K & N Filter

I retract my statement sir.

 

The engine makes a small amount of power at idle.
This would be an idle to warm up enough to heat the cabin, for instance. It's not putting power into MG2, so minimal idle power...
The engine makes 100% of its power when demanded, such as on a mountain climb, Full Throttle.
At what point in this spread of power is it 'struggling'?
At what point do you think it would 'overheat'?

I know I've flogged mine up the Rockies before at full throttle for minutes at a time. No Problem Found.

Maybe you're reading too much into the intake roar you can hear , now that you removed all the noise limiting features of the stock system.
A dyno might be able to measure any power increase, but it would be very little.

Not even going to get into snake oil.

You can get an SPL app for a phone. I have one with a calibrated mic, but you don't need that as long as the phone's mic is in the same location during comparison testing. This way 'feeling' is not part of testing.

 

I cleaned my k&n once, it's really easy. also on a tiny Prius engine it will be good for over 50k miles, i used it for about 4 years (=80k km-s) it was not dirty, make a point that the place where i live is too dusty and anyway it could be well + 20 k miles. I just decided to clean for fun.

 

Latest oil report. This one only had 5,000 miles on it. The only different with this one is, I added 4-5 oz of Seafoam fuel treatment directly to the crank case (where you add engine oil). I ran the car for about 500 miles before an oil change. I wanted to see if this will "clean" more gunk out. I was expecting to see more gunk in the oil including wear metals and lower flash point. But the results are still good.

Report: "The Prius' latest report is perfect. Wear metals are low and steady compared to past reports, and those are the best attributes a wear trend can have. Your Toyota 2ZR-FXE is not only wearing well, it's wearing better than most of its type. This 0W/20's physical properties are all in good shape, and no contamination is present. You marked "no" for interest in extended oil use, but if you haven't changed this oil yet, we think you could run it for 2,000 miles longer."

Yes there are "pin holes" in the K&N filter. But if you look at the air flow. It is at an angle. I suspect particles are being filtered by more layers because of the angle the air flows.

Also the moly levels are good and that I suspect helps coat wear metals better. I am always glad to see there is moly in the report.

The Seafoam I think is a big factor in low wear metals. I add it for the lubricating affects the bottle claims. I added a certain amount in each gas fillup (1/3 to 1/2 of a can per fill up).

Because this setup works for me with good results. I will just maintain this setup and hope to have an engine that last a long time...

 

Latest report at 65k miles:

"Here's another perfect set of results for your Prius. Very nice! Wear metals in this latest sample are
even lower than usual, so the mechanical parts seem in a really healthy state of operation. There's no sign
of contamination or struggling air/oil filtration. The viscosity held comfortably within 0W/20 spec as well and
adding Seafoam to the gas shouldn't impact anything in our testing. Nice report at 65,100 total miles. If this
oil is still in place, feel free to run it out to 10,000 miles like you have sometimes in the past. "

I notice moly is lower than past reports.

Google query fun fact:

how long do diesel engines last?


1,000,000-1,500,000 miles
A gasoline-powered vehicle can typically operate for around 200,000 miles before it needs a serious overhaul, or be replaced with a new vehicle. But an amazing fact is that diesel engines can run for 1,000,000-1,500,000 miles before needing any major diesel repairs.

why does diesel engine last so long?

Diesel fuel is a type of distillate fuel that is essentially produced from crude oil, which gives diesel engines slower cylinder wear than gasoline engines. This gives diesel fuel lubrication properties that extend the overall lifespan of the engine.

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I believe Seafoam by adding lubrication properties to the gasoline is probably the biggest factor to low metal wear in the reports. The K&N is the biggest factor to "cooling" the engine because more air is available and the engine doesn't seem to struggle as hard.

 

Former Cummins mechanic and performance modder, and yes all that is correct about diesels. One major factor that wasn't mentioned was the fact they run such low RPM and make huge torque as to why they last so long as well. Gas engines' wear comes a big part from their need to run higher RPM to make horsepower or to keep the vehicle moving unlike diesels. Inline diesels like to run 1600-2000 RPM all day and night (in their power band) and can pretty much do this forever with little cylinder or internal engine wear. This is the nice part about the Prius 1.8L (if your HV battery is in good shape), you should be running fairly low <2,000 RPM on flat ground with partial throttle to keep 65 mph on the highway versus the gearing of a similar gas vehicle that might be running 1,000 or more RPM more to do the same work.

 

Everybody needs their 'Beliefs'.

I believe any snake oil added to the gas burns up with the gas when the combustion happens.
Maybe it will clean the intake track a little bit downstream from the fuel injector, maybe not....
And why was the 'Magnesium' so high this report?
What 'syn' 0-20W oil did you use?

I believe the engine gets all the air it needs, and never 'struggles' to get that air, even at full throttle.

It does create a vacuum at partial throttle and that's where 'Pumping losses' are with a gas vs diesel engine.
In a diesel there is no throttle, no pumping losses, it's a wide open intake track.

A goofy 'reusable' air filter effecting 'cooling' of the engine...... that's a new one....

Hold that k&n up to the sun light. What are all those points of light shining through?
Don't get me started on the mess created cleaning and lubing that thing.

The difference between a new paper filter and a horribly old paper filter,,,, can that be measured in performance or fuel economy?
Any restriction only shows up at Full Throttle-High RPM. Try to measure it.....

 

Diesels very much have a throttle, it’s just working differently to either mechanically or electronically open a fuel injection pump on the engine and spin a turbo faster to match charged air with fuel delivery.

On a Prius I can feel less throttle response due to a plugged paper filter than a clean new one , even if that means the MAF itself is dirty (which WILL affect throttle response in a small engine like these).

 

1. OK, I should have said 'throttle plate in the intake track'.

2. You, sir, have amazing senses!
A blind A - B test with your friend swapping out a 'plugged' and a clean air filter, and you can nail it every-time, right?
No measuring performance, just 'feelings'....

Never mind. Keep pouring snake oil in your gas tank and washing that nasty k&n air filter in the kitchen sink. Pay no mind the pin holes.
Don't let anyone question your fun!

 

FYI I don’t pour anything but Gasoline in the tank and I don’t use K&N Filters. Right now going back and forth between Tom’s and HKS performance filters, nothing you need to “oil” though.

 

Oh, sorry, I got my Mod Guys confused.
What ever 'performance' mod you do to an ordinary Prius, please, gather before and after data so you can see if an expensive 'performance' air filter does anything at all...l
MPG, 0-60 mph, whatever.
Just no 'feelings', Mkay?

 

Have you done your own data regarding the same subject you can share?

 

Nope.

My '10 Prius, level-5 with the ATP option is as stock as the day it was born. (don't you love those LED headlights?!!)

And I never get consistent MPG numbers. My usage is mainly screaming down the interstates. Wind, temps, speed is always changing.
I couldn't measure a goofy air filter change if my life depended on it.....

I just did an oil change to M1 0-16W. Of course I'll never see a measurable difference.
Tires at 42psi. I get what I get.

Oh, here's a mod I did! I sold the Level-5 17" wheels and bought a set of stock 15" Prius wheels.
I didn't gather accurate before-after numbers, but I feel it has improved a lot, like from 38-40 mpg to maybe 43-47 mpg.
And the ride and sound levels have been so much better than the 17" low profile tires. Again, just a feeling....

But, I am very happy with the MPG I get with this car!!! Nothing can get close to it from a car that old.
We're heading out on a 3 day road trip to Texas to catch the Annular Eclipse. I set the ACC to +5 the speed limit and down the road we go!
That may be 85 mph in some parts of the interstate!

 

Don't short change yourself, that's not a feeling...it's fact.

 

Well, I use a K&N filter for performance in my Prius, and I don't see any advantage, regularly...
The advantage is when I need quickly response... It increases in about 15/20% when I need to accelerate fast.. and only in that moment, after that, goes back to normal... nothing special...
I also use 205/65/15R on my Prius, so it reduces a little bit the economy... but still inside of my requests for the car... Recently I replaced the Catalytic converter, EGR valve, EGR Cooler, Intake Manifold, Coils, Spark Plugs and Injectors, Thermostat, PCV valve, and, I did see and increase on the economy, but not that much.
I'm driving a 2011 Prius G3

 

That "15/20%" increase is a 'Feeling', correct? No way to measure such a thing, correct?

"Feelings, wo, wo, wo, all I get are Feelings"

Do you know what I feel after taking 3 minutes start to finish changing out my engine air filter? "That was quick and easy !!"

No mucking about with detergents, oils, making a big mess somewhere, hopefully not the kitchen sink.
Also, hold that messy thing up to the sun. See those pin holes of sunlight? What's that about?

Now if you really want to 'Accelerate quickly',,, and cheaply,,, try driving an EV!

 

That’s an epic parts cannon event for sure. What prompted that? Did you do the water pump (along with the thermostat)? Depending on the miles that would be worthwhile, say every 100k miles.

what’s the miles on it?

 

My 2011 Prius, has some issue in the cylinder 4, and it's on the mechanic to discover what is going on, isn't the headgasket, since has no coolant or oil in the cylinder, but, show a misfire on that cylinder, and all the above where replaced to ensure the engine runs like new again, the catalytic converter is another epopee, since my car is originally from Oregon, now it lives in SoCal, so, the engine was replaced with 100 k miles, due to overheating, and the Catalytic went clogged due to the extreme temperature it got, so, I bought the car 7 years ago, and kept it running all this time without replacing it, so, this summer, the engine started to overheating too easy, so I couldn't wait anymore.

The Water pump, is still running like new, and has zero issues, I replaced the thermostat just because it's cheap, and I want to know how the inside of the pipes were, and the old one was like new too, so, since it was take off, no return. So I kept the water pump, and I don't think it will be a problem anytime soon...

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Of course is a feeling...
Since I know how non powerful my car is, and I can feel the difference after changing the paper one for some performance sh*t...