School Me!

[TooMuch03]

When I bought my truck about 9 months ago, it came several mods already done, including a K&N Intake. In the process of adding lots of other mods and gathering a ton of great info on this site I have read a lot of posts about K&Ns killing turbos...
Up until coming here I've never heard anything bad about K&N, so can some one please tell me why the K&N is so bad, and what makes it different/worse than every other Intake that uses a reusable, oiled, cotton gauze filter media???

[BubbaJ]

Im no pro on these intakes.. But just passing on the knowledge i've gained from here..

The K&N intake is oilable..like you already know.. but from what I understands happen... Is the turbo is going to pull so hard on that air-filter..that the oil will actually pull through the filter, and into the turbo... Thus in tern.. leaving you with a gauze materiel filter...and thats it...

[TooMuch03]

That Kinda makes sense, but then why is this a problem for the K&N but not for other oiled filters like S&B, AFE, or Airaid to name a few?

[rdunagan]

personally K&N has lost there backbone with their intakes and you just pay for the name now and dont get anything out of it! there quality has also gone down. aftermarket intakes in general on these trucks dont do any good until after 500hp. they just dont flow or filter as good.

[TooMuch03]

Being an engineer by profession, I tend to question what many just accept and I always want to figure out why something works or doesn't work, so I hope no one takes this the wrong way...

I have seen a lot of people bashing K&N Intakes, claiming they are junk and will damage your engine; but at the same time I have been unable to find any proof to back up these claims. And, it does not make sense that this intake could be so detrimental, while other systems with similar designs are just fine.

If, in fact, it will cause damage then, by all means, I want to remove it and install something that will be safe. But, I have no desire to spend several hundred dollars on a new intake if it will provide me no benefit whatsoever, especially, if it is based solely on hear-say.

[kingranch89]

Just do what you want and learn the hard way if your going to question the guy about k&n not being good for your truck they just simply let to much dirt through get a stock intake and call it a day

[jshalala]

All the bashing of k&n filters is mostly related to the 7.3 engines. That particular setup using the k&n filter has poor filtering quality. On your 6.0, first off you don't need an after market intake till 500 hp, but it wont hurt you. I also think k&n is fine on a 6.0 compared to the 7.3 as the factory setup is well designed on the 6.0

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[sbarbee54]

It will pull the oil out of the fileter causing it to sit in the turbo in all areas, vains, turbine all the parts. Then as the less than good dry filter will allow small particals of dirt and anything else to get sucked into the turbo where the oil is now sitting and stuck. It will build up there until it ruins the turbo or gets shot into the engine were it will wreck havock thier.

Simple as that. It would help if the K & N was inclosed in something not allowing all gunk floating under the hood to be sucked through it. It also creats higher IAT temps beuase of its lack of seperation from the rest of the engine area.

Good enough?

[jeephauler]

I am currently running a K&N air intake on a jeep. What I found was a build up of fine dust down the length of the intake pipe. This was after washing the filter, applying the oil per instructions. I also went so far as to install a nylon sock cover of the pleated element. The sock picked up allot of the larger dirt particles but the filter still allowed dirt to flow through it. My truck mechanic said that he has found pitting on the turbo blades when the owners were running after market filters and playing in the desert.

[a2elvis]

The OE air filter is more than adequate for most applications. I think one of the main reasons guys dont recommend the K&N brand name is because its the most popular. Its just the first name that comes to mind when you think of cleanable air filters... So I think what they are trying to say is no oil style air filters for the 6.0L. I would always recommend sticking with the OE air filter setup as it is far superior than ANY oil type air filter. But since you already have it, its tough to rationalize taking it off... I get it.