Do K&N air filters actually work?

Question

I drive an SUV and am geting 19 city mi/gal, how much gas would I save or about what figure am I looking to get after adding the filter e.g. from 19 to 23 city mi/gal?

Answer 1

Actually, a K&N will slightly lower your gas mileage. It's a freeflowing filter, which allows more air to enter in the intake. The Mass Air Flow sensor, or any other sensor that reads how much air is entering the intake, will read more air. To achieve the perfect Air/Fuel mixture, more air taken in = more fuel pumped.

Another problem people have with K&N filters, people put way too much oil on them, which gets sucked into the intake and it coats the MAF with oil. Then the MAF can't read the correct air amount entering the intake.

Also, to achieve more power, more fuel needs to be burned. For example, richening up a carb will increase your power. Leaning out a carb will lower performance, but reduce emissions. That's how cars have come to have less power over the years during the 70's and 80's.

Increasing fuel mileage is a scam. People are out there to try and exploit the fuel prices. To raise your mileage, do a regular tune up, and most importantly, don't have a lead foot.

Answer 2

they are good filters. I have them on both my cars. They dont necesarily increase fuel mileage but they do increase H.P. by a percentage. In an SUV not much is going to help in the way of better gas mileage. Just keep the load lite and the tires properly inflated. dont accelerate heavy and let it coast if you see the light is turning red and that will actually help out with mileage. (i should take my own advice)
I would recommend the filter though.
just check out K&N's website at http://www.knfilters.com/search/hp_search.aspx

Answer 3

They can increase horse power and save money on air filters because they are re-useable. Some GM cars or suv can experience problem with smog check failure due to increased airflow as sensed by the MAF. Maybe save the old original air filter and don t forget to use it when doing smog check.

Answer 4

The largest advantage to a K&N filter is that it's reusable- you can wash it, clean in, and then re oil it and put it back in.
Just swapping in a K&N into your SUV won't give you a noticable gain in performance/fuel mileage. But If you replace the whole intake airbox/snorkel assembly you will see a slight gain in fuel mileage and some more performance (but it's mainly a gain in noise).

Answer 5

Yes it does work, but you'll hardly see a difference in gas mileage. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee that does about 20mpg and I did install the K&N filter, but I did it with the cold air intake tube & that saves about 9% - 12% in gas. Plus it adds some horse power to your ride. I got about 15hp on my ride & the whole set up cost me about $245 & I installed it in about 25 minutes.

Answer 6

The free-flowing filter will help with performance, but you will not see a drastic change in mileage especially with an SUV.

Answer 7

Yes they do work. There are drawbacks though. We have had several cars in our shop that had engine idle problems caused by dirty mass air flow sensors ( More than normal). All of these had K&N filters on them. This may be caused by careless maintainance on the filters, or maybe K&N filters just let more dirt into your engine. I do know that whatever you save on fuel will not buy a Mass air flow sensor.