Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) oil residue inside intercooler boots

[KCraft]

yesterday i was taking apart my intercooler boots, i noticed that i had an oily residue on the inside. i have run a k&n for years but just wanna make sure its not something else. maybe turbo leaking oil? i'm building a project and want to fix anything before i put the new cab on the chassis i just cant remember for the llife of me what it means when there is oil in the air2air tubes

thx

 

[Ram4Sam]

Oh boy, here it comes..... :-laf



Sam

 

[firefighter_2000]

K&n

Most people will tell you to throw the K&N out and put in a real filter. The thing with a K&N is it has to be oiled PROPERLY... Not too oily, not too dry to work correctly. Lots of people will dispute over wether or not a K&N is safe to be used on our trucks. No need to argue over it. Chances are, thats where the oily residue came from. It could POSSIBLY gunk up the intercooler, but it would have to be VERY VERY heavy on the oil to get that bad.



Im sure someone else will chime in with a smart @$$ comment about getting a real filter or say something about you and or your family. It's your truck. If you're comfortable relying on a K&N, by all means run it. I've run mine for 260k miles with no problems.



Craig

 

[EForbes]

I will only say i ran a k&n for about a year, and noticed oil on turbo blades, and that was an out of the box cold air intake, so i re-tightened everything after cleaning turbo, thinking maybe a loose connection caused dirt to get into air stream. Well 2 months later i removed to find more oil build up on turbo blade surfaces. I talked with the k&n guy on the cummins forum, and he didn't have an explanation. I have one though, their filters are awesome on normally aspirated engines, but when subjected to the massive amounts of air being drawn in by a turbo diesel, it will pull the oil from a factory oiled k&n, so for the next year i ran a BHAF, and stock with cowl induction, and i pulled it off last weekend for inspection, and the turbo was dry as can be, blades shiny like i left them when i cleaned them. Oh and research does say stock air box good to 500hp, i can still get 30psi with stock box. I haven't noticed a difference in performance using any of the filters i mentioned, so i will stay with the stock cowl setup for now, i like to hear the turbo anyhow. hope that helps, try cleaning the turbo and everywhere else you got oil, and put a different filter on, and check it in a day a week a month and see for yourself.
I am not gonna say anything about your family trust me, this forum is to help others in my opinion.

 

[cerberusiam]

The thing with a K&N is it has to be oiled PROPERLY... Not too oily, not too dry to work correctly.

That is the whole problem with any oiled filter, there is no proper way to oil it that won't result in some residue in the intake tract. Simply too large spaces and too much air flow from a turboed engine to avoid it entirely.



The oil is not the problem, its what pulled thru the oil that IS the problem. In a damp non-dusty environment the K&N works fine. Doesn't work so good in a high dust area though and definitely not when exeeding 15 lbs of boost.

 

[BigPapa]

I'm not going to say anything about you, your family, or your dog. I am going to tell you to ditch the K&N.



Of all the turbos we've replaced at the shop, only two I can recall had stock air filters, and they were so dirty they had collapsed. All the rest have had one brand or another oiled air filter.



They offer no benefits on our trucks. Why take the chance?



Scott