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| I prefer the air filter to stop things a lot smaller than bumble bees and humming birds. The K&N filter is way too open for the real world.
While general vehicle service advices say a clean air filter is required to prevent running rich and therefore hurting gas mileage that was true for carbureted engines its totally false with computer operated fuel injected engines. False even with the flow operated valve in the 1980 VW Rabbits. With the mass air flow sensor setting the fuel rate, the only thing a clean or dirty air filter does is it changes the physical throttle plate (if there is one) position for a given road speed. It doesn't change the mixture.
A very free flowing air filter (besides passing sand and gravel) only allows the throttle setting of the fuel injected gas engine to be a little lower for the same air flow. A dirty air filter is just like driving with an egg on the pedal, you get a poor throttle response and a limited top speed but the mixture stays the same. A clean air filter may allow a bit greater top speed, but where in the US is it that most vehicles can run at what their top speed is (other than a race track) rather than being limited by a posted speed limit or the engine computer? So even with no air filter at all the modern fuel injected vehicle is going to have the same gas mileage (until the mass air flow sensor gets dirty and changes the mixture) in practical driving. When the MAF sensor on my F150 gets dirty the mixture goes lean and the gas mileage goes up, but then it starts pinging under load and the check engine light comes on. Reading the computer says its been pinging, which I already KNOW.
Gerald J. | |
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Are K@N air filters any good?
