The Nissan Path

I have a 2011 Pathfinder, and am considering using a Lifetime Air Filter like K&N, and am wondering if any of you guys use a Lifetime Air Filter.

Would greatly appreciate +/- comments on Lifetime Air Filters VS Conventional Air Filters.

Thank you

I used to. Frankly the effort to clean them made it not worth it in my book. Plus when running in a diesel where I did oil samples, I found them to be less effective at filtering.

I use a K&N Filter Charger. Have had it for about 4 years now. I had one for my 98 civic as well, used it for about 7 years. Only issue I ever had was when I over oiled it once on my civic. Caused a CEL. Cleaned, reset the CEL, and it never came back. But the Honda used a MAP sensor, not the MAF that our Nissan's have, so I got off easy.

Some will say that the K&N allows larger particulate through the engine than a paper filter. Over time, the theory is that this will cause cylinder wear, and decreased compression. However, I ran the filtercharger on my 98 civic for over 250000km, and I run plenty of gravel roads (though not deserts like Mar1). My compression was completely factory til the day I wrote the car off, so I'm not sold on this theory, except in extreme situations like high silicate sand areas (Nevada, Utah, etc).

Be very cautious to apply the correct amount of oil to it. Too much, and you'll foul your MAF sensor. Too little, and the efficiency of the filter goes down (filters less stuff) by orders of magnitude.

Also, don't clean it too often. The more you wash it, the more the gauze degrades. Filter efficiency actually goes up (filters more stuff) when it has some dirt in it, and because it has less restriction, you can allow this filter to get dirtier before taking action to clean it.

Before you install a K&N filter, I highly recommend you look at the Spicer Air Filter Study. Here's a link:

http://home.roadrunner.com/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

It isn't a "lifetime" filter, but the AMSOIL dry filter I'm running claims to be good up to 100,000 miles. I pull it out about every 6 months and shake it, tap it & blow it clean. Seems to be doing great so far.

I guess we all have to buy the AC Delco unit now.....

I had one once on a Chevy Surburgan..just my opinion, it was too much trouble to clean, re oil, etc. For $10 every othr oil change on my PF, I just bought a new filter and replaced it.