Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Late yesterday afternoon I finally had a gap to sort out a few things on the Troll. One of the "to-do" items was to check my KNN airfilter. We did a 28-day 7,000 km trip from CPT to the very north of Namibia and back in July of this year so I knew there would be dirt in the filter, but I had no idea how bad it was until last night.

Before anyone asks "Why didnt you do it earlier?"...I work mostly out of SA and had no time until now to check.

Take a look at the pictures to see how filthy and thick the dust had built up inside the filter. It was so thickly caked that I had to use a high pressure hose to blast the stuff off.

The benefit of having a KNN filter is that I can clean it with high pressure hose, but there would be no way that you can do that with the standard paper filter.

The one thing I dislike about the Patrol is the stupid airbox design that requires you to disassemble the piping before getting to the filter. My brother-in-law has a 70 Series Cruiser and he was easily able to take his filter out and clean it with compressed air while we were in Namibia.

I didnt turn my Snorkel backwards on the trip only because I didnt even think about that. I suppose it would be interesting to know what difference that would have made, bit anyone who has done Namibia will know that that dust just gets in everywhere so I dont expect that a backwards facing snorkel intake would have made a significant difference.

I hear that some of the guys run with the standard filter when driving dirt roads like Namibia as the KNN is more porous and will potentially let smaller particles through. I think that is a good idea based on what I found in my airfilter yesterday. If only it were practical to easily access and clean the standard filter while on such a trip!

Anyway! Just thought I would share and show..

Jo thats a lot of dust

Bliksem that is DIRTY

nou waar kom daai pic vandaan?? thats very dirty

Please dont power wash your K&N!

The pressure opens the fibre weave inside metal screen reducing it's efficiency.

Bucket soak it in a mild de-greaser (this may need to be repeated a few times in your case) & rinse thoroughly before re-oiling.

Wow that’s a lot of dirt! Were you in a convoy a lot of the time?

Personally I’d chuck that air filter out and go back to standard.
And turn the snorkel around.

hugejp wrote: ↑21 Dec 2019 14:33 Please dont power wash your K&N!

The pressure opens the fibre weave inside metal screen reducing it's efficiency.

Bucket soak it in a mild de-greaser (this may need to be repeated a few times in your case) & rinse thoroughly before re-oiling.

Thanks for the advice. How do I re-oil it?

graham1 wrote: ↑21 Dec 2019 15:22 Wow that’s a lot of dirt! Were you in a convoy a lot of the time?

Personally I’d chuck that air filter out and go back to standard.
And turn the snorkel around.

We were a convoy of three, and kept our distance from each other to keep the air clear as possible so we could see where we were going so I'm quite surprised at how much dust built up in the filter. We are doing Botswana in 2021 and will change over to the standard filter and reverse the snorkel then. It will be interesting to see if there is a difference.

Kirbster wrote: ↑21 Dec 2019 18:48

hugejp wrote: ↑21 Dec 2019 14:33 Please dont power wash your K&N!

The pressure opens the fibre weave inside metal screen reducing it's efficiency.

Bucket soak it in a mild de-greaser (this may need to be repeated a few times in your case) & rinse thoroughly before re-oiling.

Thanks for the advice. How do I re-oil it?

No worries I found a K&N re-oiling kit online that I can order. Thanks for pointing this out.

Kirbster wrote: ↑21 Dec 2019 18:48 Thanks for the advice. How do I re-oil it?

Buy a K&N kit at Autostyle or most places that stock the filters themselves. The kit contains a special spray-on cleaner, fresh oil and detailed instructions. Follow the instructions carefully and DO NOT use too much oil (a very common mistake). Have a look downstream of the K&N filter. if the plumbing is clean (it seems spotless to me!), the filter did its work and you need not worry. If you find dirt, feel free to believe the naysayers...