K&N Air Filter for 6.4L Ford Powerstroke

Hi all,

I've been a big fan of K&N air filters for years and used one for most of the life of my previous 7.3L Powerstroke. Now I see that they are putting one out for my 2008 6.4L Powerstroke. I'm curious if any of you Ford owners are currently using this. The K&N model is the E-0785 and the only review that I have seen for it was negative. The reviewer stated that he kept getting a blocked air filter error message.

As some of you may remember, I had a major problem with this engine when I first bought it. The engine self destructed on the way home from the dealer and I lost the battle with Ford over fixing vs. replacing the engine although the dealer did, in fact replace both heads. At any rate, the engine has run great since then but needless to say, I have been gun shy about making any mods since that point.

Now I'm starting to think about the K&N filter but I don't want to do it if they are still working some bugs out of this new filter. I may be wrong about this but I believe the E-0785 has only been available since mid to late 2010.

Anyway, any thoughts or experiences with the K&N on this engine would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Pete

I believe the Ford filters are good to 500 HP.
I have the 05 6.0L Ford and I am still on the original air filter and so far its not showing any sign of giving me any problem .
I did install the E-Con by Hypertech and for the price its the best thing I did to my truck, added HP, Torque, Fuel Mileage and all that without any increase in egt and coolant temperature and no clutch problems.

My previous GM's needed a filter change almost at every oil change. So I did use K & N in the them.

I had a K&N on my 7.3 also. It gave me no trouble. I have read the horror stories about how bad and inferior the K&N filters are but if that is true then why does Banks use them? I have also read the Ford filters are better than the K&N and work better. I have just kept my Ford filter on my 6.40 and will keep using the Ford filter. I am gunshy about using anything else after being told by several Ford mechanics they could void my warranty if I used other than a Ford filter or made any modifications to it. Probably not true but why take the chance.

I tried an aftermarket AEF airfilter when i first got my 2008 6.4L, but also kept getting mass air flow sensor error messages. Going back to the OEM filter fixed that, so I've stayed with the OEM system.

Unless your running high hp/trq, and need an aftermarket air filter, I'd leave it stock. I will never run and oiled filter in any of my diesels. I have heard of to many horror stories about them causing damage to the turbos. In my old cummins, I was putting down over 500 hp to the rear wheels. I had several aftermarket air filters and finally went back to stock. Believe it or not, my mpg increased with the stock filter and my egt's were not affected

Brett

Don't know anything about the 6.4 filter but I do know you cant beat the factory 6.0 air filter. Best one I ever run. Wish they had done that for the 7.3's.

Well, thanks guys. I'm not hearing a rousing endorsement of changing to the K&N in any of your replies. I suspect that I won't do anything with this for the time being. I've also heard that Ford is majorly uptight about any aftermarket mods to this engine after the problems they had with the early 6.0L engines. I don't want to give them any excuse to void my warranty although I stand by K&N as a good product. Besides, it does me no good if the sensors and computer don't like it.

Thanks again,

The last thing you want to do is install a K&N on your diesel or any engine. Most KN drop-in filters are thin and have 50% less surface area compaired to stock. I believe Ford can void your warrenty if one is used. The K&N allows too much dirt in the intake and turbos. The new factory filters flow more than enough air, if you are set on buying a aftermarket filter look at a better quality filter like Airade.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest3.htm

Just and FYI. Here is K&Ns rebuttal to concerns about fouling the MAF by using a K&N filter:

http://www.knfilters.com/maf/massair.htm

I used K & N on the 2 previous trucks and the best result was on the naturaly aspired 6.2L. I picked up a lot of torque in the hills, but I was not concerned about the MPG I just wanted to make the hills faster.
I had one in the turbo 6.5L for 200k and never had engine issues, and followed the standard cleaning procedure. The dirtier the cleaner is the better they are in filtering the air and with the 6.2L it realy went for the 100K without loosing power. I use to loose power in 10K with the stock filter. And it was the same with the 6.5L but not as bad.
I could feel the difference because those 2 trucks were loaded to the max everytime the trailer was hooked on.

Done a lot of research on the different filters including K&N for my truck and even though I own a Chevy, I'm sure it would stand true for yours too. I realized the best filter for it was the OEM itself also... K&N not recommend!

I always ask the question about the dirtier it gets the better it is,how do you know the point of being the best it can be?If dirtier is better why don't they sell a package of dirt with the filter so it be better right away?So when they get dirty they close up the openings catching more dirt,in the mean time letting in more dirt?All very confusing.If they are better why aren't they standard on all new vehicles?Just kidding,I have tried them on several different units but always went back to the OEM style.

About a year after I installed my K&N I came across an excellent scientific article on the internet. I wish I could find it again. Bottom line, stay with OEM!

I have been servicing ATV's/motorcycles in my part time business for many, many years. I refuse to use K&N filters. Any machine that has one on a comes for service I will not clean it but offer a new OEM paper element. I have see too many machines with dust in the intake from using K&N's. Its kind of ironic just yesterday I talked to two guys that found the same thing in their personal vehicles. There are lots of articles to confirm the K&N lack of dirt stopping performance. Banks might us 'em but all they are interested in is air flow on the street.

I know this is an old thread but I would like to respond to K&N's rant that was posted. For those that don't know my back ground. I was a GM tech for 47 years.

K&N states that all the MAF sensors they tested where NOT defective because of all the oil and dirt that was on the sensor. Well, thats what caused the sensor to set a code and turn on the "check engine" lite.

Next, how did they get the sensors if they were replaced under warranty. They CAN'T, the dealer sends them back to the warranty dept at GM. After they are tested, they are junked, smashed or what ever. Did K&N go to all the dealers and ask for them?? Probably not and most dealers would tell the person asking for them....NO.

At all the dealers I worked for, the tech working on the vehicle would clean the MAF sensor, reinstall them, clear the code, and retest them. If they failed again, then they would be replaced and the owner would have to pay the bill. It's not the manufacturer's fault that they failed. They would then advise the owner to use a OEM filter or live with the problem.

K&N of all the aftermarket filters have the worst test records out in the real world. I have seen 1'st hand the dirt and oil on the MAF sensors, in the air tubes going to the turbo's and out of the turbo's to the air intake on the engine. It's just flat ugly. All that dirt is going into the engine's intake side. It sure can't be doing the valves, piston's or ring's any good. Maybe some folks have good luck with them.

My whole take on this issue is....if they were that good, then why doesn't the big 3 use them if they create more power. As to the statement about "Banks" using them, well Banks is in business to make money. They don't care about your engine's health and neither does K&N. Don't get me started on the damage I have seen caused by a Banks system to engine's. Everybody can fuss at the big 3 about design flaw's but if all this stuff on the market was that good....trust me it would come standard on new vehicle's. I think that the engineers at the big 3 know more about how their stuff works and why, than the aftermarket people do. Again JMHO

here is a thread Posted a year or so ago on the K & N vs. OEM.

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

I agree with 100% with BOB. and actually take it a step further. I keep everything stock on the truck. The reason is simple. Whether you are talking about air filters, exhaust, tuners etc. multiple engineeers have developed all the seperate systems on vehicles over the years. They have access to almost unlimited resources to come out with vehicles that will beat the competition.

They have many parameters to work within including durability, mpg, HP, torque, etc etc. All most backyard, shade tree mechanics have to work with is slick marketing and information gathered from forums from other backyard shade tree mechanics. There is no one magical gizmo that will give you added hp, mpg etc without sacrificing something else.
Maybe what is sacrificed will not be evident right away but the sacrifice is there.

Unless you you are building a vehicle for specific purpose and operated under one specific condition then it is best to use what the vehicle came with whether it is filters, computer programs etc.

Of course this is all just my opinion.....

Of course K&N and others will try to defend the fact notion (notice I didn't say fact) that their products are safe to use and will not cause problems. They're in business to make $$$. Bob and Larry have pretty well summed it all up...Don

SouthernNights said:

here is a thread Posted a year or so ago on the K & N vs. OEM.

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

I agree with 100% with BOB. and actually take it a step further. I keep everything stock on the truck. The reason is simple. Whether you are talking about air filters, exhaust, tuners etc. multiple engineeers have developed all the seperate systems on vehicles over the years. They have access to almost unlimited resources to come out with vehicles that will beat the competition.

They have many parameters to work within including durability, mpg, HP, torque, etc etc. All most backyard, shade tree mechanics have to work with is slick marketing and information gathered from forums from other backyard shade tree mechanics. There is no one magical gizmo that will give you added hp, mpg etc without sacrificing something else.
Maybe what is sacrificed will not be evident right away but the sacrifice is there.

Unless you you are building a vehicle for specific purpose and operated under one specific condition then it is best to use what the vehicle came with whether it is filters, computer programs etc.

Of course this is all just my opinion.....

Click to expand...

Very well said, I also leave them bone stock, it's kind of funny all of the goat ropers around here when they get a new truck the first part to come off is the exhaust (muffler etc) if it isn't loud and smoken it ain't running. Of course when the factory sends out a recall for what ever they have to scramble to get all of the crap back on, most of'em at this point do not take it in to get the up-dates. So you end up with a truck you can not take to a dealer for any reason, just wasting their money on after market crap.

I agree with Bob and Larry the K&N filter has caused problems for years. The most I've done is exhaust to any of my trucks, along with air intake openings and gears,all with my dealers blessing. But I have never changed the factory filter or added a chip.

I was looking into the K&N Filters and the Banks. I received the following link from K&N when I asked them a question related to oil being pulled of their filters and into the turbo chargers. http://www.knfilters.com/MAF/2MAFSensorVideo.htm The test are another example of marketing to sell, and as was stated in previous posts, "to make money". I have decided to stay with OEM, too.