• A few people have been scammed on the site, Only use paypal to pay for items for sale by other members. If they will not use paypal, its likely a scam NEVER SEND E-TRANSFERS OF ANY KIND.

K&N Oil Filter lesson

StratTuner

StratTuner

Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 11, 2013
Messages
3,490
Reaction score
58
Points
48
Location
California
Visit site
------- 21 June Update, the original post below these lines remains untouched. -------------------
Please see my update on this problem further down in the posts!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Short as possible:
I used a K&N Oil Filter on my 600 mile oil change, and it went well. I believed all the advertising I read. It was easy to install, so I ordered a second.

The second had a rubber O-ring that was defective. It had a small chunk missing and that was enough to keep it from sealing properly under pressure.

The result?

I have a literal puddle of oil to clean up on my driveway and at the place I work. My rear tire is completely coated with oil..not a good thing, and I look like an idiot to my dealer because I gave him the oil filter to use for my 8K service. I wrongly assumed it was the mechanic's fault. It was not.
It was K&N's fault.

Their ads are convincing, they get good reviews, but wow... it spewed oil EVERYWHERE in my case.

I am no longer a fan of this oil filter and will use the stock honda filter...or something else...

P.S. inspect the oil filter's O-ring before you put it in. I wish I had.
 
Last edited:
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with them, I've never had an issue with K&N oil filters on my 7.3 powerstroke or the explorer I use to have. I've found that nut on the bottom to be quite handy. In K&N's defense, if the mechanic properly coated the o-ring with engine oil before installing the filter he should have picked up on the defective o-ring. Just my two cents.
 
He didn't notice it because he didn't coat the O-ring. If he had, he would have noticed.

I'll look it up in the service manual to see if it recommends coating the o-ring just that way.
The Manual is in the wife's car, and she's out just now.
 
Last edited:
P.S. inspect the oil filter's O-ring before you put it in. I wish I had
Click to expand...

I believe the installer should have. Not your job if you're paying a service facility to do it. I'd go back to the dealer and ask to be re-imbursed at least the cost of labor.
 
We have all done the same thing. Every professional tech has done this at least once. Lots of reasons - old "O" stuck to engine and second put over first, bad "o" ring, forgot to tighten, and the list goes on. I once did the two "o" ring trick.

I had a young tech who worked for me for a time, did one better than this. When I was young I had worked for his grandfather as a tech.. His father, and his uncle had gone to school with me, and both are Professional Techs. This young tech is a graduate of MMI in Dayton, Honda Pro in Irving, Yamaha 5 star, Suzuki Expert, and the diplomas go on.
His father had just died, and I had promised him that I would keep and eye on his kid for him.

Well, on a Sunday he was at his father-in-laws house working on his father-in-laws bike. His father-in-law is also a long time friend, as is his mother-in-law. On this Sunday, I got a call from his mother-in-law, giving it to me. I had no idea what happen. They had a brand new home, and it was hot that summer day. Father-in-law put the bike in the kitchen so as they could work in comfort, and watch the ball game. Now that's a real biker.

While watching the ball game, new tech was changing oil. Did every thing right, except. You got it, did not reinstall drain plug. 5 Quarts on the new kitchen floor. Got to love it.
She was crying when she called me, so I couldn't laugh out loud. You would not believe how many times experienced techs do these kind of things by accident. If they did not, they are not working. It just comes with the territory!2.jpg

SmileyGroovy.jpg

00.jpg
 
Last edited:
Old Can Ride said:
We have all done the same thing. Every professional tech has done this at least once. Lots of reasons - old "O" stuck to engine and second put over first, bad "o" ring, forgot to tighten, and the list goes on. I once did the two "o" ring trick.

I had a young tech who worked for me for a time, did one better than this. When I was young I had worked for his grandfather as a tech.. His father, and his uncle had gone to school with me, and both are Professional Techs. This young tech is a graduate of MMI in Dayton, Honda Pro in Irving, Yamaha 5 star, Suzuki Expert, and the diplomas go on.
His father had just died, and I had promised him that I would keep and eye on his kid for him.

Well, on a Sunday he was at his father-in-laws house working on his father-in-laws bike. His father-in-law is also a long time friend, as is his mother-in-law. On this Sunday, I got a call from his mother-in-law, giving it to me. I had no idea what happen. They had a brand new home, and it was hot that summer day. Father-in-law put the bike in the kitchen so as they could work in comfort, and watch the ball game. Now that's a real biker.

While watching the ball game, new tech was changing oil. Did every thing right, except. You got it, did not reinstall drain plug. 5 Quarts on the new kitchen floor. Got to love it.
She was crying when she called me, so I couldn't laugh out loud. You would not believe how many times experienced techs do these kind of things by accident. If they did not, they are not working. It just comes with the territory!
Click to expand...

Wait. Bike in the kitchen, ball game on, oil on the floor. Had to be beer involved.
 
StratTuner said:
I'll look it up in the service manual to see if it recommends coating the o-ring just that way.
Click to expand...

Svc manual says to put oil on the o-ring.

Sorry about the luck, Strat. Yes, the mechanic/tech 'should' have looked at the gasket, whether or not he was going to oil it. Nevertheless, one sort of 'expects' gaskets or o-rings such as this to be made and installed properly (you obviously do, and so do I), and so doesn't always look them over as carefully as one 'should.'

It's too bad to have spilled some oil, but it happens; no biggie.
 
I put a K&N on mine for the 8k and had no issues. I've been using them for years on my cars because I love having that nut on the end to make removal easier and never had an issue. I wouldn't stop using them over one issue like that. If you didn't inspect it yourself how can you be sure it wasn't sabotaged by the mechanic either? Or maybe he dropped it or banged it against something to cut the O-ring on accident.
 
happy said:
Stick to playing guitars and don't mess with motobikes....
:p
I do that.
Click to expand...

Happy, I realize you're not a DIY fan. Of couse I respect that, buy you have to understand as well that for some of us a bike without DIY job is nothing :)
 
I agree.

But in my case the DIY part would be inspecting if it was a pre-meditated activity by the "mechanic"... and if confirmed I would lubricate his "o-ring"... with sulfuric acid for example. :p
 
PPWW said:
?... if it was a pre-meditated activity by the "mechanic"...
Click to expand...

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by chance. I carried errors and omissions insurance as an engineer because I was human and capable of mistakes. If you hired me and I made a mistake on your project, I would look incompetent to you, even if it was the only professional mistake I had made in 35 years. Malice is an unreasonable suspicion because he knew it would point to him and there was no motive at the technician level to do it. To know whether it was chance or incompetence you would have to know his work record, which the shop manager does.

One reason that shops don't like to install owner supplied items is that the liability is confused. A good shop would cover it anyway and pursue the performance issue with the tech.
 
[SPOILER ALERT!!!]
emoticon_tongue.jpg

[END OF SPOILER]

Can't make it more obvious... sorry! :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Juan_Banjovy
  • Locked
Low Oil Pressure Light
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
670cc
670cc
B
Oil change
Replies
12
Views
2K
MZ5
MZ5
Cirrusly
Transmission oil filter cover - I'm an idiot
2
Replies
24
Views
3K
GregC
GregC
G
Question Is Honda trying to stop us using any other brand of oil?
Replies
6
Views
1K
davidc83
davidc83
G
Question Why the need for two oil filters in DCT transmissions?
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
the Ferret
the Ferret
Back
Top