Hi there,

This summer I bought my first F-150 with V6 4.2L engine and recently exchanged the factory filter for a K&N filter. I love that little extra power especially in the take-off in 1st and 2nd gear. I hardly ever shakes anymore. It is to soon to tell about fuel efficency improvement, but I love the extra torque.

Now my question. I also bought a 2002 Mercury Sable with a Vulcan 3.0L engine and I am not impressed with the performance of the 155HP Vulcan engine. So I thought about the K&N airfilter again. However the users guide specifically tells not to use oil imprignated air filters, due to the possibility to cause severe engine damage. Since this is the same engine as the Ford Ranger you guys might have to say a few things about this.
Also I am interested to know how else to improve the performance and (maybe a little contradicting) how to improve the gas mileage. Right now I bearly make over 1:20 for mostly interstate, while it is listed as 1:20 City/1:28 Highway.

Thanks,
Dutchman

 

The reason that the manual warns against Oil impregnated filters is that the MAF is very close to the filter, and if oil gets on the element, it will cause an error. I have on ein my vulcan, and it is fine. I would say the best thing cost wise to help improve mileage and HP is to replace the exhaust system. There are not aftermarket cat-back systems for the taurs/sable that I know of, so you will have to do it yourself, or have a local muffler shop do it for you.

 

Is there another high performance air filter that is not Oil impregnated and not K&N? I want to add a better air filter but I dont want to mess around with my engines long term performance by ignoring thre manual. Thanks

 

There is nothing wrong with using an oil-impregnated air filter. The manufacturers recommend against it because people have the tendancy to add WAY too much oil to the mesh when cleaning and re-oiling it, causing the oil to cover the MAF sensor as well as the IAT sensor to malfunction. If you still don't want to do that, then you can get a high perf paper filter like Accel from Autozone.