diggerdave
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2014
- Messages
- 593
... I'll try not to leave it as long next time 

You need to show us a pic of it cleaned with k&n filter cleaner and oiled with k&n filter oil , they look brand new then and work as new . your filter will be still clogged up with dust .
As long as its cleaned and oiled its good to go , if not it will get clogged up with dust that wont come out with a tap and shake , when I got my k&n I bought a US gallon each of k&n oil and cleaner ,will last the lifetime of the car and it was not much more than the small charger bottles .I only bought the k&n cleaner/oil kit once , decided it aint nothing fancy so now i wash the filter in hot water and degreaser , dry it then wet it with 2-stroke oil
They are supposed to help the engine breathe in air easier and even add a tiny bit more power and torque , but the reason I got one is , no need to ever buy a air filter again I just clean it at home and refit it , but I do have a spare paper air filter (the one that was in the LC when I bought it) that I put in whilst waiting for the k&n to dry and then oiled after I wash it so the car is not out of use , between washing it drying it out and oiling it and letting wick to the filter fibres which takes 24 hours , I know it could be used sooner but I leave it that long before putting it back in , the Toyota (denso ) made filter was about the same price (£34) as the k&n so makes a good saving over long use and I plan on keeping my LC for a long long time . in sunny Cyprus not much rain its a lot more dusty so air filters need to be changed around every 10k miles .Do you guys rate k and n? I've always gone with cheap paper and replace regularly.
I have read many story's of dust on the top side of the air box lid and filter on cars , I always check mine when inspecting the filter I never see any and check for dust with a piece of kitchen roll paper and its always spotless , the sq panel k&n filter I have as a thicker seal frame and much softer feel to it than a paper one so probably seals much better , but then again I mostly drive on tarmac apart from the odd large gravel car-park , one thing I notice is on the lc120 the air box is fed air from the drivers side wheel arch , which is a lot cleaner part of the road then the passenger side that is alot dirtier because dirt/dust accumulates at the curb edge or land edge , the wind /rain or even car wheels push the dirt to the passenger side edge because the roads are bevelled that way for rain water , small stone chips , and dirt to channel away quicker to rid the road of water and dirt , so it could be a big difference on what side the air is picked up to feed through the air filter .Might be worth spending some time reading filter reviews such as this one
https://www.project200.com.au/filter-testing/
Filters like the K&N achieve better airflow by being more porous than the standard paper filter. Ie letting more into the engine. The oil goes someway remove and filter fine dust particles but performance deteriorates over time.
Most test show that paper filters outperform oil cotton and foam in filtration capability. For mostly road use and muddy U.K. conditions it’s probably not an issue but I’m not sure I’d run anything other than paper in dusty conditions and regularly clean and replace at 5k miles