Well, I just had the dealership for a second time, put the stock air filter back on. It seems after the change from it to the K&N or back, it runs extra well, but over time with one or the other, needs a change. This is about to run me nuts.

The day they did the 3 upgrades, the shop supervisor advised me to think over putting the stock back on. He said something about the K&N letting in too much air too soon. He also said it would be wise to do so considering the long range effects on the engine. I dunno. I guess I'll drive the stock filter a while until it feels smothered again, then go back again. It is no easy task getting into that air box on this car either! I stood there and watched the whole procedure, and it is one big job. Four bolts deep below the box, and the guy had to use a long fancy elbow type wrench and work for 30 minutes total getting it on and off. He finally had to go get a regular mechanic to finish the job!

Gosh! Last night, I decided to get the K&N out of the sack and look at it with the bright ceiling light behind it. Holes! I never saw so many tiny holes that could let in fine dust!! I never was so shocked in my life! I thought those things were made better than that. I don't know with only around 16 to 17k miles on it if it already needs cleaned and re-oiled or not, but those holes scare me off ever putting it back on the car again.

The K&N filters can be more porous. I do understand this is the reason for the oil.

I have a K&N on my ATV....I'll take it out this weekend and see if I can see through it. I've never tried this, but I use the K&N b/c I can't afford to put new paper filters in it every 200 miles.....


I think I agree...keep that OEM filter in your Hybrid.

K&N's filter better when they get dirty. Cleaning one too soon helps introduce more silicon (dirt, dust) into the engine. I would not use that brand in an extremely dusty environment. If you do use it in very dusty situations change engine oil more often than you normally would or use oil analysis to see how bad the silicon level in the oil is. Some of the K&N's have an available prefilter that covers the main filter for more dust/dirt removal.

I do have a prefilter, but it looks more like a thin mesh screen than anything else.

I do oil changes on the atv every 500 miles (verses the 1k reccomended) b/c of the dust. I didn't know about the Silicon though....guess I need to send that guy into Blackstone and see what I get on my next oil change.

I imagine the ATV is pretty rough on oil.

Since you're doing it at half the recommended interval the dirt that is injested has little time to do much damage. I would feel better getting a read from Blackstone the next time you change it to see where you stand :yes: They might say to take it out to 1000 or may say to cut back to 300. The only way to know is to send in the sample.

Hi, folks-

I probably will leave the OEM in. We're in dusty dry West Texas. There is one street here, a busy industrial paved street that the dust blows any time the wind does. I guess it comes from the sandy lots of heavy equipment businesses. We have to travel that street a lot, and when we do, I wonder about how much dust is getting by the K&N.
I wish we lived in a damp climate, but we see rain too seldom in these parts.

Haven't y'all beein in a drought for some years now?

We have some family friends that live in Abilene and I remember hearing several stories of how dry your lake gets some years.

We're beginning to see a slight drought trend, Steve. We've not had some rain in a while. That is neat about having the family friends here! True, the lakes can really look thirsty if there hasn't been enough moisture.

The car seems to be doing pretty well with the OEM filter. I always think it may not be quite as peppy without the K&N, but then I remember the times I've thought it might be having a probem WITH it. I've heard there are dry type filters like K&N, but the site I checked, they didn't have any as yet for this car model.