K & A Air Filters

Hi all.

I hear good and bad things about these re-usable air filters. Some say you
get better acceleration with them, some say you can ruin your pistons and
rings with long term use. Any facts or opinions you can share is appreciated.

 

Some K&N air filters are known to cause problems with MAF sensors on
Toyotas. I don't know if Hondas would be similarly affected, but I would
avoid them anyway. Stick with OEM filters.

 

so far 20,ooo miles and no problems

tiny increase in power

overall i think a good deal

 

Stick with a stock air filter and make sure it's clean. High flow
filters only improve at the very highest rpm ranges. Your not racing
on a track so don't bother...

 

Is your vehicle under warranty--if so--wait for the warranty to
run out (come to an end) before installing the K & N filter. I have
seen several posts indicating that some Honda dealers look for reasons
to void warranties and force people to pay for repairs. If they found
a K & N filter on a Honda that had a bad head gasket--they may try to
make you pay for the repair even if your car is under warranty.

 

test reports i've seen

http://home.usadatanet.net/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

show re-usable filters like k&n at 96.8% efficiency. the modern
efficiency standard required for decent engine life is supposed to be
well above 99.0%. it may not sound like a lot of difference, but it
makes a huge difference to abrasive ingestion and therefore the life of
the engine's friction and sealing surfaces. i wouldn't use one - i'd
just change my oem filter more frequently to ensure maximum through-flow.

 

And an OEM filter doesn't cost much anyway. I paid $20 for an OEM filter
for my '93 Accord a couple years ago.

 

I tried one in my 01 Prelude for a short while and performance suffered ..
engine tended to stumble. Went back to the stock filter and the problem went
away.

 

Before you bring it in for service and/or repairs, just swap back the OEM
filters. Simple. Am I missing something here?

 

Good point. That would usually work. However, some people have wives or
older children that may drive the family car or cars. If the car broke
down and they had it towed to dealer--the K & N filter would be on the
car. Of course, if you are the only person that drives the car--that type
of situation would never happen. I plan to use the stock Honda air filter
until the warranty expires. It works very well. I have seen some posts
indicating that K & N filters do cause problems in at least some vehicles.

Jason

 

There is credible evidence that K & N and similar air filters let more
dirt in than a stock paper filter. If you are doing this to save
money, there is no reason to replace the filter during the warranty
period anyway (unless you have an extended warranty.) Even after that
you have to ask how much you are going to save in air filters over the
life of the car. Is it worth the risk? Also, factor in that you have
to clean and re-oil the filter every how many miles. Is the potential
savings worth the hassle? And if you get lax on the cleaning, how
much worse will it be for your engine.

If you are going for increased performance through increased air flow,
you have to decide how much that is worth. You would at least want to
know how much gain you are really getting. Let us know the dyno
results.