K&N Air filter query

Hi Auto gurus,

Am using K&N performance filter in my Alto. Yday when i opened the Bonet to do regular check up, i was little surprised when i observed the air filter. Its a conical shaped filter and at the bottom i noitced that some portion of it (say @2 cms or so) had become very soft (like melting). It had become powder type. The surface of the air filter is mesh type. To be specific, i observed a portion (@2cms or so at the bottom) of ths mesh like surface melting.

Can any one advice?

How did you fit a conical air filter inside alto?? I may be wrong but I guess alto's air filter is a standard rectangular paper type... can you post a photo of the same...?

Yeah Rohit, u are right. Alto's standard air filter is a rectangular one. I changed it to K&N performance filter. The conical air filter is first fitted on to a aluminium connector and then attached to the normal air filter position under the bonet. I do not have the picture now. Will try to post the same tomorrow.

Is that just an air filter or a cold air induction kit that you installed? And is there any benefit to it...?

The soft matter may indicate some amount of damage due to moisture or similiar. AFAIK, they are dry paper based filters and without a cold air intake. What I feel is that some amount of moisture could have damaged the filter. As rohit remarked, it would have been a good idea if you had installed the regular rectangular filter to the car rather than the conical one.

@ Rohit and Sankalp, Thanx for ur response.

Well initially i was using K&N Stock filter (rectangular one). Recently i.e @ 3 months back i upgraded from K&N stock filter to K&N Performance filter (Conical shaped) with the main intention of improving performance of the car. It is jus the filter that has been installed, no cold air induction kit. I have not felt any issues due to softening of the filter. Recently i even did a long drive of @750 kms without any issues. Just wanted to ensure that it shul not lead to a problem in future. Wil try to upload the pic tomorrow. As i said earlier, upper part of the filter is absolutely fine. This softening has been noticed in the bottom part of the filter and that too for a small area (@ 2 cms long)

Hi, here is the image. Actually it was not possible to capture the soft portion part. Its located right at the bottom of the air filter where camera cant reach.

http://www.carwale.com/community/photos/myphotos/ViewAlbumPhotos.aspx?AlbumId=1918

Manjunath, first off that filter is located at a place where its more likey to be hot. If you observe the original air box, you will see that the the intake pipe is routed so that it opens very close to the left or right corner. That's because its from there that the coolest air can be drawn in. This particular setup is in fact detrimental to performance/mileage since the already hot air will be less dense which simply means that for a given throttle position the engine will burn richer to gain the corresponding RPM.

Secondly since the filter is located in a hot area, there is some chance of the plastic parts in it melting or getting deformed. If there are particles upstream (i.e., towards the engine intake) there are chances of these getting sucked into the intake causing unnecessary burnt particles in the engine. This is both bad for the engine and also the oil will blacken faster. As you said that you observed some powder-like deposits, this could be it.

Personally, I'm not a fan of all these gizmos...they cost a bomb but do absolutely nothing (one dealer quoted me Rs. 3000+ for a K & N air filter claiming that it will last 1 lac miles...phhht!!!). The claimed improvement is only in their minds...reality is quite different (see here, scroll down to "High-flow filters"). Besides ECU based engines cannot be coaxed into performing better simply by changing the filter or even putting a cold air and/or forced induction kit. The ECU will always burn fuel based on its map so any advantage due to these is effectively nullified UNLESS the ECU too is remapped accordingly.

Firstly position of the filter is not appropriate. Secondly regarding rohits opinion, K&N filter does improve the performance of the engine but not by the Max. Power or torque. It Makes the engine revv freely. And the effects of a clogged air filter is less on this filter.

I would suggest you to  relocate the filter to either the space next to the battery somewhere better.

Hey Rohit and Sanshrinand,

Thanx very much for your valuable thoughts guys. These inputs really helped me. I shall try relocating the existing filter or replace this filter with the normal stock filter (rectangular) very soon.

Thanks for the help once again.