So I have this thing on my car for the alst 15k miles, The top of the filter seems clean. I took a look at the bottm side where the air actually comes in through tthe snorkle, and it was black, probably about 1/3 of the surface area. Now I thought I read that the filter actually uses dirt to its advantage helping it 'filter' better. But looking at it makes me think that it could be hurting my performance. The car runs great though. Can somebody post a pick of what a TRUELY dirty k and N flat panel filter looks like? Thanks guys Oh by the way- I re-oiled it b/c it was bone dry and it thought it needed to hae some oil for it to work properly.

 

bump- anyone?

 

Did you clean it by washing it before you re-oiled it? I don't think you should re-oil it before you wash it out properly.

As far as your concern goes, I can't help you. I recently bought a K&N panel filter but it only has a few hundred miles of use.

Why don't you take it to where you bought it and discuss it with them?

 

yes, I did wash it. I would not want to trap the dirt into the filter. As for talking to auto zone, It would be like going to Best Buy to talk about high end stereo installation- pointless. thanks for your reply though. :-)

 

easiest way of knowing if your air filter is dirty enough is by holding it up to the sun.
If you can look straight through the filter you are good, if the sun spot is nothing but black . . . its time for a clean.

 

having more dirt does make your filter work better. BUt the side affect of this; less air flow.
So a freshly cleaned K&N might not filter the best, but it has the best air flow.

 

Sounds like a catch 22.

 

That makes no sense.

More airflow is better, thats what your engine needs... as long as its clean.

I wish I had a picture of my K&N... now thats a dirty filter...

 

think about it logically, if there is more dirt on the filter, it works better at FILTERING. The cleaner it is, the better air flow. Try reading the K&N printed documents.

 

okay now you made sense... saying more dirt does make your filter work better doesnt... Saying a dirty filter means your filter is actually working sounds better