Cleaning K&N air filter

[mmgemini]

Has anybody used anything other than K&N cleaning fluid on theitr K&N filter ? If so what and what results.

I do have some K&N cleaning fluid but I'd like to give it a good clean with something else. Then use the K&N cleaning fluid.

[MJIbex]

Have not tried anything other than the K&N stuff myself; but since the cleaning fluid is specifically designed to remove the oil from the filter, I reckon you may spend a lot of time looking for not much result.

I tend to wash the filter twice, I keep the oil used for the final clean for the 1st clean next time.

Regards

Mark.

[David Sparkes]

Clean it however you like.

The critical bit is the re-oiling. It is the uniform and consistent application of oil which makes the filter as effective as it's ever going to be.

Some will say, and I'm one of them, that you stand a snowball in hell's chance of re-oiling it in a uniform and consistent manner. That being the case, the filter will never be as effective as it was when it was new, and there is a strong (vociferous) body of opinion which says that even when new they aren't the best filter in the world.

Flow lots of air, yes, it's filtering the dirt that carries the question mark.

Others think they are wonderful, and if you are in that camp then just ignore my contribution :-)

Good Luck.

[mmgemini]

Well David. I do wonder at time.

I've used K&N filters for only a very short time.

First on my Sunbeam 1300 rally car. The bores were in good condition until I dropped a pot on that engine. Nothing to do with the filtration system I add.

Then I fitted this one to me Defender a couple of years ago. "004 to be exact. Only done a couple of miles since then. Took the mileage fron 124,000 to 197,000 when I had to lift the head. The bores still shewed the hatchings.....Of I believe you driven the gravel roads in southern Africa and spent ten days driveing the druy river bes of sand in Namibia. All a good test for air filter elements.

I only want to clean it cheaper than the proper fluid 'cos it gets dirty here.

[M&S]

Mike, white spirt does the trick. Obviously needs to dry before you oil it up though. As you are probably aware, you could reuse it as well if you let it settle out. Cheap as chips from Tesco and such like.

[mmgemini]

Thanks Martin

I'll try it out

I have plenty white spirit now that I only use it for thinning Humbrol paints. I've converted to water based paint for the house.

[pat_pending]

Gunk or Jizer both work well as they're water soluble. You can clean the old oil and muck off the filter and then wash it from the inside out under a tap or hose. overnight in the airing cupboard to dry and then re-oil. the trick to getting the new oil even is to leave it overnight again to allow it to spread.

I've no experience of using them on a L/R but they certainly work well on enduro bikes as they have the advantage of not turning to porridge like a paper filter when covered in water.

Do they filter as well as an O/E paper filter? probably not.

In reality will they cause the premature failure of your engine? Who knows, but I doubt it.

[M&S]

The above is why I went back to paper filters - it takes me 2 mins to change one, not 2 nights

[mmgemini]

What's the price of the paper filters Martin ? Times four of course while in England. More when on a trip.

[M&S]

£3.50 each for paper filters.

Price wasn't the deciding factor for me, nor were any claims of performance increases, better/worse filtration arguments etc. I got my filter for free - it was fitted when I bought the vehicle.

It was purely down to the time/mess of cleaning and oiling that swayed me, and the state of my foam filter when I removed it - I think I mentioned on another forum that it was totally blocked with sludge leaving just a 50p sized hole for air flow! Not something I've had happen with paper filters. Also the MAF sensor in the TD5 doesn't like oiled filters.

If I was to price it though, it cost me £7 a year in paper filters (changing every 6k miles) - so that would be 6 years before a foam filter (£40) pays for itself. Excluding the cost of cleaning and oiling, oh, and new MAF sensors .

This suits me though, with my mileages and useage.

The previous owner had done 120k motorway miles with a foam filter and I expect he only cleaned it every 36k miles or so. In that case it suited him.

[mmgemini]

Where did you find that price. Nine quid + VAT is the cheapest I can find for a DEFENDER three quid for a Discovery......

I WANT TO USE A K&N ...........

[M&S]

I usually get them in "kits" with all of the other filters, but JSG4x4 sell them individually for £3.50