K&N Air Filters....What Gives?

Ok...Somebody better fess up here! What's the truth about K&N air filters? Are they really causing damage to sensors?or are people just not servicing them properly? I've been running a K&N in my Discovery for 2 years with nothing but positive results.I'm really interested to hear some feedback on this one.

i use k&n air filter and oil filter and i have been useing this for a year now no problem here. and for the record i paid 50.00 for air filter and i do not have to clean it until 100k. money save  and now compare it to 24.00 every 12k do the math

DiscoMike told me they mess up your MAF but i haven't gotten any problems....yet.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wease206

i use k&n air filter and oil filter and i have been useing this for a year now no problem here. and for the record i paid 50.00 for air filter and i do not have to clean it until 100k. money save  and now compare it to 24.00 every 12k do the math

 
Oh dear... you do have to clean it.  You have to buy the Recharger kit and take it out - clean it - let it dry naturally - oil it - don't over oil it - let it sit - look for spots that don't have enough oil - oil those - then let it sit some more - then reinstall.

Haven't had any problems with mine, been in since Feb.

Aquaholic you are correct!  Now back to bamarover what does MAF means?  Per DiscoMike

Rovers new Bosch MAF's are way to sensitive and when contaminated with an oil/dust residue, over time they will fail. Wether you want to take my word for it or not, that is your call. I used to do some many trails that I had to clean my filter once, sometimes twice a month and I do know how to clean the, and still with time they will cause a failure.
The way I finally looked at it, for the less the 1/4 MPG improvement I got out on the road, it wasn't worth running it when MAF's cost $125 to replace.
I can't begin to tell you how many people I have watched go thru this, so do what you must cause as the old saying goes. " You can lead someone to water but you can't make them drink".
Mike

My experience in this area has not been all good.  I put the K&N filter in about 3 years ago.  At the same time I upgraded the ignition wires to 8mm Magnacores.  I got a noticable mid-range power improvement.  My D2 accelerated onto the freeway noticably faster after the upgrades.  The MAF failed about a year later at ~75K miles.  Not really sure about the cause.  I replaced the MAF, then later I learned about the filter oil problem.  I still run the K&N and have not had any further problems, but I am very careful about the amount of oil I put on it.  I assume that Mike is right, that it is slowly damaging my MAF, but I like the additional performance I am getting.  I should probably try a factory filter again one of these days to see how much of my performance improvement was the filter, vs the wires!

quote:

ORIGINAL: wease206

Aquaholic you are correct!  Now back to bamarover what does MAF means?  Per DiscoMike

 
MAF is Mass Air Flow sensor - a grid of wires that measure the density of the incomimg air by applying voltage.  Oil on the wires will cause the unit to die - it burns to death (not a fire hazard though).
 
Per DiscoMike means he was the first one to day don't use K&N or you'll burn up your MAF ASAP and be SOL - I'm so funny I'm ROTFLMAO.
 
I've used K&N filters for years - only because they came on cars I've purchased (luckily the Disco didn't come with one) and I'd rather buy paper filters than go through the hassle of cleaning the K&N.

My DiscoII has now 112K miles and I have been running with K&N for the last 77K, without problems. I clean the filter about every 25K miles, with in hot water with regular liquid laundry detergent, then let it dry out completely, normally outside on the sun. After that, oil charge is applied from aerosol can (not the squeeze type bottle) making sure it is covered evenly, however, avoiding excess overspray. So far so good with my MAF sensor.