K &N filter cleaning

[bigviper]

How often do you lot clean your filters , i did mine today
and they have only done 4500k and they were black as hell.
just made me think how much power is lost by not doing such
a simple job !
not mentioned in service info either ?

Edited by bigviper on Friday 13th February 16:05

[Gixer]

I always do mine every spring and sometimes more depending on how many times I've been out in the rain/dusty parking at lemans etc. Always dry and full of crap though

I hate cleaning the k&n probably the worse job on the car.

[VENOM500]

Every 5 or 6 years works for me.....but then again, I only got about 237BHP and dropping!
Serious;y must clean then this year....good idea!

[bigviper]

VENOM500 said:

Every 5 or 6 years works for me.....but then again, I only got about 237BHP and dropping!
Serious;y must clean then this year....good idea!

have you lost a chicken....look in the air box

[neilsfishing]

where r they

[VENOM500]

bigviper said:

VENOM500 said:

Every 5 or 6 years works for me.....but then again, I only got about 237BHP and dropping!
Serious;y must clean then this year....good idea!

have you lost a chicken....look in the air box

Funny you should say that, were a chicken down!And last week when I started the Venom up I could have sworn I saw a cloud of feathers come flying out the back?or maybe it was the KFC whiff that seemed to hang around for the rest of the day!......................................off to check rightaway......

[RT/10Dave]

Good heads up there! Not something I've really ever though of doing... What's the best way to do this? Where can I get the correct solutions for cleaning them up?

[Viper]

halfords,ebay etc do a 'K&N recharge kit' about £15

Edited by Viper on Monday 16th February 10:08

[RT/10Dave]

Thanks Neil!

[ViperDave]

Just be a bit sparing with the new oil as too much can fowl the MAF sensor apparently.

[Viper_Larry]

Thought they had a 100,000 mile no need to clean life? Never cleaned mine in 6 years!

[Joelism]

No maf on the Viper, but still, not good to over oil those filters

[bigviper]

Viper_Larry said:

Thought they had a 100,000 mile no need to clean life? Never cleaned mine in 6 years!

would be interesting to do a dyno befor and after cleaning to see the difference .

[SB - Nigel]

Viper_Larry said:

Thought they had a 100,000 mile no need to clean life? Never cleaned mine in 6 years!

Just stumbled across this thread, this chap is nearer the mark the rest of you are doing more work than necessary

One of the advantages of K&N is that you don't have to clean every year like say Pipercross (a very sticky job)

Clean K&N at 100,000 miles or 50,000 if in a dusty area, K&N recommend at 50,000, for more details see http://www.knfilters.com/filtercharger.htm

Also note Safety Recall Notice on Certain FIPK's for Dodge Vehicles! at bottom of this page http://www.knfilters.com/cold_air_intakes.htm

Unless you have a static concours vehicle the filters will not remain red for very long but they are still working

I once got a car with some grey looking K&Ns on so I cleaned (and recoloured) them it was a waste of time and money for me they were back to grey again very soon

[RT/10Dave]

Just to save anyone searching and reading the recall info, this is only relevant to certain Dodge Trucks and SUV's (Rams, Durangos etc) None relate to Vipers.

Edited by RT/10Dave on Tuesday 17th February 11:26

[SB - Nigel]

RT/10Dave said:

Just to save anyone searching and reading the recall info, this is only relevant to certain Dodge Trucks and SUV's (Rams, Durangos etc) None relate to Vipers.

Sorry, as I saw that I thought I’d added it in case any of you lads had the smaller tucks too, I know at least one of you used to have a one of the big trucks

[Gixer]

SB - Nigel said:

Viper_Larry said:

Thought they had a 100,000 mile no need to clean life? Never cleaned mine in 6 years!

Just stumbled across this thread, this chap is nearer the mark the rest of you are doing more work than necessary

One of the advantages of K&N is that you don't have to clean every year like say Pipercross (a very sticky job)

Clean K&N at 100,000 miles or 50,000 if in a dusty area, K&N recommend at 50,000, for more details see http://www.knfilters.com/filtercharger.htm

Also note Safety Recall Notice on Certain FIPK's for Dodge Vehicles! at bottom of this page http://www.knfilters.com/cold_air_intakes.htm

Unless you have a static concours vehicle the filters will not remain red for very long but they are still working

I once got a car with some grey looking K&Ns on so I cleaned (and recoloured) them it was a waste of time and money for me they were back to grey again very soon

My one sits in a forced air intake and gets very dirty very quick. I clean it every spring and the amount of crap that comes out is unbelievable. The 'every 100k miles' is very hopeful on K&N's part I think. Loads of tuners on ZR1 net have run dyno tests K&N vs stock and it dosent take long before the stock filter starts to out perform the K&N.

[SB - Nigel]

Gixer said:

My one sits in a forced air intake and gets very dirty very quick. I clean it every spring and the amount of crap that comes out is unbelievable. The 'every 100k miles' is very hopeful on K&N's part I think. Loads of tuners on ZR1 net have run dyno tests K&N vs stock and it dosent take long before the stock filter starts to out perform the K&N.

Fair enough - I suppose where the filter(s) are located on the car and how they're fixed makes a difference

Cleaning requires following the instructions with the K&N cleaning fluid and reoiling rather than blowing thro' with a line - I think I'd look for an alternative if I had to clean it each year

Of course you're right only way to test effectiveness of the cleaning is to check the car immediately before and after proper cleaning

IIRC the K&Ns drop efficiency from new but keep at a steady rate for a very long time

At the cost of the filter(s) and £15 a time for cleaning and recharge kit plus the time to do the job properly I wouldn't have bothered with my cars as they were only used as road cars

[Gixer]

The OEM filter on my car is paper. As its posible for water to get to the filter housing in very bad weather I have no choice than to use the K&N

Still a PITA job though. I think this year I will buy another and then it will just be a case of a filter swap and then cleaning and oiling the other whenever

[SB - Nigel]

If you had a spare clean K&N filter it would make the power test easy (or easier if it's in a difficult location) - on the rollers with the dirty filter get a figure, swap to new and roll up'n'down again

I must say you Viper lads love your Vipers, good on yer

PS you can get the cleaning/recharge kit for less than £15 but you must get frequent user or bulk discount already