Well, this has all been very interesting, this post. It seems that the same issues/praises can be found on just about all of the 'car forums' out their although, I have limited myself to my car interest in Mustangs over many years and those forums. Not unusual to find the same concerns here, on an Explorer forum.
Let my just say that I have used K&N filters and CAIs on all of my Mustangs over the years and never had issue one with them. Proper servicing, in my view, is what prevents these 'maf issues' that many have inquired about or have had problems with. I can't help but think that many of the claims remind me of old wives tails
but, that doesn't take away from the fact that many may, indeed, have legitimate issues. I have not and don't expect to into the future.
I also have a '07 Ranger 4x4 with a K&N CAI installed. Been on it for 6 years with a service done once. Never skipped a beat so, either I'm really lucky or I'm doing something right. I tend to think the latter.
So, with that in mind, I received a K&N CAI for my Ex yesterday via Summit and the big, brown truck and will probably install it tomorrow.
I'm not concerned at which point I might notice the power gains as much as knowing when I need it, it will be their. If it's about the 3k rpm range, that's just about right for passing or just letting the Ex get out of it's own way.
A lot of talk about not seeing any gains in the lower rpm range is not followed by, reasons to have it their in the first place unless you are looking for a low end torque monster of which the Ex is not. Normal driving range has no 'performance value' anyway, IMO.
Now, getting back to the gains that may be seen in the K&N CAI, the package contains a sheet with dyno results in which it says max HP @ 5500 rpm will reach 226.77 rwhp. This number was taken from the results of testing a '11 Ex with the 3.5L, or course and I was wondering if the HP ratting of an '11 was lower in the '11 models than they are in the newer ones that followed, I have a '15. My guess is the '11 has the same as the '15 but, I haven't looked it up. My point is the enormous parasitic loss form crank to the wheels. I measure the % @ almost 27%. I find that % to be quite alarming. For a basic FWD?
It has been my experience over the years that for a RWD car, this loss is more in the range of 15% for a manual gear box and 18% for an automatic. I can verify the numbers for RWD, manual as I've done dyno's with my Mustangs and these numbers had little variation in crank to wheel loss. I'm wondering if any of you have done a before and after on a dyno with this set up on their EX.
The torque gains are a little funny as well as stock, at the crank, the 3.5L has 255 ft./lbs. But, the parasitic loss in percentage is much less.
Mind you, this is a K&N sheet I'm looking at. Using the % numbers I'm used to and are pretty much the standard, I would be losing 10HP in HP changing to the K&N CAI according to their numbers. Of course, not having numbers rung up on a dyno on my Ex, I have no idea if the high % in parasitic loss is, in fact, true.
I have never done a dyno on a FWD vehicle and would find it hard to understand if it got more parasitic loss compared to a rear drive car. I would think the EX would have less loss unless the transmission/PTO combo takes away that much.
Anyway, I've gone long enough in this thread and await some good replies.