Air Filters

Red76

Red76

Active Member
2 You're 10
Aug 23, 2009
102
2
Weyburn, SK
VetteCoins
603
Car
1976 L48
I was just told a story, and wish to have it confirmed or debunked. A friend says that any of the washable filters that you oil (K&N, Vararam, etc) cause more problems than they are worth, that they clog the mass air and sensors causing sputtering/ticking/missing. Anyone run into this before or is he just blowing smoke? I would like to know potential pitfalls before I drop 500 bones on a Snake Charmer.
 
Does your friend work for Fram?:D I would like to ask him what his source is. The Vette has had a Vararam on it for 10 years and still runs fine. The Chevelle has had a K&N filter and topper on it for 6 years and is as mean as ever...even if it has no MAF to clog. Anyway, the only issue I could think of is if people soaked their filters in oil when putting them on. Vararam only needs a light spray of WD where the K&N comes with it's own kit. Definitely not snake charmers from my experience.
 
Ya I have not heard of the problem before, have K&N in my truck, brothers have them in their trucks and Mustangs with no such problems...this guy drives a fake Roush (he thinks is all that and a bag of chips) that he is still piecing together so I had to get more input before taking his story as fact. Payday tomorrow, credit card taking another hit for a Charmer I guess lol
 
Awesome. I am sure you will love the Vararam. I really like mine...although I have always had it on the car.... Let us know what you think of the before and after! If you have any questions, I think Dwayne .....oh what the crap is his forum name.... Dbakke? I think he put one in his 05.
 
It is does clog the MAF sensor over time, like years, if when you spray the oil on the filter a little too much. That happened on my 5.3L GMC truck. You'll know when it's clogged you loose power when accelerating then goes away. Changed up my MAF and all was good. I have the K&N filter system on both veh. I'll be sure to make sure to lightly spray the filter from now on.
But does anyone have the Granateli MAF? I'd like to know if it actually says what it does and that is add better airflow for a slight gain in HP.
 
I have a Vararam Snake Charmer and just got back from the Chev dealer. My check engine light came on and they blame it on the air filter , Thus no warranty. They are saying the codes show running very lean and the filter is the cause. Cost me over 100$. Boy am I pissed. I asked the service department before I had the unit installed by Manny and was told verbally was OK . Not sure what to do now. The shroud was cut to install it, I have the original unit but will need to buy a new shroud
 
Postie said:
But does anyone have the Granateli MAF? I'd like to know if it actually says what it does and that is add better airflow for a slight gain in HP.
Click to expand...

From my experience, those Granatelli MAF are only good as paper weights. Their claim of big HP gains are over exaggerated.
 
Ya thats what I thought, but i'm big on DIY bolt on stuff. Prob will not go for the Granateli MAF.
Z51, My 5.3 is running lean as well. Changed the MAF with an aftermarket, did the job but still running lean. Dissapointing the dealership would charge for a code read. Thats a 5 sec diaog.
Some claim you can use a spray cleaner on the MAF honeycomb and that may help, other than that once the filter is cleaned use little oil and then disconnect the bat that will reset the comp, hook up again and see what that will do.
just an idea
 
You may also want to look into getting a tune. I find it hard to believe that a Vararam would cause issues and that the computer could not compensate for the extra air. It should be able to deal with variable rates of air, for instance if you were to drive from sea level to passes in the mountains. Driving in the winter vs. driving in the summer, etc.

If you had a stock air filter, they would probably say it was your tires not being properly inflated.:D
 
When Manny get back I am going to talk to him on this as well, maybe time for the headers and a tune to help, if not going to take the Vararam off till at least warrenty is over.
 
Last edited:
I have had a K&N style oil filter on the vette for over 5 years with no issues.
Also on 6 other cars before the vette for years with no issues.
A good cleaning of the filter with the proper cleaner then wash, then make sure
its fully dry before you spray the filter with the oil and do not overspray.
If you follow the directions you should have no problems.
 
Guys in most cases it has been found that people over saturate the filters and that is where you get problems . The filters don't need to be dripping in K&N fluid or WD40 to work properly . Don't waste your money on aftermarket mass air meters , the mass air meters that came with the C5 & C6 Corvette are more than capable for 90% of the street application's . Unless you are running some monster motor/blower set , you don't need one .



Thx
[email protected]
 
Z51 said:
I have a Vararam Snake Charmer and just got back from the Chev dealer. My check engine light came on and they blame it on the air filter , Thus no warranty. They are saying the codes show running very lean and the filter is the cause. Cost me over 100$. Boy am I pissed. I asked the service department before I had the unit installed by Manny and was told verbally was OK . Not sure what to do now. The shroud was cut to install it, I have the original unit but will need to buy a new shroud
Click to expand...

get it tuned to take advantage of the lean condition,it will have more power-more air means more power, remember don't play if you can't pay[for problems with car after mods!!! that is
 
Well in response to the if you can't don't play. GM and the warranty that they supply is a valuable assest. I did do some follow up after all the trouble I had tring to get the car to run( Even though was not the Vararam but a leak after the Throttle Body Spacer) GM does have the right to void the warranty for any components that were modified and cause any failures. I can pay for any mistakes I make just would rather not. If the car was older and out of warranty that would be a different issue
 
I don't understand the don't play if you can't pay comment. We're talking about a Vararam, right? I would hardly think the Vararam is a mod anyone should worry about installing on their car. It's not like you were messing with the computer or experimenting with after market parts. The Vararam has been used by a lot of people without issues.

Maybe I just don't like snide comments on our forum.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for at least 100 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Top Bottom