how often to clean and/or re-oil K&N air filter?

[Rema1000]

I have the K&N drop-in airbox filter.  K&N says to clean and re-oil it every 50,000 miles... but no mention of how often in years.  Any thoughts on how often to clean and re-oil?

[ineedanap]

I don't know if years would matter as long as there is oil on the cotton and the rubber seal doesn't dry out.  It's not like the stock style paper or foam ones that can break down over time.  I've had k and n filters on vehicles that are quite old and as good as new. 

I clean mine whenever it looks like it needs it, which is pretty much never. 

[bill14224]

I agree.  I have the same filter and I CHECK my filter every several months, but that doesn't mean I CLEAN it every time.  I clean it when it no longer appears to be clean, which is less than once a year where I live, as it's not dusty here.  Ride in the desert and you'll need to clean it every few months.  I had a K&N filter in my last bike as well.  I had that bike 9 years.  I think I cleaned the filter three times.

Use good sense and oil the filter lightly.  Saturating it with oil will prevent it from breathing.  Read the instructions as to oiling, but I think cleaning it every 50,000 miles is crazy talk, just like my Honda Civic that had a label under the hood that told me to change the oil every 7,500 miles.  After 5,000 miles the oil would be black as tar, so I didn't even wait that long, usually 3500 miles or so, and even then it started smoking when I started it after 80,000 miles.  Go figure!

[jt_234]

I clean/reoil mine every time or every other time I change the oil.  Probably overkill, but otherwise I would forget about it.

I would say once a year is a minimum.