Stock Air Filter vs. K&N Drop-in Filter (2mpg gain) | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Stock Air Filter vs. K&N Drop-in Filter (2mpg gain)

MillerTimeX17

Well-Known Member
Joined
April 10, 2008
Messages
486
Reaction score
2
City, State
Firestone, CO
Year, Model & Trim Level
05 XLT
So I just got back home from a ~2200 mile trip from Firestone, Colorado to Richmond, Texas. I drove the first 1100 miles to Texas with a cheap stock-replacement filter. While I was there I went and purchased a K&N filter to see how big of a difference it made. Also, I am running 265/75/16s and the only other powertrain upgrade is a Flowmaster 50 SUV muffler. Here are my findings:

Trip to Texas with stock filter-
Avg. speed: 68 mph
Avg. Intake Air Temp: 73 degrees (readings taken every 30 minutes)
Avg. mpg: 18.1 mpg

Trip back to Colorado with K&N drop-in Filter:
Avg. speed: 68 mph
Avg. Intake Air Temp: 64 degrees (taken every 30 min once again)
Avg. mpg: 19.9 mpg

So I saw close to a 2 mpg gain with just the drop-in filter. And also keep in mind that on the drive back I was climbing just under a mile in elevation. BTW, all my reading came from a scanguageII. So, I hope this can help some of you out who are looking for a semi-cheap upgrade. In my opinion, this was a great upgrade as the filter is also washable and have a million-mile warranty. If you have any other questions, just holla!! :thumbsup:
 



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Wow, that's awesome. Your ex looks bad ass with the lift and tires and you're still pulling 20 mpg!
 






Thanks fr0st. Im quite the light-foot when it comes to throttling though. Seems thats really the biggest key to getting better gas mileage. Up next im thinking total tune-up, under drive, and a sct tuner.
 






thanks for sharing the info you gathered Miller, think i'll be making a trip to the parts store soon :)
 






was the stock cheap filter also new?
 






Hmmm, you are doing better than me and I have a street setup!!! I am getting roughly 15mpg but that's mix city/hwy and I don't exactly have a light foot;)

Another thought is, since you have larger tires and are not calibrated for them, would you think that the computer isn't computing properly? And if you are going off the odometer, it should be wrong too?
 






i wish i had seen this last night, i just bought the stock replacement. very intersting though thanks alot
 






i like the idea, but i didnt gain this much mpg off of my ENTIRE aftermarket intake(cai, throttle body, plenum, and manifold), are you sure the stock filter was dirty? i have seen vehicles gain upwards of 3 mph by replacing a dirty filter with a new clean one. I dont mean to rain on your parade, im just sceptical of such a miraculus gain in efficency.
 






the stock air filter was about 1 month old with roughly 600 miles on it. i replaced it when i did my last oil change.

as for the odometer it was calibrated for the 265s by a ford dealership even before i replaced the first air filter. so everything i was reading from the scanguageII was calibrated. The odometer reading matched the speed my GPS was reading but i know that isnt a very reliable source.

but do remember that this was ALL highway driving at 68mph. my city mpg still sucks haha. maybe it was the air temp was just right, the winds, hell even the moon phase but these are the results i found and i wanted to share them with this forum.
 






then by all means, i shall shut my mouth, impressed lol. Again i dont mean to step on any toes. Thats just one hell of a gain.
 






You got 2mpg with the drop in? Thats pretty impressive. I had been rolling with the KN drop in for over a year, never really new if it did any good or not. Wonder what my milage would have been had I used the standard paper.
 






I have noticed that when I cruise at 68mph(not very often;)) is when I can get my best mpg's.

Good to know that after lifting and bigger tires, you can still get good hwy mpg's!!! Keep up the good work!!!
 






I too, was very surprised and very skeptical about the numbers. But i have always noticed that my EX got decent highway miles. When it was completely stock the on-board computer read around 23 mpg while i drove from houston to lake charles, LA. Guess im just one of the lucky ones.
 






we were just driving down to our state capital in a prius, and on the way back we took several reading on gas milage at different speeds and reset the on-board gas milage reading each time. dropping from 68mph to 58mph increased our milage from 49.2 to 51.4its all about htat wind resistence.
 






I could really care less about my MPG.....it's a v8, and it burns gas.
No point in really trying to improve it.

I've actually have bad luck with K&N filters, my mustang wouldn't even Idle right after I installed one. Put the stock one back on, it ran perfect again.

I put an off-road aftermarket filter on my mounty, and the truck felt kinda suffocated and could completely feel how much slower it had gotten.....after i drove it for several hundred miles it seemed to go back to normal now.
 






your probably right money's over rated
 






I am guessing that Colorado has switched over to the winter mix fuel. While Texas doesn't switch.
So that coupled with the new filter gave you that much of an increase.
Try the same in the summer and the gain won't be there.
Just a guess though. That's a pretty steep gain for just a drop in.
 















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May be why I can't run a damn 14.99!!! I think a little nitromethane could help out:D
 






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