K&N Cold Air Intake Does Work, but...

OP:
According to a lot of information on the internet, the K&N oiled air filter passes too much bad particles. After 3 years and 71K miles, I decided to remove my K&N system and reinstalled the OEM system. As far as the power advantages of the K&N, the removal was a major mistake. I noticed right away there was less power. Yesterday for the first time I had drop to 2nd gear going up hill I've been up several times with my rig. I've always gone up that hill in 3rd gear at 3000 RPM going 50 MPH. I approached the hill as usual and watched the speed go down and down. When I got to 34 MPH, I dropped it 2nd gear and began to gain speed.

Now what? Do I put the K&N back on? Or do I look for a different system? Does anyone know of a better filter that replaces the K&N filter?

Update - 10/11/12: Last Tuesday I drove the 6 hour round trip to retrieve my K&N cold air intake. I reinstalled it yesterday and this morning I installed the new AEM dry filter and the AEM prefilter. Then I towed my RV 155 miles to a new location. There is absolutely no doubt that an aftermarket cold air intake system will improve the truck performance. Not only did I get the lost power back, I confirmed that fuel mileage is improved as well. My mileage went from 7.8 MPG to 9.7 MPG (according to the on-board system). Going up the hills returned to the performance I was used too.

I am considering buying a Smarty Jr. J67. I've read some good reports on this device.

DW_Gray said:

Does anyone know of a better filter that replaces the K&N filter?

Click to expand...

The one on the 2011+ F-250-350-450

porthole said:

The one on the 2011+ F-250-350-450

Click to expand...

Thanks Duane, just what I wanted to hear.

i HAVE the banks system with the inter cooler and Kn filter. It has a sand screen that goes over the filter like a jacket type. I had never cleaned it cause I did not realize that it(the jacket) was completely blocked up with black suit. I started haveing the exhaust temps going over 1200 deg and the edge (that I have stacked over the banks) would defuel when going up steep grades. I decided to clean the kn filter and Jacket. WOW what a huge difference in horse power! No more clogged filter.The jacket stops fine particles from getting thro the filter and it works. No more exhaust alarms from higher temps. I reconditioned the filter with the Kit. I dont know what the latest complaints are about the fiter. I have the 7.3 and it has 165,000 on it and it runs great.

I used one on both my GMs and felt a lot of change with the none turbo. The turbo one never
felt any improvement but ran it for 9 Years without problems. Cleaned it once. OEM filters were always dirty.
On my Ford the Hypertech has been fantastic for the past 5 years.
Never need shifting in the hills.

I run on level 2 all the time and get about additional 30% torque. My truck is mmostly stock and i feel that the programer keeeps everything in check. Never had any heat problems.
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Amsoil make a dry filter which has a much better flow than stock.

Dave, Have you read the article in the September issue of Trailer Life? http://www.trailerlife.com/rv-trailer-news/the-truth-about-engine-air-filtration/ It explains how all the filters work and that you actually want the filter to be paticall clogged/dirty. I have the Banks/K&N filter as well and have yet removed it for cleaning in two years and 30k of miles. The filter sensor will tell me when it needs to be cleaned.

Hummmmmmm, don't more air flow mean more bad stuff getting through. ?


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I run an Airaid cold air intake on my 6.7L Dodge. I clean it about once a year. It has performed flawlessly. I also use a Hypertech Max Energy set on level 2 along with an Edge CTS monitor setup to monitor EGT's ,Boost ,Tranny Temp ,Re-gen and Intake air temps.
Been running this for over 3 yrs. and have never seen any parameter over an acceptable level. The truck pulls my Sundance effortlessly and I go around 18 wheelers going up hills all the time. I average 12.5 to 13.5 mpg very consistently at 60 - 65 mph. I also run with the EGR valve unplugged.

I think the OEM filters are just fine and the after market filters are a waste of money on today's engines. There was a recent article in either Trailer Life or Motor Home magazine that explains air filters very well. It made that point. In fact many people replace the OEM filter prematurely thinking it helps, but filter get better as time goes on.

DW_Gray said:

Thanks Duane, just what I wanted to hear.

Click to expand...

Just trying to help Dave

I discovered AEM has K&N replacements. http://www.aemintakes.com/

I've ran an AFE cold air intake since my truck was new. I bought the dry filter because of what I had read about the oiled filters and the diesels. The oil from the filters tend to settle on the MAF sensor and mess with it, especially if the filter is over oiled. It has worked great for me. My truck has been tuned and I can tell that the filter is getting dirty by it throwing a code. All it takes is a cleaning and everything is running right. I thought about going back to the stock filter, because thay are supposed to flow good for up to 500 HP tunes on the Duramax's. The trouble is the tunes installed on mine is for the cold air intake. Haven't had any trouble with it even in cold weather.

Update: Last Tuesday I drove the 6 hour round trip to retrieve my K&N cold air intake. I reinstalled it yesterday and this morning I installed the new AEM dry filter and the AEM prefilter. Then I towed my RV 155 miles to a new location. There is absolutely no doubt that an aftermarket cold air intake system will improve the truck performance. Not only did I get the lost power back, I confirmed that fuel mileage is improved as well. My mileage went from 7.8 MPG to 9.7 MPG (according to the on-board system). Going up the hills returned to the performance I was used too.

I am considering buying a Smarty Jr. J67. I've read some good reports on this device.

+1 on what Tool958 said about oiled filters and the MAF sensor. They can cause problems in diesels with a dirty MAF, loss of power, and funny codes.

K&n flow well but they don't filter well until they begin to get dirty. Sounds stupid but K&N is not a good filter for force induction engines


AFE makes a very good dry filters. I would look there for a replacement. (dry means you don't oil them).