so i searched yesterday and didnt see anything.....has anyone put a K&N airfilter in their prius? my corolla benefited greatly from it. as a matter of fact i put a basic paperfliter in while cleaning the K&N. my wife demanded to know what i did to her car b/c it was more sluggish and she took a 5 mpg hit!! i guess my wife actualy pays attention to the car.
I have, can't see any benefit...and I can never find time to properly clean it. Potential risk for increased dirt passing through and, if over oiled, damage to the MAF.
thanks for the fast reply....what i end up doing is buying a pureolator(sp) filter to stick in for a few days. then clean, dry and reoil the filter. so no increased power or mpg? bummer
The ICE in the Prius leads a pretty easy life. High-performance accessories don't help very much because it's not very demanding.
K&N is a performance part. I don't see how it would benefit a Prius. I have it on my CX-9. With it, it gains a few horsepower on the high end (rpm). (according to fellow CX-9er who dyno-ed it) No change in MPG according to my records.
We use the K&N filter in both our civic hybrid and our prius. We like to keep air filters clean (e.g. before any long trip) to help maintain ideal air flow. Further, they never need to be replaced like the paper filters. Our last 2 tanks have been approx. 77 mpg (77.1 and 77.7). I am not saying it is all about the filter, however, a clean filter does not hurt.
wow, you get 77 mpg out of your Prius! mine sits between 55 and 58 and I thought I was doing well. You must live in Phoenix. The Prius will get better mileage in hot weather. what else do you do to get such amazing mileage?
What is your mpg with stock airfilter? Very interesting, Did you try the adding 2 more pounds of air to each tire and dropping the oil level a tad under the full mark ?
in town with stock filters in place we would get about 24-25, k&n we get 28-29 i have not tried adding air to her tires above the max pressure or slightly less oil. i may try the air pressure trick after we get her new tires .
The only difference is the amount of dirt that goes into your engine. KN is the WORST (TESTED against all other paper filters on a flow bench) filter on the planet. It WILL ruin your engine.
A more restrictive filter may result in lower power (but does anyone really care about having more power on a Prius??) but according to Consumer Reports your wife's car should not have taken such a great mileage hit, in fact none at all. So, I let my filters get dirtier than in the past because I could really care less about getting every bit of power. Rick #4 2006
just going by your signature I'm going to have to say that anything coming out of your mouth is pure propaganda or just plain incorrect
I have a K&N air filter but I put it in soon after buying the car. So, I have limited experience regarding before and after. I'm getting around 51 with my standard commute and around 55 with the unreformulated gas from up north. I overinflate my tires so really don't have anything concrete that I would attribute to the filter. I'm just pleased with the overall result.
Very interesting reading so far. I am also thinking of replacing my stock filter with K&N. I have K&N filter on my last Saturn and does notice a minor increase in horsepower. IMHO, the main reason I am thinking of getting a K&N filter is because it is reusable for its life time (cleaning is pretty easy, except you will not have your car driveable for a day. Needed to wait for the filter to be dry after it is washed) So, my logic is, if I plan to keep my car for a long time, replacing 3-4 paper filter will cost the same as a new K&N filter, why not? (Not sure how much are the Prius paper filter vs K&N filter yet)
K & N have been a problem w/ high demand engines (IE: diesels) operating in a dusty environment. The result is a "dusted" (IE: ruined engine). IMHO - stick w/ O.E.M. air filters - better for the engine, your wallet, and if still under warranty (a biggy) Dbcassidy
How many miles did you have on the car when the mileage jumped up?? Plus what tire pressure are you running and what other cool things do you do to get this 77mpg:second:
