Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi Everyone - just wanted to share my experience after fitting K&N performance air filter to Pajero Sport 2.5D AT (2016 model, 18,000 km). Must say I was impressed and can safely say 25% improvement in overall "feel" of the motor - mainly in terms of responsiveness when pressing the accelerator - from pull off, climbing hills, overtaking etc.
I was also quite amazed looking at the standard Mitsubishi filter - thick paper one with added foam/sponge layer at the intake side, would make it difficult for any motor to breath easily I would think.
Anyway, I'm not the kind of person who easily believes in mods, and always suspicious about how much difference they actually make. Well this is one I can say you can feel the difference quite easily.
My car has a snorkel but not sure this adds to the effect with the added intake air pressure.

Anyone else had experience with K&N, both positive or negative - anything I should be careful of?
(bit concerned that perhaps the K&N filter wouldn't protect the motor as well in extreme (dust) conditions, and will probably change it out with the standard filter for long/dirt road/dusty driving)

Robb wrote: (bit concerned that perhaps the K&N filter wouldn't protect the motor as well in extreme (dust) conditions, and will probably change it out with the standard filter for long/dirt road/dusty driving)

I always believe that you do not always get a performance improvement without some sort of "trade off". This is one such example. We have seen numerous engines come in which have been running K&N filters for some time. I was involved in a lot of oil condition monitoring and there too saw the actual negative side of such. K&N filters work well because they allow air through and keep rocks out. Unfortunately they do not keep the fine little "nasties" out. Once an engine inhales the dust it damages rings, plus it then gets past the rings into the oil and wears other components. In SA we have one of the highest levels of atmospheric dust, plus most of our roads are narrow without a decent verge allowing the vehicle in front to create a dust cloud ahead of you. Ever seen the erosion on the verge of narrow tar roads?
On a track car I would say sure go for it as your overall mileage is not that high and the trade off for performance vs engine life can be justified. On a daily driver I do not believe you can justify the definite shorter engine life.

Thanks for the advice - very interesting!

Hi Guys

I have been running with a K&N air filter for about 3 years and 60 000km with no adverse effects. I also observed an improvement in performance and fuel consumption, and I am happy with the filter. Have fitted them to my last 3 vehicles and have not to date experienced and issues.
I clean it regularly and use the K&N spray oil. I don't do hardcore off road driving, but, I have done quite a bit of dusty roads/gravel etc....

I know a few guys saying there is more engine wear. I do know that any decent air filter swells when wet, therefore suffocating the engine to prevent it from drowning.

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