seabiscuit

... and when you re-oil are you cleaning it before?

Robbieg

It really depends on your driving conditions. You don't need to re-oil unless you clean it though. And a little oil goes a long way...too much oil will cause problems with your MAF sensor. Just check it for dirt like you would a regular air filter and when it looks really dirty it's time to clean and re-oil. The filters are actually designed to work better as they get dirty ( to a certain point ) because they trap more particles and let less through.

70MACH1OWNER

+1 Just blow the bugs out of it if you have less than like 20K on it.

seabiscuit

Ok thanks guys so I will vacuum clean the big particles like bugs only. Its definitely do not have 20K to make general cleaning. The only my concerns about re-oiling came as on the beginning it was heavy red/pink color and now it is light ping in some places so I was thinking that is a good time to re-oil that a bit.

08VistablueGT

+3 it really all comes down to how your driving the car, where you're driving it, etc...

m05fastbackGT

+4 on that. I've had my Steeda CAI for 2 years+ and it still doesn't need to be cleaned yet.

anthony05gt

You should buy a cleaning/oil kit and do it every 5-10k. Wash it out with the cleaner, let it dry and oil it very lightly. Just follow the kit's instructions. if you let it go too long your mileage suffers.

gremlin190

I did like 10,000 miles and I noticed a difference afterwards so I'd definitely do every 10k

NickDC123

I clean mine first and then I re-oil it per the K&N instructions. I'd say like once every 8 months, something like that.

Martimus

Depends on the environment where you live...

Here in dusty, dirty Arid-zona I found it necessary to clean the filter in my old 05 about once every 3 to 4 thousand miles. At 4k miles the car would start to get sluggish and the filter would look like heck. In my Bullitt I just replaced the filter for the first time (Thanks Ford for installing $50 paper open element filters!) at around 4k miles.

300GT

I'm running the AEM Dryflow filter - no need to reoil.

ford4v429

Ive heard oil on the mass airflow sensor element will ruin it, guess any oil particles hitting the heating element will carbon up and screw up its output... so be careful not to overdo it

zaghloul

I've heard that before, although I couldn't understand it as it seemed to violate the laws of physics. When emailing C&L for a new filter I asked them that question and they said that is wrong. Can you please explain why you think a slightly dirty filter will work better than a brand new one?

Edit: I re-read your statement, and I think you mean the filtering improves, but not the airflow. I am talking about airflow, which is much more important when your talking about a CAI. Any filter, oiled or not, improves filteration the dirtier it gets.

Robbieg

Yes, you hit it right on the head, the dirtier it gets the better it filters but the trade off is less air flow. However I do think ( but I have no scientific data to back this up ) that on a NA motor the CAI filter is capable of moving more air through it than the engine needs or can use effectively regardless of how good the tune is. I think even as it gets dirty( to a point) that it is still capable of delivering more air that the engine can use. Now for us FI guys its an entirely different scenario
Edit:
PS..I think K&N were the ones that used to advertise that it worked better as it got dirty. But as you said that would be true of any filter!