How can you tell? I got it from my friend who had used it for like 5,000 miles and got a new intake. Its been sitting in my bedroom for a month or two. It doesn't FEEL too oily, but its clean. I don't wanna spend 10 bucks on a cleaning kit unless its absolutley neccassary. Is it?
When they are clean they are still a nice red color. When dirty, they appear grey to even black in color. Takes a while for them to need cleaning under normal driving conditions.
chances are, you will most likely be able to tell when it needs it. If the guy only put 5k miles on it, then you should be fine, unless he was driving dirt/gravel roads all the time. it really isn't too oily to the touch anyway. mine wasn't at least.
I think K&N's instructions say not to touch it for 50K miles. They say it works even better when it gets some dirt on the surface. I've been using K&N's in all my vehicles for about 15 years and I clean & re-oil at 50K miles. Cars always run great & get good mileage-works for me.
Yes, Jas when your K/N gets dirty just buy a K/N recharger kit
clean it and oil it your good to go! I just recharge my K/N when
it gets dirty and every two years I just buy a new K/N anyway.
Dude, when it's clean, dry, and not oiled, it's a faded pink color. When it's been recently oiled it's more of a dark red. When it's dirty, well it looks dirty!!! You should be able to tell. Your not willing to spend $10 bucks on a recharger???!!!! If your friend had it in for 5000 miles than chances are he oiled it. There is no way it will go 50,000 miles without re-oiling. I re-oil mine every other motor oil change, because man that thing gets dirty.