K&N Maintenance

ndbigfish · 03-22-2011, 09:26 PM

How often do you oil your K&N filter on your bike? I clean and oil the K&N on my truck about once a year. I'm observing that after several months the K&N on the bike is continuing to become lighter and lighter or in other words less red and more white. The filter is protected by the stock cover on a Chuckster's Dual plate. Additionally the filter seemed to weep oil for quite awhile until I carefully air brushed the filter body with compressed air.

paul · 03-22-2011, 09:46 PM

On my bike, I clean and treat the KN about 10K miles, or about nine months. Don't so much follow a schedule as do it when it seems dirty enough to me. Mine is exposed, so it doesn't get whiter, but darker. After oiling, I let sit, wipe the rubber gently and install. No weeping, but I don't oil heavily, just complete coverage, no more.

**ringadingh** · 03-22-2011, 09:53 PM

I do mine once or twice a year depending on how many dusty roads Ive travelled on.

blowndodge · 03-22-2011, 10:04 PM

K&N filters rarely need cleaning. In fact they filter better as they get a little dirty. They should only only be cleaned when performance falls off. you should only clean it every 25k miles or so.

trosco · 03-23-2011, 05:10 PM

I am with BD, clean your "cotton gauze" (K&N or other mfg) filter frequently and you are shortening it's life and reducing it's effectiveness. A second mistake people make is way over oiling the filters. A third is using compressed air to blow the filter out from the inside.
With our motorcycles, unless you do alot of severly dusty/dirt road riding (like thousands and thousands of miles) then a cleaning every 2 yrs or 24K is going to be plenty frequent enough.
After cleaning a "spritz" (finger acuated misting pump about like the old windex bottles) of oil every couple inches on the outside only follow by a day of "seeping" time is plenty. If you have oil dripping out or wetting down the throttle body you have too much oil on your filter.
And if you must blow your filter off, do only the outside at a angle from 12-18 inches away using a shop vac on exhaust with out a concentrator. 115 psi compressed air punches holes in the filters and renders them useless.

03-22-2011, 09:26 PM	#1
ndbigfish Sr. Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New Braunfels, Texas Posts: 1,162	K&N Maintenance How often do you oil your K&N filter on your bike? I clean and oil the K&N on my truck about once a year. I'm observing that after several months the K&N on the bike is continuing to become lighter and lighter or in other words less red and more white. The filter is protected by the stock cover on a Chuckster's Dual plate. Additionally the filter seemed to weep oil for quite awhile until I carefully air brushed the filter body with compressed air. __________________ Brik VBA #1047 07 Electra Glide Ultra (43,300 & counting) 03 Nomad - 37,972 (traded 5/6/13) 99 Nomad - Only a memory since 4/27/13 Login or Register to Remove Ads
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03-22-2011, 09:46 PM	#2
paul Sr. Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: magnolia, tx Posts: 1,500	K&N Maintenance On my bike, I clean and treat the KN about 10K miles, or about nine months. Don't so much follow a schedule as do it when it seems dirty enough to me. Mine is exposed, so it doesn't get whiter, but darker. After oiling, I let sit, wipe the rubber gently and install. No weeping, but I don't oil heavily, just complete coverage, no more. __________________ The beatings will stop when morale improves.
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03-22-2011, 09:53 PM	#3
ringadingh Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Newmarket Ontario Canada Posts: 35,387	K&N Maintenance I do mine once or twice a year depending on how many dusty roads Ive travelled on. __________________ 2002 Nomad aka Bountyhunter VBA #27 VROC #18951
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03-22-2011, 10:04 PM	#4
blowndodge Sr. Contributor Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Washington City, Utah Posts: 16,474	K&N Maintenance K&N filters rarely need cleaning. In fact they filter better as they get a little dirty. They should only only be cleaned when performance falls off. you should only clean it every 25k miles or so. __________________ I love my Victory Cross Country Tour 106. Smells like Victory! Ultra's are Limited There are two types of Harley riders. Those that trailer them and those that push them. The most Interesting Man in the World "Find the things in life you don't do well and don't do those things" Member # 0005
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03-23-2011, 05:10 PM	#5
trosco Sr. Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 1,464	K&N Maintenance I am with BD, clean your "cotton gauze" (K&N or other mfg) filter frequently and you are shortening it's life and reducing it's effectiveness. A second mistake people make is way over oiling the filters. A third is using compressed air to blow the filter out from the inside. With our motorcycles, unless you do alot of severly dusty/dirt road riding (like thousands and thousands of miles) then a cleaning every 2 yrs or 24K is going to be plenty frequent enough. After cleaning a "spritz" (finger acuated misting pump about like the old windex bottles) of oil every couple inches on the outside only follow by a day of "seeping" time is plenty. If you have oil dripping out or wetting down the throttle body you have too much oil on your filter. And if you must blow your filter off, do only the outside at a angle from 12-18 inches away using a shop vac on exhaust with out a concentrator. 115 psi compressed air punches holes in the filters and renders them useless. __________________ trosco: just call me Ross 2007 Black & Titanium Nomad (Nomad made 65K but got replaced 2014) 2010 Titanium Goldwing 2014 KLR 650 New Edition Login or Register to Remove Ads
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