New 4R owner. Question about K&N air filters

[theirons84]

I just picked up a 2005 Sport Edition yesterday with the V6. It has 177k miles. I am going to do some simple tune up stuff and change the oil. I thought about doing the spark plugs too for good measure.

The thread title - K&N filters. Just wondering what other's opinions were. I used to swear by these things, but now that I am an adult with responsibilities, I wonder if the $45 or so is actually worth it. The only reason I would get it is to help with fuel mileage. I seem to remember some of the argument with cotton gauze type filters was that they didn't filter as well. I don't want to risk any damage to an engine with already high miles.

As far as park plugs, is there a favorite around here?

Anything else to take a look at right off the bat?

Everything seems to be in great shape and it is a well maintained vehicle. I signed up on the Toyota owners site to check for service records, but the site says it is under maintenance at the moment so I can't get any info right now.

Thanks.

 

[cloudrunner]

I've had both the k&n drop in filter and CAI on my V6. No noticible change in fuel mileage with either filter.

 

[mizak82]

New 4R owner. Question about K&N air filters

I get the k&n air filters on my vehicles for piece of mind. And iridium spark plugs as well. Makes it so I don't have to worry about either for a long long time.


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[BlackWorksInc]

Personally I despise oiled filters like K&N for MAF vehicles. All I ever seen them do is dirty up the intake and MAF and maybe sound "better" (since that's subjective). Additionally if it's a "CAI" K&N style deal it's typically worse than the factory cold air intake.

I'm a little more partial to dry "high performance" filters, but realistically they filter less than factory and don't do much better than stock for performance on stock applications.

 

[theirons84]

Thanks for the replies. I will just stick iththe regular filter. If no noticeable change in fuel mileage is seen, I'll spend my money in other places where it could actually help. I guess for now I'll do the oil change and filter, the air filter (a decent paper type), and maybe plugs.

 

[BackOff]

I have had these K&N filterchargers on 2 different 4runners.

They don't mess up the MAF, like blackworksinc seems to think, IF you are not an idiot and spray half a can of oil into the filter.
One light coat of oil is all you need.
After you oil the filter let it sit for 10-15min then take a dry paper towel and pat the filter to remove extra oil.
I have yet to see a dirty MAF sensor on either of my 4runners due to oil contamination.

Since you don't oil the drop-in style and it would be behind the MAF how could that be a bad thing.

They will not improve MPG.
It will most likely be less because you will be in the throttle more because you like the sound.
It will make your 4runner louder.
Seems to improve throttle response.
They will allow the tiniest amount of dust through, (due to the fact that K&N have the least air restriction of most of these filter types). In my location however the dirt here is like talcum powder in the summer. Pre-filter would be a good idea.
In order to get any real gains from the K&N you need to trick your ECU(reprogram) with a MAF calibrator.
And last but not least you can clean the thing so you are adding that much less to a landfill that everyone seems to thing has no end.

My 2'cents

 

[Brian3676]

If you get one, get a dry filter such as AEM dryflo. The oil gets on the MAF and causes issues. Yes if you oil is "properly" it should not happen, but in reality it still does.

That being said, I'm too lazy to clean it. There is no real performance or MPG gain that they advertise, and I would rather toss a dirty one out, throw a new one in for $15 and be done with it.

 

[AuSeeker]

I opted to go with a good quailty paper filter instead of the K&N for the engine intake, just couldn't jusify over tiwce the price for the filter, but for the interior cabin filter I went with the K&N because the throw away decent paper filter was over $20, the K&N was $34 and is washable and guaranteed for 10 years, for $12 more I thought it was worth the price, on my 2004 which I have only had for about 2 months it still had the factory cabin filter in it and looks to have never been changed, it seems to have improved the AC and heater airflow.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

[MENTION=89794]BackOff[/MENTION]

I won't dismiss your experience because it's possible that it's not as bad on the Toyotas as everything else I have seen or you have a good methodology going on to reduce it.

But almost everytime I've seen a MAF go bad or become filthy, it's been on vehicles equipped with K&N filters/oiled filters. Either you oil them (which is how they compensate for the lack of filtration they have) or you don't and dirt bypasses the filter regardless. Though I will mention that I've noticed Toyotas haven't been as bad about it as other makes and models.

All that being said, a filter isn't going to get you better gas mileage nor performance in any regard on a stock engine. Either your washing chemicals and such down the drain with cleaning them or recycling paper filters (you can recycle them), either way it works out.

 

[oljedi11950]

I use the afedry pro on both my 4r ! And that's because I'm lazy . Work well & take out kick em a bit & knock shit out & then vacuum ! And I clean my maf every 5k due to shitty gas

 

[Rodtheviking]

I use the afedry pro on both my 4r ! And that's because I'm lazy . Work well & take out kick em a bit & knock shit out & then vacuum ! And I clean my maf every 5k due to shitty gas

That is what I went with, got tires of cleaning MAF sensors all the time.

 

[riceandpho]

i use a k and n filter on other cars, i get about 4 cleaning out of the filter before a full replacement, pretty sure i get like 30k before i start cleaning the filter.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I'm happy with my K&N drop in filter, I've had it on both my V6 4Runners. The only real benefit you will see is if you use it in conjunction with removing the HCF filter that sits behind it

 

[green_manalishi]

Paper filters always https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest3.htm


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[aquilon]

yeah, I'd stick with OEM paper filter...

 

[BackOff]

K&N Response to Mass Air Flow Sensor Concerns

 

[ben550]

I just picked up a 2005 Sport Edition yesterday with the V6. It has 177k miles. I am going to do some simple tune up stuff and change the oil. I thought about doing the spark plugs too for good measure.

The thread title - K&N filters. Just wondering what other's opinions were. I used to swear by these things, but now that I am an adult with responsibilities, I wonder if the $45 or so is actually worth it. The only reason I would get it is to help with fuel mileage. I seem to remember some of the argument with cotton gauze type filters was that they didn't filter as well. I don't want to risk any damage to an engine with already high miles.

As far as park plugs, is there a favorite around here?

Anything else to take a look at right off the bat?

Everything seems to be in great shape and it is a well maintained vehicle. I signed up on the Toyota owners site to check for service records, but the site says it is under maintenance at the moment so I can't get any info right now.

Thanks.

Do you mind sharing what you paid for the 4Runner?

I have used both K&N drop in filters and the regular old stock filters. I no longer use the K&N filters. Did not notice a difference in performance and got tired of cleaning oil out of the air intake box... too messy.

I would definitely change out the spark plugs. I put the stock copper plugs in my 2004 (Denso K20HR-U11). They are very easy/accessible to change. Swapping them every 30k miles is no issue. No need for more expensive options.

I would check your front calipers. If/when you do end up changing them, definitely replace them with 5th Gen calipers. I changed mine out on the 2004, and 2006 three times... the fourth time, I installed 5th gen calipers and have had no problems ever since...

 

[07V8]

Save your $$.

These filters are for the riced out Honda crowd.

 

[BackOff]

Can get 6 set NGK LFR6AIX-11 for $35.
Grease your Zerks.


Apologies to the [OP].
I don't see why everyone seems to thing Toyota did every thing right from the factory and nothing can be improved. That's why half the people are on this site...to change it up a bit.

I invite any of you to pull your throttle body off and look at all the burnt oil that is being injected from your PCV valve into your air intake. Factory did that.

Save your $$.

These filters are for the riced out Honda crowd.

I gained 32hp :gun6: with my extra noise.

 

[NinjaOne]

I've had a K&N filter on for about 2 years w/out issues. Haven't cleaned it yet (Prob. due)

If I were to start over I would likely just use paper filters. Planning to pickup a couple paper filters for off-road use