K&N filter for replacement ?

Per the owners manual its every 30k. I'm running a K&N replacement in mine. Let the K&N flame wars begin.....

 

hehe no flames from me - it's your car, do what you like with it. I used K&N's on my bike where they made a difference with rejetted carbs.

The Prius is hardly a sports car so a slight potential increase in air flow is not going to make a huge difference, especially when you consider the torturous route the air has to take in a Prius airbox.

Remember though, oiled filters are not maintenance free - you'll need to make sure you keep it clean and correctly oiled. Too little oil and it won't trap the particles, too much and you'll be coating your sensor.

 

Go with OEM filters. Always. Leave K&N to the fast & furious crowd with their ricers. If you're getting K&N air filter for the Prius might as well double down with a tornado fuel saver and really live on the wild side.

 

The Prius will have no trouble compensating for it, since there will be no change in airflow.

It will have a hard time compensating for the multiple-fold increase in dirt that gets in.

Air Filter Study Completed!!!!! - TheDieselPage.com Forums

 

Nice, that just empirically backs up what I've always thought which is that the manufacturer knows their engine the best and when you're talking about something as cheap/simple as a filter there's no reason in the world they'd cut corners if it measurably was inferior, so OEM is great for filters.

 

Walmart and auto stores carry the cabin air filter. Change it when it gets dirty, or i would say 25,000 miles or so. I'm at 25,000 and mine is still clean. And just go to a Toyota dealer for the air filter.

 

Comments in bold below.

 

For me, look at the basics, please correct me if wrong. The pistons on their intake stroke determine the air flow, there is no more air flow than this. Prius has no turbocharger to force air in. It doesn't run at super high rpms. The throttle plate is the air flow valve and the most restrictive opening. Most of the time probably 99% we are keeping the throttle plate closed way down from open. The engine air system is designed so the air filter can have a long service life and not effect power. Putting a racing filter in a standard engine car is only letting more dirt into the engine. Personally, I don't see the point of doing that. The OE filter isn't paper, it's more of a "fleece."

 

I love my K&N air filter, and the best part is when it's dirty I just clean it and put it back in.

Take your cabin filter out and was it in the kitchen sink with soap,rinse, dry and reinstall.

Haven't had to add air to my wheels in two years, love the nitrogen...(run em all at 40psi so I can rotate them without adding more Nitrogen)

 

When it's time for me to replace the filter, I'm going with a drop in K&N as well. Not for the performance but because it will be the first and last time I will have to by an air filter for my Prius. As for the comment on K&N and fast and the furious, clueless. This is just on OEM replacement/drop in. I have them on all my vehicles, performance or not. They've each paid for themselves several times over, plus they’re cotton not paper so you’ll save some trees along the way.

 

No it's not. Do you know what OEM stands for? If this was an OEM replacement, it would be an OEM filter.

Did you completely miss post #5 or do you just not like what it has to say?

I'll summarize: The K&N not only had the second shortest lifespan (dirt holding capacity) but also let the second most amount of dirt in! And that comes at no performance gain at all.

You can make your purchase decisions based on decals thrown on the side of a Nascar vehicle, but I'll take the science.

 

Atkinson cycle means after the piston draws in a full charge, the intake valves are held open for nearly half of the compression stroke, pushing to fuel-air charge back into the intake manifold. Any 'low restriction' air filter will not change this basic operation.

As for an 'oiled filter,' I wish those who like them GOOD LUCK! We've seen a series of reports of failed MAF sensors from contamination in the 1.5L Prius. Since it is part of the ICE, it is not replaced under warranty. But we now have history of 1.5L engines and fouled MAF sensors and look forward to finding out what happens with the 1.8L engines. By all means, continue the experiment and we'll be here to help diagnose what happens.

Bob Wilson

 

I understand it's not a direct OEM replacement (and yes, I know what it stands for) but it does replace the original by simply taking the stock and "dropping in" the K&N. Like many others, I take into consideration past experience in addition to lab test. I used K&N’s for over 15 years and logged over 250,000 with no issues whatsoever. Like I said before, I wouldn’t purchase a K&N for any performance benefit on the Prius, but rather for cost and environmental reasons.

 

But without those same 250k miles without the K&N you don't know if it would have ended up better, worse, or the same--that is if you go on personal experience.

 

At a 15,000 mile interval per replacement, that calculates to at least 16 OEM paper filter replacements. Wouldn’t you agree that I ended up better?

 

That is quite an aggressive schedule, I'm surprised Toyota pushes but, but still I'd rather pay a little extra over time for a better filtering. It's also why I use OEM oil filters and put in good oils instead of the cheapest a quick lube can do (in my other vehicles I change it myself but use good oil so the cost ends up being similar).

 

It starts here:

Yahoo! Groups

It doesn't happen right away but something that accumulates over time. This thread was about an older Prius with a K&R filter that suffered a MAF failure. The thread pretty well lays out the reasons why we think running a K&R filter is an experiment others should do with their Prius:

• Atkinson cycle - already pushes charge back into the manifold during the first part of the compression stroke. This defeats the 'low pressure drop' of the K&R filter having any effect on Prius efficiency.
• risk of oil contamination to MAF as reported in the thread.

If someone can come back with engineering data showing the K&R filter has some advantage over regular paper filters in the 1.8L Prius, go for it. We haven't seen that in the 1.5L Prius.

Now if your Prius is still under engine warranty, it may make sense to wait until the 3/36000 miles is over. A MAF failure under a stock Prius is likely to be replaced without charge. But a MAF failure under a K&R filter may pose a warranty coverage problem. But again, if it is someone else's Prius, GOOD LUCK!

Bob Wilson