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K&N SUCKS!

JeepinCoastie

JeepinCoastie

NAXJA Forum User
Location
jersey shore
I'm gonna go with a snorkel now anyway but i was looking at a K&N intake...

but i had an issue i have a 99 motor in my 95 truck and the models are different based on the different years so i shot them an e-mail to see what their answer would be ....
this is what i got

Dear Dan,

Thank you for your interest in K&N products. Since K&N intake kits are year, make, model and engine specific, we do not have an intake kit that will fit, as we do not recommend installing one.

If you have any additional questions, please contact our Customer Support Department at 1-(800)-858-3333.

Thank you for writing,

James Johnston
Technical & Customer Support Representative,
K&N Engineering, Inc.
[email protected]
Phone: (800) 858-3333

​
what a crock of crap .... u think they would try to sell me one ... whatever

I'm climbing down off my soapbox now ...:gag:
 
You don't want a k&n anyways. They let more air in, along with all of the shit you're trying to filter out.

The stock filter lets in more than enough air for the most built of 4.0's.
 
yea ... i have since figured all that out searching around ... like i said I'm just gonna go with a snorkel now anyways
 
K&N was smart, they were covering their butt. There wasn't a thing wrong with their response. If they would have said a product would have worked and then it didn't work for you, you would have been up their azz trying to get a replacement. It was cheaper for them to loose a sale.

You have a bastard build and was expecting them to come up with a wizzard response and have a magic product. It doesn't happen, it's up to you to do your homework and figure out what will work. You built the bastard, it's up to you to figure out what will or won't work.
 
I'll gladly sell you my flat-panel filter (I have a '99, too) along with the cleaning/oiling kit. I switched back to paper filters after about two years.
 
The thread title said it straight,K+N SUCKS!Stay away from these on an off-road rig!
 
cal said:
You don't want a k&n anyways. They let more air in, along with all of the shit you're trying to filter out.

The stock filter lets in more than enough air for the most built of 4.0's.
Click to expand...


I'v heard this before... but never saw any evidence. I'd like to see some.

I run a flat panel and snorkel setup. If a paper element is better i'll switch back.
 
alot of people in the diesel world have quit using K&N systems. if you get to much oil on the filter it can get sucked into the turbo and really mess things up. im pretty sure it will do the same thing with carb or injection.
 
You'd have to use an excessive amount of oil for that to happen....

No problems with my K&N FIPK....not sure why you'd say "for off road applications" stay away from them....use their filter wrap, oil them properly, and they are fine.
 
K&N doesn't suck, they just require more maintenance. However, while I do condone their use for road and track, I won't use them for trail use.

I had an "off" into a sand trap in a car, and because of the location of my intake plumbing, sand made it's way toward my airbox inlet (I had a cold air ram on the lower valance).

The sand went straight through the K&N...lifted it out of the airbox, and there was a pile of sand on the bottom of the box as if I used my airbox like a shovel and scooped it in. The sand then sucked into my supercharger and because of the fragile nature of this particular blower, destroyed it ($2,000 down the tubes). The filter was properly sealed in the airbox, and I am convinced that a paper element would have kept the sand out far better than the K&N did, and my blower would have at least been salvagable.

I still use them in the city, but I won't use one in the dirt. There are other countermeasures you can take to filter out more junk, but the benefits don't outweigh the costs IMHO. Why should you have to pre-filter a filter?
 
Protects it from larger particles, same as your giant black box...plus its colorful :)

Look at how your box works - the sand got sucked into the box at the BOTTOM - air goes up thru the filter and thru the top of the box, doesnt it? I may be wrong, been years since i had a box in my Jeep....

EDIT: what I mean is, dont blame the filter for your airbox getting full of sand....
 
Last edited:
I saw my first K&N in the early 70's while I was working for Honda...We used them BRIEFLY in the CR250 the shop fielded...We changed them between each moto...followed the instructions to the letter...and they still sucked enough dirt through to wear out pistons and crank/rod bearings at a frantic rate....over the many years since then I have seen similar results on vehicles that experience heavy dust loading....you can get away with it on a city driven car for quite a while....but the very thing about the design that allows high air flow results in poor particulate seperation.

My offroad heeps have three stage canister filters.....
 
John B said:
I'v heard this before... but never saw any evidence. I'd like to see some.

I run a flat panel and snorkel setup. If a paper element is better i'll switch back.
Click to expand...

I bought a K&N flat panel for my 98, put it in and ran it, about 3 years down the road I happened to pull the airbox and hose. I ran my hand around inside the the hose and found a bunch of small particles lining it. When I put it all back together I put a paper filter back in [still had the better part of a case I bought from the dealer] and ran those, cleaned the K&N and put it away. It never made it back in for like 2 years, just on a hunch pull that hose off the TB and felt around inside, no little particles. Put the K&N back into the cycle as I was out of the mopar filters and went from there. About 2-3 months down the road I pulled the hose off the TB and the small particles were back.
The K&N is sitting on my parts shelf and has been for about 2 years, oil, sealed in a plastic bag, want it ?
I just buy whatever paper filter the parts store has, fram or purolator, depends on the store, the Advanced here stopped carrying Fram oil or air filters so it's usually purolator. I wish they made the XJ filters with the foam prefilter like they make for my TJ's. The TJ throttle body stays alot cleaner than the XJ's does and I figure it's that foam prefilter they stick on there.
 
Hard to argue with RichP's findings...which is the best explanation I have read on here to date. He's convinced me. Out goes my flat panel K&N and back to paper!
Tony
 
JNickel101 said:
Protects it from larger particles, same as your giant black box...plus its colorful :)

Look at how your box works - the sand got sucked into the box at the BOTTOM - air goes up thru the filter and thru the top of the box, doesnt it? I may be wrong, been years since i had a box in my Jeep....

EDIT: what I mean is, dont blame the filter for your airbox getting full of sand....
Click to expand...

No, I was not driving the Jeep around the racetrack. It was a VW Corrado. Air inlet is on the top half of the airbox, and the filter sits on the top of it. :D The amount of sand that had passed through the filter and collected at the bottom of the airbox was disgusting!
 
Any chance that RichP's particles were there because the oil from the K&N gave them something to stick to? Maybe with a paper filter those particles are just getting sucked through the engine since there is nothing for them to stick to? I've run K&N panel filters on many of my vehicles, and I've always been happy with them overall. I did have to clean my MAF sensors a lot more often due to the oil from the filters.

I'll gladly take someone's unused XJ K&N panel. Just give me a shipping cost :).
 
I like my K&N...but, I can't fit a convential filter in so I have to like it lol
 
I got one for free from a buddy who sold his XJ and I've been running it for about 4 months. I used to change out paper filters every 3-4 months and they would be dirty but not really bad but when I took my k&n filter out a few weeks ago it was packed with black dirt/dust.

It seems to me that the k&n takes more dirt out of the air than my old paper filter did.
 
Daedalus454 said:
Any chance that RichP's particles were there because the oil from the K&N gave them something to stick to? Maybe with a paper filter those particles are just getting sucked through the engine since there is nothing for them to stick to? I've run K&N panel filters on many of my vehicles, and I've always been happy with them overall. I did have to clean my MAF sensors a lot more often due to the oil from the filters.

I'll gladly take someone's unused XJ K&N panel. Just give me a shipping cost :).
Click to expand...
Highly doubt it. If there's enough oil on the filter to get into the air tube then it's been over oiled.

I would never use a K&N. My Airaid on the other hand has been great. I switched over to a AEM dryflow filter for a couple months before I realized that it didn't filter out very fine particles like the airaid did. Went back to the airaid and I'll stay there for now.
 
John B said:
I'v heard this before... but never saw any evidence. I'd like to see some.

I run a flat panel and snorkel setup. If a paper element is better i'll switch back.
Click to expand...

After giving them a shot on 2 quads, a honda accord and 2 different filters on my powerstroke, I finally learned my lesson. All of the above had visible dirt in the intake tract, and I have oil analysis on the powerstroke to back it up. Never again will I waste my money.
 
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