K&N Pollen Filter compared to OEM

Sounds good. Thanks for the tip.

 

Changed mine for the first time in 35,000 miles yesterday.



Maybe I should have done it sooner?

 

Mine had some seed pods in it the first time that I looked. I'm sure you'll notice some more air flow out of the vents.

What does the bottom of the filter box look like? Mine is coated with dust like in Post 25.

 

Lovin that freshy fresh smell after cleaning/recharging...................

 

LOL, yeaaaah. It was well past time. That's how my 07 looked after 2+ years of never changing the filter.

I tried to be super cheap and was buying 1" home AC filters and cutting them to size (for my 07) because it's just a filter and it fit in the slot just fine. Dealer told me to never do that because it was putting strain on the blower. Fair point. That's when I swapped to the frams.

 

That's kinda bullshit though right? I mean the dealer could've just been truthful and said "if you don't use an approved filter you'll lose warranty on the motor".

Cause most 1" thick furnace filters are nearly identical to the cabin filter in composition. Or if anything, allow a little more air to pass through them. I wouldnt worry about it if you were changing it regularily. Couldn't have been worse for the motor than a plugged filter like mine lol

 

Actually (being an aero eng), the more closed or loaded that a filter is the less strain there is on a fan. This is only true for compressible fluids like air and other gasses. Here's a simple test to prove it: Turn on your shop vac or vacuum cleaner and cover the hose with your hand. You'll hear the motor speed increase. The more airflow, the more strain on a fan.

 

KN cabin filter works well. I’ve had mine I guess for a couple years. Probably need to wash it sometime soon lol.

I didn’t feel like spending time either diy’ing some oem alternative and I didn’t care for the paper OEM-type ones.

You can either spend 200%+ markup on some paper or you can spend 200% markup on something that is more solid, whatever floats your boat.

Seal wise, the KN may do better than paper but basically you are only sealing against where the filter sits so of course you will see dust/crap deposited on the exterior air side of the filter and the actual air box housing too, just by the way it is designed.

 

Thanks!

I don't care about the exterior side of the box, it's everything that is getting past the filter that is bothering me:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/k-n-pollen-filter-compared-to-oem.565769/page-2#post-18589733

In truth, I grew up before there were cabin filters and am not any sort of clean freak. But, I can remember being annoyed at the dust that would gather behind the vents of the cars that my folks had and that there was no easy way to clean it up.

 

Maybe I should have done it sooner?[/QUOTE]
That does look pretty bad, I changed mine out today after 16K, it was dirty but not quite that dirty.

 

Changing your cabin filter makes it smell cleaner but recharging does too?

 

Well I dunno about smell cleaner, but I'm certainly not sneezing all the fucking time now.

 

Simply not true. When you cover the airflow such as on a vacuum, it restricts the air causing the fan motor to speed up to compensate for the restriction. The faster the fan blows, the more “wear and tear” it has on the fan, especially the bearings. By your logic, the dirtier (restricted) a filter gets, the better the fan will perform. That’s not how it works.

 

You actually think your Tacoma fan motor or vacuum cleaner has a voltage controlled system that will adjust speed automatically, depending on the load?

The 'aero engineer' is correct. The fan or vacuum cleaner motor still receives the same amount of power, the only thing that changes is the load on the motor. If the motor has no air to move through the system, then the load decreases and the motor spins faster.

 

No. Never said anything about increase in power. It does speed up because there is no “air” restriction on the fan but that is not what it’s designed to do. It’s designed for intake of air. I can see what I wrote made it seem like you described and while that is correct, it doesn’t make it perform better because it’s not doing what it’s designed to do. Shove a towel in the intake. The motor increases is speed. Place nozzle on dirty carpet. Is it sucking up the dirt?

 

Did you guys just argue about how a cabin fan works?

Seriously guys, who gives a fuck. It works or it doesn't. Lol

 

You forgot one quote in your multi quote!

 

Actually, I don't have anything better to do on a fine Sunday morning.

 

Me either. Rather discuss random crap and argue here than argue with the wife!

 

I thought we were discussing the physics of how a fluid flows through a system and its interactions on mechanical devices within the system.

Too deep a subject for most TW members.