Cold Air intake bad for your engine because of dirt entering?

**04tahoez71** · 01-13-2009, 11:35 AM

Hi Guys-

I just joined the site since I recently bought an 04 tahoe z71 and absolutely love it

. I want to increase mpg primarily and performance also. I heard installing a cold air intake and getting a hypertechh max programmer was an easy way to do this.

However after talking to several mechanics concerning a cold air intake, they did'nt recommend it. The reason being because of the greater surface area allowing more air flow, it also allows much more dirt and other small particles to enter the engine as can be seen if you take off the intake and look in the manifold after some use. Which in turn damages the engine. It makes sense in theory but is this actually true.

I find it hard to believe that K&N and other companies out there don't make the filter of good enough quality/materials to prevent all this junk from entering the engine??

Could you guys provide some feedback. Thansk for your help and i look forward to learning alot and giving feedback when i can also from this site

!

**retired** · 01-13-2009, 11:39 AM

I think K&N filters trap 99% of all dirt that enters the filter better than any stock filter.

**04tahoez71** · 01-13-2009, 11:53 AM

Also do AFE filters prevent better filtration than K&N ?

**dwill3015** · 01-13-2009, 12:15 PM

Everyone claims to have the best. I researched most of the major brands before deciding on the AFE Pro-Guard7 filter. Here is a LINK that explains it better.

You could even modify your stock airbox to increase airflow and still retain your factory filter element.

**mehoff400** · 01-13-2009, 01:38 PM

i have AFE and Love it i coud put up pics if needed

**ct9a** · 01-13-2009, 02:18 PM

I've been running open element air intakes on most all of my vehicles for the past 12 years and have never seen any indication that my motors are going to fail due to particle intake. In fact, the first of my motors just crapped out on me, but it's an '83 Toyota and has almost 300k on it (150k from the previous owner).

**04tahoez71** · 01-16-2009, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by dwill3015

Everyone claims to have the best. I researched most of the major brands before deciding on the AFE Pro-Guard7 filter. Here is a LINK that explains it better.

You could even modify your stock airbox to increase airflow and still retain your factory filter element.

How can i modify my stock airbox for now to increase air flow like you netioned earlier?

**sheep** · 01-17-2009, 02:41 AM

if you have the box that goes around the filter you should be ok even in mud, if your like me and usually leave it open as long as you stay away from the mud you should be ok.

as far as the K&N goes as long as you clean and oil it when your suppose to you should be fine. K&N and the other big companys that have spend years building a good rep usually wont throw it away so easy

**brownpridex111** · 01-17-2009, 04:34 AM

i dont think thats true i have a k&n intake in my sierra

**ibmoses** · 01-17-2009, 09:32 AM

When I was racing dirt track the air cleaner would stick up through the hood, it had a deflector in front of it but would still get covered with mud when we had to dry the track. The main thing was to be careful when we removed the air cleaner to not let any dirt fall into the carb.

If your truck is like my 03 Silverado and has a air box there is no way dirt is getting past the filter unless it is not sealed because of improper installation.

Bert