Intake filter cleaning?

Hey all! I've had my K&N intake for a little under a year now, and its looking a little dark and dirty, I got the Recharger cleaning kit. But I was wondering, those of you with a K&N, How often did you clean it? and I dont do any off roading, so any help or opinions please.

 

Ooops, misread your post. IIRC you're supposed to clean it every 50K miles, but if you're anal retentive then clean it when you think it's dirty.

 

I prefer the TrueFlow, dual stage foam filter element. Filters better than the gauze type material like the K&N. Look at your filter close-up, see all those little holes?

 

thanx for comments, and I thought about getting a different filter bc I know the K&N doesnt filter well, but it does get good performance. I'll just clean it, and maybe even the throttle body again. It's been awhile. thanx again guys!!!

 

I've had K&N drop-in filters and I've been known to clean 'em every 6 months to yearly regardless of how dirty they look.

Reason being - the oil is what filters the finer particles. Once that oil becomes saturated with dust, even in certain spots on the filter, it can allow dust to pass through it.

Lots of people complain about K&N's because it lets dust past through- and that's because they're not cleaning them often enough. They also complain about oil on the MAF - and that's because they over-oil it.

 

i just played it on the safe side and got a new filter at around 35,000. im one of those anal guys and dont wanna over oil it when i clean it. so i just bought another filter rather than cleaning. but yea depending on how much off roading u do, should be cleaned between 40,000-50,000

 

I havn't had my K&N for more than a couple months and I've already cleaned it once. If it looks dirty, clean it! It'll still be cheaper than diposable paper filters.

 

Thanx guys, Yeah mine has looked dirty for a while but wasnt sure if I should clean it or not, but i'll be doing it this weekend for sure... Im pretty sure I got it around 93-95,000 miles and I now got 100,300. I know thats not many miles, But Hey! it looks dirty.

 

Even though it says 100,000 miles (must mean in a dust free world). I did mine at 50,000. It was dirty & I do not do any off road driving either. It must be from the few dirt roads I have been down. It never hurts to do more often than recommended.

 

Pretty much covered above.

But do follow the directions of the recharge kit. Low pressure water clean side to dirty side out, no air compressors, let dry, don't over oil, ect.

I've never had any problems with K&N and just put one in my wifes new car. I did go to AFE oil free drop on my truck, didn't have one for her car, account I'm lazy.

 

Yeah, I will be very carefull in following the directions and especially not to over oil it... and at the same time I think I'll go ahead and clean out the throttle body, and MAF sensor, couldn't hurt..