Air Filter Suggestions?

[drummerboy2004]

Hey All,

I went in for my 25,000 mile servicing the other day, and the gentleman at the dealership advised me to change my air filter. Of course, I am not willing to pay to have them put it in. The question I have is... Should I just buy a run-of-the-mill air filter, get the K&M one, or is there another avenue I've yet to venture... Perhaps one that boosts efficiency. I see that the K&M boost horsepower, but that's not a concern of mine.

Thanks ahead of time!!!

Matt

[ALS]

Just drop in a good paper or OEM air filter. Stay away from K&N's, they have the best marketing snow job out there. At wide open throttle you might see a 1% improvement in air flow over a factory paper filter.

[worthywads]

I still haven't got my understanding on this one resolved.

I tend to think that with a modern fuel injected engine with closed loop the air cleaner on a vehicle driven for fuel economy at low rpm has little or no effect if it is clean or dirty. If it is causing restrictions the throttle plate opens a fraction more. Until the air cleaner is grossly clogged it shouldn't have a detrimental effect.

Going further, can a restricted intake actually produce better FE as it's fuel system supplies less gas with less air, effectively acting like a smaller engine?

Anyone know if I'm all wet with this logic?

To the OP, stick with oem or other paper aftermarket.

[lxmike]

Tell them " thank you i can do it myself" then Go to pepboys,autozone, napa or whatever is local to you and get a paper filter and change yourself.

[drummerboy2004]

Well, I think I should ask this from a money perspective...

Say I spend 10-15 bucks for each paper air filter every 30,000 miles... Well over 150k miles of course that's between 50 and 75 dollars. If I buy the K&M... it's expensive up front, but it's supposed to last forever (kinda).

All of this being said, would you all agree that it makes monetary sense to get the K&M?

Oh, and thank's for the help!!!

[msirach]

Yes, If you are planning on driving it that long, the K&N would pay for itself. Environmentally, it is less trash also.

[atlaw4u]

The problem with K&N is having to oil it every so often. It is the oil that "catches" the dirt. If you over oil it the oil can travel into your fuel intake and cause additional problems. I would go to Wal-Mart or similar and purchase a basic paper replacement. Further, paper filters can be reused several times by cleaning them with air pressure or other.

[worthywads]

Considering the factory air filter gets you to 30K, it takes 4 filters to get you to 150K. I paid $13.99 for oem toyota air filters or $56 with no cleaning/oiling hassle. I'm sure my Checker has air filters for a lot less, but the oem looked pretty good for capturing to me.

[worthywads]

I don't remember seeing this DOE report mentioned here but here is a good analysis that finds dirty air filters don't harm fuel economy on fuel injected engines. I think it concludes that K&N doesn't improve fuel economy either.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/pdfs/...02_26_2009.pdf

If anything my idea of clogged filter increaseing FE may need more funding, though not statistically better the trend was more tests with clogged filters showed increase than decrease in FE.

[drummerboy2004]

Originally Posted by worthywads

I don't remember seeing this DOE report mentioned here but here is a good analysis that finds dirty air filters don't harm fuel economy on fuel injected engines. I think it concludes that K&N doesn't improve fuel economy either.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/pdfs/...02_26_2009.pdf

If anything my idea of clogged filter increaseing FE may need more funding, though not statistically better the trend was more tests with clogged filters showed increase than decrease in FE.

Wow... That's a very interesting finding!

After all of the help from you all, I've concluded I will be getting the paper OEM one.

Thanks, all!