Manifold caked with filth

Looks like dried mud to me.. Mud doesn't always have rock in it.

K and N might not filter down to the same size particulate as a regular paper filter but the shit in that guys intake is not from from running a K and N.

 

Here's another view of what I scraped out. It's brown and resembles dirt.

 

Crush it with your fingers. If it’s dirt that got through the filter it should be consistent and fine like baby powder.

 

Wel whatever it is, it's obvious his truck sees some extra-ordinary conditions. I'd be cleaning stuff out and/or trying different filters if I saw that in my intake. He'll figure it out. Simply checking things more often is half the battle

 

Well like I said, I ran a drop in K&N filter in my FJ for years here in north Georgia and never saw any (and I mean any) buildup of crud or dirt in my intake. I don't know what the fuck you poor bastards are breathing out in Arizona, but it must suck!

PS: OP, let's see what your cabin air filter looks like!

 

When you can read a newspaper through your filter element, it's not doing what it needs to do.
Even a well cared for K&N will let shit through that has no business in an engine.
The "Outerwears" help, but at the end of the day, they're just a band aid to the inherent design flaw that is oiled cotton gauze filter.

 

I've run both over the years. In my experience I didn't have any trouble with the oiled filters but in my gen 3 I've only run paper. There's no air restriction in the gen 3, it's a huge air box. I think in the OP's case getting mud and water in the air box would be big trouble, no matter what filter he was using.

 

In ye olde days, desert-air packages were oil bath filters. I’d describe it, but we’ll… there’s google for learnin’.

 

Not looking good after taking off intake manifold.

 

That obviously that went right over your head.

 

No offense OP but this just got interesting

 

Gonna have to look into that. In the mean time , I will need a small miracle to safely clean this all out.

 

I'm happy to provide the entertainment. I'm also in awe.

 

They've gone mostly to particle separation air cleaning systems in expensive diesel equipment and serious Off road vehicles, works kind of like a swirl cage filters, spin the airflow so particles get pushed to the outside, then draw air from the center of the vortex.

This lives 99% of it's time off road in a desert environment. It uses a 3 stage filter, K&N at the center covered by an oiled UNI foam filter layer covered by a filterskin. A common method of filtration that works excellent despite the open chassis and rear engine.

 

I would guess your engine has quite a bit of blowby.

 

K&N was always a favorite filter for racers because it allowed such a good, full flow of air. Air = Horsepower.
But it allowed a LOT of dirt along with that air too!
The racers didn't care about the dirt - they rebuilt their engines after every race.

I would never use K&N after learning of this. That was in the 1980-90s. Because I stayed away from K&N, I have no idea of what their filtration ability is today. These photos from OP kind of paint the picture I expected from K&N, though.
I'm glad I never used their products!

 

Is blowby what results from scoring of the piston walls?

 

Shop Vac and paper towels.