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K&N E-3260 air filter

L

ljpgrif

Member
After 3 oil changes, my oil analysis from Blackstone reports that the silicon level is in the high 20's ppm. The filter has been inspected and cleaned/oiled after every oil change. First report was 15 ppm...then 22 ppm and now 29 ppm.
I found no filter leaks and filter looks good.
Talked to K&N company on this and they told me right off that the filter is NOT for planes. Talked to Vans and they said that they never had a issue.
Has anyone had this problem before?
Any other filter that I can try?

Thanks
Larry
N687VR
 
you can't clean it that often. That is your problem. The filter doesn't work that well until it collects some debris. That is the nature of oilled cotton filters. The layer of debris attracted and captured by the oil is the fine filtering mechanism. The cotton is the course filtering. K&N will be the first to tell you that. They state it in their instructions. My filter hasn't been cleaned in 600 hours. Absolutely no restriction. It will need to be replaced due to shrinkage before it needs a cleaning. They even have pics on their website to show you how dirty warrants a cleaning. It surprises most people, that dirtier works better. Very different than a paper filter where the debris build up hampers air flow.

The K&N is a decent filter when used correctly. It typically flows more air per square inch than paper and therefore a good fit for our application. They do tend to allow a bit more fine particles through than paper, but usually not enough to make a difference.

Larry
 
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K&N

I have a K&N as recommended by Van's but my experience from my motocross days tells me that they are not good filters when it comes to dust and dirt.

I worked in a machine shop where we repaired motocross engines, and we had a saying that K&N filters were great for business. I put $160 in my pocket every time I rebuilt an engine, and I can tell you for a teenager in the 70s that was more than awesome.

It was enough to just look a cylinder/piston combo to see that it had ingested a lot of dirt, sometimes due to bad seating of the foam filter, but was often caused by a K&N that had simply let a lot of dirt through, even though it was properly installed, cleaned, and oiled.

I don't anticipate flying in a lot of dirt and dust, so I'm not overly worried about using a K&N in my RV, but it does feel like there is room for some innovation here.
 
You're in Wynne, Arkansas? That's the middle of a few million acres of pretty river bottom west of Memphis? Bet there's a lot of airborne dust when it's dry, and a K&N doesn't stop micron sized dirt very well.
 
Time on engine

Is this a new or recently rebuilt engine? The sealants can spike the silicon readings for the first few oil changes.
 
This looks a lot like a ?disposable? K&N. This isn?t the size we need just a representative sample. Search ? Spectre performance? brand if the link doesn?t work.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B009DIV...olid=1M27GHAYOJIDG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I?d love to be able to just replace the air filter instead of fooling around with cleaning/oiling. I do feel a lot better about myself now that I know that neglecting it makes it better.....mine should be really good.
 
Expectations must be too high.....

The engine was overhauled and been in service for 2 years with 95 hrs on it and 4 oil changes. Using K&N filters with the cost of them, I expect more out of them.
Yes...I'm in Wynne but dirt/dust is not a problem at this point since our fields has been flooded with water for the last 3 months.....but in the summer its bad.....thats what good filters are for.
With the oil on the filter, I would think that all the dust would accumulate on the filter.

Larry
 
ljpgrif said:
After 3 oil changes, my oil analysis from Blackstone reports that the silicon level is in the high 20's ppm. The filter has been inspected and cleaned/oiled after every oil change. First report was 15 ppm...then 22 ppm and now 29 ppm.
I found no filter leaks and filter looks good.
Talked to K&N company on this and they told me right off that the filter is NOT for planes. Talked to Vans and they said that they never had a issue.
Has anyone had this problem before?
Any other filter that I can try?

Thanks
Larry
N687VR
Click to expand...

Just noticed that you mentioned the E-3260. Which plane/engine combo uses the E-3260? I went back to check to make sure I just bought the correct one, mine seems to be E-3450 for the RV-8 with 0-360.
 
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