Reusable Air Filters

[Offy]

I generally put K&N air filters on all my equipment and toys. This saves time (buying new filters), money (I normally keep everything a long time) and also I can usually notice a performance increase. Do they make them for a Mahindra(Mitsubishi)?

 

[hudr]

Which Mahindra? Do you just have a paper element on yours? My 5005DI has a paper element and an oil bath.
Probably you will end up fabbing something and getting one of K&N's "generic" filters. But remember this, you probably have a prefilter, dust bowl or something else between your existing filter and the outside. Also, the environment the tractor is operated in may not lend itself to easy adaptation of a reuseable filter.

 

[GarthH]

You will need to be careful. K&N filters allow more dirt to pass through than a paper element - not bad dirt - quite small particles which will simply end up in the oil. The result is you should be changing oil more often.

Garth

 

[DieselPower]

You will need to be careful. K&N filters allow more dirt to pass through than a paper element - not bad dirt - quite small particles which will simply end up in the oil. The result is you should be changing oil more often.

Garth

Any dirt is bad dirt. Even very fine dirt entering the engine can over time damage turbo vanes, greatly increase cylinder wall and piston/ring wear and also greatly increase bearing wear. I avoid "cleanable" filters like the plague. They did a filter study over on dieselplace.com a year or two ago on filters for a GM diesel pickup. The best filter tested was the factory AC Delco filter, among the worst were K&N for allowing dirt past the filter. I have also seen a bunch of studys that showed that the so called "high performance" replacement filters did not increase HP or torque at all. It was all marketing hype. Your best bet is to stick with a factory type paper filter element.

 

[Offy]

Thanks for the replys and information. I have used K&N filters for many years starting when I raced go karts with McCullough engines and I was under the impression that the oiled filter was an improvement over the paper ones. I also usually imagined a performance gain, especially on my Harley and a 4.6 Ford 1/2 ton that I owned. The only thing that I own that dosen't have one or more (3 twos on my hot rod) is my 9N and little John Deere lawn tractor. Lesson learned!

 

[Nightrain1]

I wonder if those test done with K&N filters was done before the pretreatment. They have an oil based spray that you have to use or the filter is pretty useless.

 

[GarthH]

Paper filters are 99% effecient with particles that are pretty small. Foam filter with or without an oil treatment will never reach that level.

The reason for the performance gain is because there is less restriction for the air passing by the filter.

I do not think I can agree any dirt is bad - I certainly understand what you are saying.

K & N has been on the market for years and if the users were experiencing shorter engine life I suspect we would have heard about it.

One of the primary design issues of oil is its ability to suspend the dirt particles. Obviously the oil filter will help. Most people change the oil and filter way earlier than really necessary. I do agree it is better to be safe than sorry. Anyway it seems something is make it all work together.

My preference is for paper based elements. It seems logical that paper will collect more than a high density foam.

I have never seen any actual tests to compare the products - Has anyone seen a test performed by a University or a good independent lab?

Garth

 

[DieselPower]

The test was independently performed under controlled conditions using a $285,000 machine at Testand Corp of Rhode Island (manufacturer of the machine). The test is ISO 5011 Standard (formerly SAE J726). Arlen Spicer over at dieselplace should be comended for all the effort he put into getting this test done. I have spoken with him before about this test. K&N wasn't very happy with the results of the test and even payed to fly him out to their manufacturing facility to show him their operation. The whole test caused quite a uproar in the aftermarket filter market back when it was done. He is currently in the process of getting a diesel fuel additive lubricity test done by a independent lab.

Here's a link to the test that was done on the air filters. Aftermarket Air Intakes/Filters - Do They Work? - Diesel Place

Here's the results of the "total dirt passed vs time".

Actual test data results.

 

[Offy]

Now I'm really getting confused. All the K&N filters that I"ve used over the last 30 years had what appeared to be a cotton type media entrapped with a metal mesh as the main filtering element and that was covered with a red oil as evenly as possible. Often a foam pre filter was used especially when racing on clay/dirt. The foam prefilter was later displaced by a cloth type filter cover. All the sprint cars that I seen that race on dirt have used a K&N type filters and we are talking $25,000 to $40,000+ engines. I know for a fact that the Saturday morning when I put on the K&N filter on my 80 cubic inch V2 Harley that there was a very noticable gain in throttle response and crispness. The factory paper filter was not dirty and in fact had just reached the 500 mile mark as I wanted to put the new filter on before I took it in for the 500 mile dealer check. I put on new mufflers and had the carb rejetted at that time and wanted to have it set up with the new breather in place.
K&N has done a **** of a marketing job to fool a lot of people for a very long time.

 

[DieselPower]

As a mechanic I have seen a lot of vehicles over the years that had K&N filters in them. It was easy to tell even if you didn't see the filter. Just check your inlet tube after the filter in a few months. There will normally be a coating of dust there. That would be the dust/dirt that has gotten past the filter. As for high performance engines, they couldn't really care about long term dirt problems. Their engines are overhauled so frequently (after every race in a large majority of them) that the long term effects you would see after months/years means little to them. In a personal vehicle that you plan on putting 100's of thousands of miles on it can be alot of dirt over it's life. The above study proved it.

Case in point. One of my best friends has a International pulling tractor, the 2,000 HP engine sled pulling type tractor. He runs K&N filters on his tractor. Does he care about a little dirt? No, he overhauls it at least once a year if not more often. The total dirt that gets into his engine in the very short time it runs is very small but we are talking about only a few hours of running in a whole year. He cares more about how much air he can suck into his 4 turbo's for a couple seconds of pulling than a little dirt.