I've never really done work on any vehicles before so this was a start for me. Just got this 2001 f350 and it has k&n which I just found out doesn't have the best rep, will probably change eventually. Anyway I changed the oil, changed the fuel filter and put some seafoam in there. Cleaned the filter last night and bought a can of k&n oil.

i had to use quite a bit to get it covered red and didn't let it dry or anything,warmed the truck up and have gone for a 5-10 minute drive. It's now been sitting for an hour and there is a small red puddle, maybe 3/4 oz of red oil on the ground and on the ball joint, figuring it must be the k&n stuff. Have I caused any damage? Should I just let it drip overnight or take it off and rewash, oil it lightly again? I hope it's ok, thanks

 

Well, you likely oiled up the air sensor in the intake. Other than that....... IDK.
Personally, I would be going and getting a real air filter tomorrow.!

 

Yes you over oiled it. They have a bad rep with lots of people but not me. I have run them for 30 years without seeing premature wear or anything negative. A guy really does need to know how to maintain them though!

 

i really thought I read everything and thought a heavy coating was best. What would you recommend I do now? Now that it looks like most of the oil I had on has dropped off do I still need to reclean and oil it? Thanks

 

Very light coats, like putting a finish spray on a project piece with a rattle can. Go pick up a paper filter when you can along with some MAF sensor cleaner.

 

So I went to look at the puddle and open the hood. It's completely dry around the air filter below and any surfaces nearby.

I think I overfilled the power steering pump on Sunday. I had the wheels turned and filled the reservoir almost full. Just from where the pool was it was more than I used on the air filter so I think that was it. I have some new shocks coming in the mail, but I have a feeling I'm going to do more damage than good. I try to research everything properly, it's not the money, I just haven't found a mechanic I like yet.

 

I would rather make my own mistakes for free than pay someone else to make them for me.

 

The filter is made of cotton and when you oil them they need to sit so the cotton can adsorb the oil. You cant do any damage to the truck just the MAS in the intake tube may get covered in oil. In that case just get a can of MAS cleaner NOT carb cleaner different stuff. Clean the oil out of the sensor and reinstall it and you are good to go.

 

I'm 100% sure it's actually just power steering fluid, was a coincidence and the fluids look and feel the same. There was just too much for it to be the air filter oil.

Anotger question: my coolant is about an inch below the minimum. The coolant is green, I went to parts store and they told me to use prestone command. I was about to top it up but noticed its red or pink maybe, says cat compatible. Should I take this back and just get whole system flushed?

 

Factory coolant should have been yellow, which means it was flushed at some point. Whether the older green formula will be effective or not I can't say, but if you want to run what the engineers intended, you could flush and refill with Motorcraft Gold coolant or Zerex G-05.

 

K & N - I just went through using a K & N or not - someone posted to put a very very very thin swath of Vaseline on the inside of the filter housing - it took 3 days for me to realize K & N wasn't the way to go. Last night I threw a Baldwin in.

Antifreeze - at 115,000 I had the cooling system flushed and all the hoses replaced. The place that did it refilled the thing with the traditional green. I sold the truck with over 150,000 on it, never had an issue

 

Over 100,000 miles on a K&N and never a problem. It's hard to say if you overoiled it or not. But it does sound like you don't have a lot of experience doing your own maintenance and may have to let someone else do it. Either that or come here before you do it to be sure you don't overdo anything or do something wrong until you get the hang of it.

 

On my previous V10 I would take the K&N out to clean and oil it. In the mean time I would run the paper filter for a day or two. I would notice a difference with the paper filter, little less pep. I always thought it was funny that I'd notice K&N to paper but not paper to K&N. Never did have any MAF issues or anything else. Over 100k on that one.