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K&N air filter sealing surface leaks?
Tim,
If you are saying that the stock filter does a better job than the K & N, I might have to agree with you.
I have run two K&N's for a total of about 6000 miles. During that time, two Blackstone oil samples checks produced Silicon levels in the oil of about 30 PPM. The universal average is 9. Blackstone indicates the oil I use typically has about 12 PPM of Silicon so if I subtract that from 30, I get a true sample of 18. This is twice the universal average. Silicon can come from a number of sources, but a common one is dirt in the air. I looked at the K&N filters carefully and noticed that in some areas, the engine side of the rubber sealing surface has fine sand-like particles attached to it. These particles also show up slightly beyond the sealing surface on the engine side of the filter. Though I can't say for sure, it gives the appearance that the relatively incompressible rubber sealing surface does not contact the mating air box surface 100%. In other words, it looks like a leak.
The stock filter is soft and compressible at the sealing surface and might do a better job of preventing leaks.
I just switched back to the stock filter.
Any thoughts from other K&N users?
2006 Elise Sport #46
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