I bought my K&N filter a year ago and haven't really checked it since. Just recently my numbers on my scangauge were a little off. I pulled out my air filter and this is is what my filter looks - a year and 2 months worth - I don't know if this was the main culprit but you can see all the stuff it stopped. I just bought the cleaning kit. After its clean I'll report back with my results. The underside was completely clean!! So its doing its job.




http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1188144231
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1188144273

 

just as a suggestion you should clean your filter more regularly. I have the Injen short ram intake with the K&N style filter and I clean it every 2 months.

 

Well i just finished rinsing off the cleaners and it looks really clean now- i will take a pic when its completely dry. I will clean more often now that i know it needs it me. Shame on me for believing corporate hype

 

Corporate hype?
They're reuseable, not "dirt-resistant" and "indestructible"!

You've got to check them as often as a regular filter; there's no substitute for preventive maintenance. The big difference is, you get to clean it and out it back in, instead of toss it in the trash. I've used them for close to 30 years in just about every vehicle I've owned, including motorcycles, with excellent results every time.

As far as "corporate hype", I think a "million mile warranty" is pretty impressive!

 

it says clean at "Lasts up to 50,000 miles before cleaning is required depending on driving conditions"

I only went 13,500 on it. I know its my fault for not checking it more often . Thats 36,500 miles early.

 

Corpate hype is not that you can drive a million miles without doing maintanance. You have to clean/dry/re-oil about the same time you would be replacing with another throw away. I do mine every 10K or so.
They always get you with the "UP TO" part.

 

Beating a dead horse already -

 

Not me I just posted after reading you initial topic. Didn't see all the responses yet. My bad.

 

its ok
I just wanted to remind people to check - and check often - knowing is half the battle!!

 

And good info it is.
Driving around 35,000 miles a year myself, it seems like I'm under the hood checking things all the time...

 

Now I'm the opposite. I did 30K the first 2 years but only 5K this last year. It took like 8 months to get enough miles to change the oil plus I changed it 1K early just because. LOL

 

I put the TRD filter in last year, when I changed to the injen short ram after 7 months...wow was the TRD filter DIRTY...never had a filter get dirty so fast, great to see they really do the job! I am checking my new filter every month now.

 

The filter is finally dry and very clean - i'm going to oil it up and drop it it


http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1188218953

 

Which of the scanguage numbers were unusual?

Any truth to the Consumer Reports claim that a dirty air filter affects power output rather than fuel economy (12/06)?

 

power output I'm not sure since i go for high MPG every tank. I was pulling high 40's to mid 50's with the scangauage. The last week or two barely pull low 40 and just finished my 2nd to worst tank ever at 34

 

I wish!
I change mine every 5,000 miles on the dot - and that's every 6-7 weeks!

 

You are pleased to see the filter caught some dirt, but displeased that it caught as much as it did. Maybe you cleaned that filter 36,500 miles early. It was barely dirty, just at one end. Unless you are willing to let the K&N stay in and do its job, you might not be getting full benefit from its cost. If you are going to pull the filter every 15K, you may as well get a disposable dry filter. The Scion manual says don't change its disposable filter for 30K.

Some would say you probably reset the ECU for the clean filter, then the ECU gradually got confused as the filter collected dirt, because it was still using the settings for the clean filter, so all you need to do is reset the ECU so it can recognize the change in air restriction. Then you would not need to clean the filter. But if you do go ahead and clean the filter, the ECU will be happy again without needing to be reset.

 

The directions on K&N's website themselves aren't entirely conclusive:

"4. Oil barrier attracts and holds dirt to become additional filter medium without clogging filter."

"A K&N filter can accumulate dust up to 1/8th of an inch before cleaning is required. The easy way to make this determination is to see if you can visually identify all of the visible aluminum wire mesh on the top of the pleats.... Once the aluminum wire is covered with dirt and no longer visible in some places on the exterior of the filter, it’s time for cleaning."

From the images posted, the rightmost pleats seem to meet the "in some places" criteria for a cleaning. Yet like paper filters, there appears to be sufficient remaining exposed media to allow airflow. I'm guessing this is for the folks that actually follow Scion's 3 year air filter change schedule.

Instantaneous mpg readings vary wildly to begin with. Has this affected your per-tank mpg average as well?


Excerpt from CR article:
"IMPORTANT DRIVING TIPS THAT HAVE LITTLE EFFECT ON FUEL ECONOMY

Keep your air filter clean. According to our tests, driving with a dirty air filter in modern engines doesn't have a significant impact on fuel economy, as it did with older engines. While fuel economy didn't change, however, power output did. Both cars accelerated much more slowly with a dirty air cleaner. We drove both vehicles with their air cleaners restricted and found little difference in gas mileage with either engine. That's because modern engines use computers to precisely control the air/fuel ratio, depending on the amount of air coming in through the filter. Reducing airflow, therefore, caused the engines to automatically reduce the amount of fuel being used."

 

as a hypermiler i watch the numbers like a hawk - i felt the numbers were down further that I can recall. Thats what led me under the hood to investigate. I did say " I wasnt sure if it was the main culprit"

For all I know it couldve been a crappy tank of gas.