I have a K&N cold air intake and it's time for it's cleaning. Does anybody has good sugestions on how to clean my filter out?

 

It's probably the wrong answer, but I always do mine in the sink with dish detergent. Then I let it sit in the sun until completely dry. Then I oil it. Good luck.

 

Oh cool thanks.

 

I think K&N recommends against dish soap, as it may damage the material.

K&N sells a special cleaner/re-oil product (should be available at all parts stores that carry K&N filters). Basically, you spray the cleaning solution on the outside of the filter (the surface that faces the incoming air). After you let it sit, I think about 10 minutes, you rinse the filter.

IMPORTANT part about rinsing the filter, you rinse from the inside out. Another words, only run water through the opposite side you sprayed the cleaner. The reason for this is to prevent dirt particles from getting further lodged in the filter (if you rinsed from the outside in, you are trying to force the dirt to pass through the filter, which defeats it's design).

Lastly, you let the filter dry. After that, you need to re-oil it. If you do not re-oil it, the filter will eventually fail to work as designed.

Hope that helps.

 

Excellent point that I forgot to mention.

I 100% agree that you should follow K&N's recommended cleaning procedures if you can.

 

I haven't oiled/cleaned my k&N cone yet but I had a panel in my old bonne and I always cleaned and oiled per the directions

Since were on the subject, whats a good interval to oil and clean the filter? I've had my CAI with k&n cone filter on for over a year and 10,000 miles and it still looks as clean as when I installed it.

 

My Grand Am (which I drive year round with a panel filter), I usually clean/oil every other or every 3rd oil change.

THe Monte I only drive during the summer at the moment. I believe I put the K&N panel filter in last spring, and I have not cleaned it yet.

 

I do my filter cleaning every spring as part of the Monte's spring cleaning. And to get it ready for all the pollen :P

Buy a K&N recharge kit (go for the aerosol oil, it's super easy and prevents you from over oiling) and just follow the directions that comes with it.

Make sure you pick a good sunny day and set yourself about 3 hours or more when you go to do the cleaning, as the filter needs to COMPLETELY dry so oil doesn't fly off and damage your MAF sensor.

 

I clean mine about once a year (every 30,000 ish miles). It does not even look very dirty at the time, but when you actually rinse it out, I definitely see the dirt. Keep in mind, I do mainly highway miles in a pretty clean environment. If you drive in dusty areas more often, I would not stretch the interval to 30K like I do.

I usually use simple green as the cleaner to soak the filter in, and clean it. Then I use the areosol can K&N oil to re-oil.

Be VERY careful to not over oil it. If you get to much oil on it, the excess will just get sucked in, and run right past your MAF sensor, do this a few times, and your MAF will be toast.

 

I thought that simple green might be a good cleaner too for this.