K&N air filter on 6.2

[Barrman]

There are a lot of threads where people mention putting a K&N in their CUCV. Most also claim a mpg increase. My question is this. Do you leave the foam "pre filter" with the K&N or just go only K&N?

It seems to defeat the purpose of a better flowing element to just put the restrictive foam over it. However, that foam ring will keep crud off the filter and make it last longer.

What have you filter changers done?

Thanks.

 

[stampy]

I got rid of the foam on mine but I did put in a cold air (ram air) type setup that pulls air from the front of the truck (there is a knockout near the jump pont in the front)

 

[jimmy-90]

They make two stock replacement filters for the 6.2 diesel. One has the foam ring the other does not. The last time I bought an air filter for my truck I got the stock NAPA replacement one without the foam ring. Also I had the guy at NAPA look up the K&N filter. It cost something like $40.00 or $45.00 there abouts and he said he would have to special order it too. Might be worth it if you can clean that thing over and over again. If you get one let us know if it fits and runs good.

 

[Cucvnut]

i run a k&n i odnt notice a difference.

 

[idM1028]

I run a K&N without the foam ring. The filter's gotten dirtier from all the oily crap in the air filter assembly than anything else. The K&N by itself doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I also made up a cold air intake like stampy described the other night. Not much of a "seat of the pants" difference, but the truck seems to get up to speed a little quicker.

 

[axlr8]

what did you make your cold air intake out of idM1028?

 

[idM1028]

I went to the junkyard (making an air intake was not my original intent, but I figured what the h***) Some of the older C/K trucks actually had a small plastic inlet piece installed on the front of the truck on the passenger side around the radiator. I yanked one of these off and paid $5 for it. I then went to the auto parts store and grabbed some stuff to make your own air intake with. The first thing was a 4" to 3" reducer piece and the second was some flexible 3" air intake hose. I also grabbed some big tube clamps since I wasn't sure if I would need any more or not. I think I just used the ones that came with the air intake stuff. I hammered out the small metal piece where the plastic intake piece installs (a dremel probably would've worked better, but I haven't got one) I also cut some of the plastic crap off the front of the inlet piece to reduce restriction and make installation easier. You find one, you'll see what I'm talking about. Slid the piece up to the hole from the bottom of the bumper and put it in place. Put the reducer piece over the plastic piece and attached the tubing, secured everything with the clamps. There was a rubber piece that came with the tubing that was more oval shaped rather than circular, so I decided to use that for the air filter assembly. It was a pain to get on and TIGHT. So tight I did even bother using a clamp on it. Ran the tubing into that, secured it with a clamp and called it done. All said cost me about $30 or so. Sure beats $300 for an intake system from say, K&N or some other maker, nice though they are.

 

[jdeoliveira74]

I thought the cold air intake helped a bit on mpg. I have a k&n also seems it needs to be cleaned more often then if it was a gas truck. I just installed a snorkel on my truck working on a turbo set up here soon here that give you the best mpg increase

 

[idM1028]

I haven't really noticed an increase in MPG, but I just did it this week and really haven't driven the truck enough to say yea or nay. Sure hope it does. Come January, I'm gonna have to start driving around 60 miles each day to get to school and back

 

[vinny-socom1]

sorry but it had to be done....

Vinny

 

[jimmy-90]

I plumed my air intake to the front a while back by useing an air cleaner assembly and resonator from a 6.5L diesel truck. If you type my cucv ram-air project into the search function on this site it will display that thread. There are lots of pics.

 

[patracy]

I turn the screws on every diesel I own. They all put out more power than they orginally were designed to. But I WON'T put a POS K&N filter on even my lawnmower.

 

[DrJekl]

Not sure if I get more power or better fuel economy but it sure is louder! Sounds like a gas V8 with the secondaries wide open.

 

[patracy]

Sure does, sounds like the dirt sandblasting the top end.

 

[DrJekl]

You obviously do not care much for K&N filters.

 

[patracy]

You obviously do not care much for K&N filters.

I've owned them before, but after seeing dust in the intake tube, then my friend service manager showing me the statement from Dodge (Kiss your warranty goodbye if they find one), I decided it wasn't worth the 2hp it might make.

 

[DrJekl]

This is from the K&N website so there may be some bias. I read some sites where they say to avoid K&N filters if you are regularly operating in very dusty conditions but are fine otherwise. Not sure if that is Kuwait dusty or country dust. If I remember correctly, K&N makes the filters used in the Blackhawk. They ship in Pelican cases!

8. Will using a K&N direct replacement filter void my factory warranty?

It is against federal law in the United States for a manufacturer to require the use of a specific brand of air or oil filter unless it provides a replacement air or oil filter, free of charge, under the terms of the vehicle warranty. For a more thorough discussion of this law known as the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, see ourVehicle Warranty Section of our Air Filter Facts page, and our Letter Regarding Vehicle Warranty and K&N Replacement Filters.


24. More airflow means you are letting more dirt through, right?

No. Filtration testing measures the percentage of dust retained before the filter reaches a terminal test pressure, often 10" of restriction above initial restriction. We use airflow as a simplified term to explain a more complicated physical process. The more precise description is restriction: K&N air filters create less restriction which helps an engine run better. An engine will only use the air it needs and our air filters do not result in an engine using more air than necessary. Rather, they result in the engine experiencing less restriction. The terms airflow and restriction are inversely related. Our air filters provide either less restriction at a fixed airflow rate; or more airflow as a fixed level of restriction. In neither case is more air being used than necessary.

 

[patracy]

There's been two or three notices from Chrysler when it comes to the Cummins engines. They specifically inform the shop to check for a few signs in the ECM (lack of key counts, showing that the battery was recently disconnected or a flash was recently ran on the ECM) and to check the air filter. Then proceed with reporting to corporate the vehicle info so it can be marked.

That won't void the warranty when say the AC dies, but if you have something along the lines of a "dusted" engine, kiss your money goodbye. While it's true that K&N has the Magnuson-Moss act to hide behind, it shouldn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy. All that act states is that if there's a failure, it's up to the manufacture to prove the speculated abuse/misuse that caused it. ECM programmers easily tip the scales for modern performance issues. But mechanical power adders like a high flow air filter don't readily give up evidence. The owner can easily reinstall the factory filter setup. Then blame the factory air filter system. However, an oil analysis will typically yield a high silica content as an indicator that the air filtering system hasn't been up to par.

With that said, I encourage you to read deeper into K&N. I'd steer you to try to find ISO 5011 results for the filter in question. It's an apples to apples comparison. You'll find that K&N doesn't like to publish these standardized test results. And for good reason...

 

[wallew]

this comes up every year or so...

been there... done that...

LOVE the mod, cheap, easy, elegant and you can ALWAYS go back to original, just keep the old top in case you want to. Pix in the post in case you need visual confirmation.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/36589-air-filter-modifications-minor-work.html

 

[niferous]

I had one on a Dodge diesel and noticed no gains from it. Besides all the talk about voided warranties and such I think the fact that they don't seem to add any power and cost a lot more than a regular filter should be enough to stay away from them. I like Wix or Baldwin filters myself. Both come pretty cheap.