Do oil based air cleaners work well? It goes against my experience to think that they do. Having run heavy equipment that used them in dusty conditions I found thatthey had to be cleaned daily or they really restricted the engine when oil and dust turned to 'mud'. I'm wondering if Ken restored his air cleaner to stock if he would find those missing hp from his de-snorkel dyno run. I know in my dusty conditions I'd never try one. Try lightly oiling a paper coffee filter and letting it get dust on it and you see what my concern is.
I need to do research on this too, Santa Fe. It seems contradictory. One thing that that would remain constant, though, is anything that gets stuck to the oil coated filter would be making its' way to the non-coated one too. Ultimately they all clog, right?
I’ve installed the
BMC Air Filter
and as of date like the results.This
K&N link
may clarify some concerns.
zornet
Thanks, Zornet. That is helpful. All filter medium is not alike.............
I guess it depends on your dust conditions and how often you are willing to clean the filter? Try my coffee filter experiment and you might be more concerned than the sellers of these would want you to be. The oil/dust mixture is heavier and more restrictive than dust by itself in my analysis. But I don't get paid to figure these things out either. I am concerned about dust and dirt build up given my own mile of gravel/dusty driveway.
Santa Fe, I hear what you are saying. I guess I would refer back to my previous point that whatever gets in to the oil treated filter is getting in to your paper/non-oil treated filter. Wouldn't it stand to reason that you would need to clean either one the same? It can't hurt to try, it's a cheap enough mod, and popular enough that you could sell it here if not happy with it. Also, if you go fast enough the dust created from your front tires on your dusty drive wont get to the intake
.
But oil and dust togetherturn into a heavier mud, no? Thereby restricting more than a normal paper filter. That is the question I guess.
I think the idea is enough oil to saturate the fibers of the filter w/o extra to saturate the dust that comes in. How you get that exactly right, I don't know. I just ordered the Evo unit. I will let you know what it seems like when I get it. I doubt this is rocket science though.
Santa Fe,
All of your intuition is correct - IMO. Oil bath air filters work much better than plain paper. As long as better means to remove the dust particles from the air. It is important to remember that industrial equipment, especially the road grading, construction, farming varieties encounter lots of dust. So it is imperitive that this crap stay out of the cylinders and crankshaft - even if the airflow is impeded as a trade-off. (note that the little sponge air filter on lawn moweres are supposed to be oiled too).
When engine performance is the objective, products like K&N are happy to let the air flow. But that doesn't protect your engine. So, they have a little oil on their elements to help. And they want you to clean them more often. Then again, the goal is performance and not necessarily durability - spelled engine longivity.
Its a short term/long term thing.
Dust in the engine is gonna wear it out much faster. A K&N or other brand that is oiled will not let protect the engine as well as the factory filter element. It will allow a less restrictive air flow - so will desnork. But in the long run, the better protected engine will last longer. Just how much longer will depend on service intervals, driving habits, etc.
I'm sticking with the factory element.
when it comes to the filter more air in = more dirt in - no way around it. Oil based filters make power, but at the expense of dirt particles being allowed in (of varying sizes).
This is fine in motorsports where engines only have to last 1 race to 1 season. This is not fine IMO when you invest your hard earned money for a Porsche. There is HP to be had elsewhere....high flow cats, headers, cat back, ECU tuning and the like that perhaps are wiser decisions.
I ran a K&N on my Mustang Cobra a long time ago. Never used one since I saw the oil test results from that thing! Ugly. They have no place on a car you plan to keep longer than 4-5 years. Thats my .02
