seriously? wow you are farther gone than I thought...

Any thoughts on S&B Filters? I don't remember if they are oiled or not, but supposedly they are better than K&N. At least that's what I've heard. So don't quote me.
As for me I'm just using the ebay filter until I need something better when I go boost.

BuiltNBoosted wrote:switching out filters directly solved my gear engagement problem

seriously? wow you are farther gone than I thought...

i think you misunderstood. im sitting beside OP right now and he admits he worded it wrong. the problem he was having was when he went to put in in gear after starting the car the RPMs would drop to the point where you could not hear the engine. but once the other air filter was put on the problem went away

^thanks haha, me and the poster above actually just recently did a tear down and rebuild of a 3t40, so neither of us are oblivious as to what happens in the ole' slush box, that being said..

BuiltNBoosted wrote:switching out filters directly solved my gear engagement problem

seriously? wow you are farther gone than I thought...

Forgive my wording. It was 6am, I must have forgotten I was on the JBO, what I should have said was:

Swapping out filters, immediately upon next start up, resolved the issue I was experiencing when shifting the vehicle into gear.

Obviously the filter its self does not interfere with the physical engagement of the transmission.

All I know is for the first time in months, my car didn't feel like its about to die every time I drop it into gear and roll down the driveway in mourning.

Sunfiretun3r wrote:Any thoughts on S&B Filters? I don't remember if they are oiled or not, but supposedly they are better than K&N. At least that's what I've heard. So don't quote me.
As for me I'm just using the ebay filter until I need something better when I go boost.

I actually heard someone quote this company in a K&N cleaning vid on youtube, he was using the oil dropper S&B suply's on the K&N he was cleaning. Going to do some more reading on them, looks like they are oiled, since they carry a cleaner and re-oiling kit, but it also appears they have white paper-like non oiled ones pictured around the site.

To be honest idk what brand filter i have, i ordered mine off ebay from a guy and the filter says "chrome filter" or something like that on the top ring, but its been good to me so far.. i have thought about going with a K&N but not until this one it worse for wear..

The problem with our motors is that they don't even pull enough air to justify the 3" -universal- cone filter. So any benefits you will see from a brand to brand comparison will be pretty much trumped by the sheer volume of air available to the engine.

There must have been something else wrong with your KN.

Alright photobucket tossed my pics but they were nothin anyways, here's an update..



K&N fan boy much?? (I'm not, this all accumulated from friends and family mostly)






Its Fall. The cav needs an oil change.. and Ive been running the ebay cone since I last posted.. So,

Contrary to the picture above, I bought my first kit today since I finally found the squeeze bottle style.

Looks like K&N changed the packaging to a much sleeker black. I like it, accept..










Notice anything?








Here is a closer look.

The layout and the wording is the exact same.. accept there is no "bottle view strip" as K&N calls it...








I thought I must be going crazy. The instructions still clearly state:

"Oiling: Before oiling, refer to the bar code on the original air filter packaging or the K&N website for the recommended oil amount for your filter. After the filter is completely dry, use the bottle view strip to carefully dispense the recommended oil amount onto the filter by squeezing oil along each pleat, once only."







The instructions in the kit I bought hours ago still shows someone oiling up a filter with the old white style bottle (view strip included)..

Why on earth did the fluid level window get the axe??

This company is boggling my mind --> not enough oil and your engine might as well be breathing through a dry t shirt, too much oil and you have a "restrictive engine sensor destroyer".... so naturally we are going to make it as hard as humanly possible for you to gauge how much oil you put on

Well lets check and see if I am crazy..





..


..nope, looks like according to my product specifications, it is K&Ns best wishes that my filter gets precisely 1 ounce, 1.4 grams of oil.

Not.. paint it up/squeeze it out until it looks good..

So I poured the new filter oil into the old white bottle..

If it doesn't rain tomorrow I'll be changing my oil, and with that I will re-install my sparkling clean, been drying for 3 months, K&N with 1.05 oz of oil saturation.

I'll update to see if my Idle on engagement quirk comes back.

Im also taking an alt fuels course and may or may not be able to sneek my wheels onto the dyno, maybe do a few loaded pulls with both filts and see what happens.. I will update


and just for fun an almost half decent pic to level out the grainy cell phone pic madness:



Disclaimer:

K&N makes a quality product, I just want the servicing and the accessories to make a little sense.. I may contact them to get the scoop on what is with the "bottle view strip" issue.. if I can be bothered to.

..Or I may just put the lot of this stuff up on kijiji nice and cheap and let some other poor sucker deal with the BS, then give another reputable company my business and a chance to better suit my needs.

We'll see.

Feel free to post thoughts, experiences, or brands of air filters you can vouch for.

i think you are over thinking the oil thing.. the instructions on the piece of paper inside the box of both of the recharge kits i've purchased (one spray can, one with the white bottle) have both said to oil it just enough to make the cotton turn red. there might have been the specific amount of oil listed, but the "make it red" line is what i went by.

why are you worried about fowling up a MAF sensor? your car doesn't have one. i don't think any Cavalier built after 95 has had one, and i'm not even sure if any of them had one before that.. maybe the 3.1 powered cars did, i don't know.. but either way, it's a non issue for you.
worst case, you get some oil on your throttle blade.
i've never seen a MAF sensor that went bad from having too much oil on a K&N filter- i absolutely drowned the big cone filter in my 84 Buick Regal T Type with oil the first time i recharged it, and the car never showed any symptoms of running weird. the intake duct had a nice layer of oil, but the MAF still worked fine. i go easy with the oil now- just enough to dye the cotton slightly red.

well I have been running the AEM Dri Flow filter for about 4 years now,Seems to work well,Clean it every spring,looks good,And no oil,Just wash and dry,bolt back on.

Thanks for the reply.

novaderrik wrote:i think you are over thinking the oil thing.. the instructions on the piece of paper inside the box of both of the recharge kits i've purchased (one spray can, one with the white bottle) have both said to oil it just enough to make the cotton turn red. there might have been the specific amount of oil listed, but the "make it red" line is what i went by.

Your right, the vague in box instructions don't make mention of the oil amount

..but the quote below is word for word off of the much more in depth, squeeze bottle instuctions.

K&N wrote: "Oiling: Before oiling, refer to the bar code on the original air filter packaging or the K&N website for the recommended oil amount for your filter. After the filter is completely dry, use the bottle view strip to carefully dispense the recommended oil amount onto the filter by squeezing oil along each pleat, once only."

novaderrik wrote:
why are you worried about fowling up a MAF sensor? your car doesn't have one. i don't think any Cavalier built after 95 has had one, and i'm not even sure if any of them had one before that.. maybe the 3.1 powered cars did, i don't know.. but either way, it's a non issue for you.
worst case, you get some oil on your throttle blade.
i've never seen a MAF sensor that went bad from having too much oil on a K&N filter- i absolutely drowned the big cone filter in my 84 Buick Regal T Type with oil the first time i recharged it, and the car never showed any symptoms of running weird. the intake duct had a nice layer of oil, but the MAF still worked fine. i go easy with the oil now- just enough to dye the cotton slightly red.

I never said I was worried about fouling a MAF sensor?

Are you referring to when I said this?

Thirsty Z wrote:This company is boggling my mind --> not enough oil and your engine might as well be breathing through a dry t shirt, too much oil and you have a "restrictive engine sensor destroyer".... so naturally we are going to make it as hard as humanly possible for you to gauge how much oil you put on

This was my attempt at trying to recreate K&Ns reasoning behind removing all metering on there products when used on ANY car.

Cavalier version:

--> Not enough oil and your ancient cast iron GM technology(ld9) will bleed black blood, that is, if it hasn't burnt it all anyway what with the factory oil consumption issue compounded by abrasive particulate scratching the heck out of everything. Too much oil and you get all the respect that comes with owning and driving a cavalier, but without that pesky good range and gas mileage..

Jason Burten wrote:well I have been running the AEM Dri Flow filter for about 4 years now,Seems to work well,Clean it every spring,looks good,And no oil,Just wash and dry,bolt back on.

A few people have recommended to give the dry flow a try, its reusable, but you don't have to deal with this oil BS, Ill do some reading and asking around.

I read something in modified before about those spectre filters actually taking away gas mileages and horsepower. It was dunk tested and its better to have stock then the spectre filter.

Just a little conclusion to all this..

Filter is back on, with the proper amount of oil, and no detectable issues..

Maybe my K&N was over oiled from the factory. I dunno...

It was taken right out of the K&N factory plastic wrapping and popped on the car in the parking lot of the shop I bought it from.

..Still the issue remains with the after-care products.. unfortunately my next aftermarket air filter purchase probably will not be with K&N.

BuiltNBoosted wrote:switching out filters directly solved my gear engagement issue

seriously? wow you are farther gone than I thought...

Now I know this is the .org and everyone knows everything, but lets not question someone's state of mind when they have valid concerns that have been well documented since at least 2007.

If All Data makes mention of it, it's probably safe to say it has been experienced before..

Not trying to be a dick, just an FYI.



Note this appears before MAF concerns.

This screen shot is actually pretty jokes.. DO THIS - DON'T DO THIS, To be a fly on the wall when this doc was used in trouble shooting.

That concludes my K&N research, I will keep running mine because I already bought it, but can I recommend them?

No I can not...