badgerbell

had problems with my maf sensor lately and upon removing the air filter noticed how dirty it was.
Loads of goo in the air box aswell.

so... how do you clean the itg filter, or is it best to just hoy it and buy another, and if so what's the best panel filter on the market nowadays

Steve Holmes

They say they are good for 30k miles. I have had no problems with the MAF although a bit of grease does get into the box. I would just replace it with another.

Abbylad

iTrader: (4)

the STi panel filter from (i think) scoobymania is well regarded

Danny Boy

iTrader: (2)

second that Abbeylad, the STI filter is whats going in mine soon.

Dan.

currymonster

Yep bob rawle of BRD developments reccomended the STI and K+N filters as the best, got an STI one on order from Scoobymania,
Cal

greasemonkey

Give it to the dustman and ask him to bring it back when it's clean.

You won't go wrong with the STi, Green or K&N products.

NelsonUK

Same here too - was using an ITG panel for a month or so and would check it every week to be sure that the goo wasn't finding its way into the airbox. Was rather worried to find after a month that some of the goo had made its way to the MAF side of the filter !! I have a MY00 and with the very fragile MAF decided to invest in an STI filter....haven't looked back since fitting the STI filter.

badgerbell

Thanks guys,

and NelsonUK you've sealed it

Scooby50WRX

I'm using the same ITG Pro-Filter since 3 years in a WRX and a WRX STI, 50'000 km runned. At 25'000 km, I have totally unmounted and controlled the intake pipe, the MAF sensor and the airbox.
Airbox : some drops of goo at the bottom of it, not a problem at all.
Intake pipe : absolutely not sticky, only a very little amount of dust
MAF Sensor : quite as new

So, my experience is very positive, with 2 brand new cars fitted, it's very easy to see if the MAF is in good condition as no other filters were used before to fit the ITG.

Perhaps the problems someones could have is due to the fitting, I have found the ITG box with the instructions :
"When removing the filter out of its plastic bag, there may be a residue of oil on the rear of the filter. If so,just wipe it off using kitchen roll or anything similar."

The_Judge

It's refreshing to read a post from someone who has had no problems with the ITG filter. Unfortunately, a minority these days. Still wouldn't use one in mine...

dowser

I'd love to see photos of the green snot inside an ITG getting anywhere near the MAF?

I've also run them extensively - 3 panels in 2 cars running over 150k km's and no problems. The gunk drops into the dirty side of the airbox.

I'm sure the K&N flows better (indeed, I run a K&N cone now), but the problems come when they are cleaned and re-oiled - it is very common to over oil, and is equally common to cause MAF contamination.

What type of filter is STi one? Wet, or dry?

Richard

The_Judge

Dry, I believe...

Sti_Lad

I have an ITG filter in my sti8 and there was a lot of green goo to start with.. I just kept cleaning it off with some Carb cleaner and it seems to be fine now... I think the MY03 Sti's are less troublesome with maf failures anyway!
I am going to get either an STi filter or Ramair as dealer like them! lol

The_Judge

The problem with post MY99/00 MAFs is that not long enough has passed yet to know for sure if they are less fragile. Time, as they say, will tell

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

i've had an ITG in my ukMY99 for about 2 1/2 years now and nearly **** myself when i read all the negatives about it and at a recent remap the mapper wasn't too impressed when i told him about my choice of filter.
but after whipping off the pipe and checking the MAF he was pleasantly surprised to see no contamination at all, so personally i'm just going to keep an eye on it.

just a thought (from a very non technical person) but with 'wet' oiled filters like k+n, as air is drawn thru the filter won't the oil get drawn with it and cause the same contamination problem? (be gentle on this one coz like i say, i don't know bugger all about cars, just theorizing )

The_Judge

Maybe they're not all as bad as each other. Can only comment from what's been posted on here really. And there've been far more bad reports than good.

In theory, yes. But maybe the K&N uses a different type of oil to the ITG? There's certainly less of it. It's just ominous that the recent MAF related engine problems seem to have one thing in common - ITG panel filters...

Faire D'Income

The trouble is that most people report problems with air filters without mentioning which model car they are referring to. I've run ITG filters on mine, MY02 WRX, and have had no problems whatsoever despite running 40k miles in 14 months as a result of this filter.

greasemonkey

No, I don't think so. The ITG and K&N filters are very different products.

No problem! Just to take the K&N and ITG filters as examples, they're very different in the way they're made, and the way they work.

The K&N (Green is very similar) is a cotton gauze filter, and in this case, the oil (and it is an oil) seems to be absorbed by, and retained very effectively by the natural cotton fibres.

To offer an analogy, if you get a cotton shirt soaking wet, it'll take a fair old while to dry, as the water is absorbed in the fibres and takes time to evaporate out, and it'll also feel wet/damp to the touch long after it's stopped dripping.

The ITG in contrast seems to be made of open cell polyurethane (or some very similar synthetic material), while the filter "fluid" is a much higher viscosity sticky gunk.

To continue the shirt analogy, if you got yourself an acrylic shirt (like a football jersey) and got it soaking wet, you'll notice how quickly the water drips out, and also how quickly it dries compared with the cotton one. The synthetic fibres don't swell and absorb the water like the natural ones do (which is a good thing as far as clothing is concerned).

I think the same principle is at work with the ITG filter. The synthetic foam doesn't absorb the gunk like the cotton gauze does, which is why the gunk is so gloopy and sticky in the first place - it has to be so it'll stick to the surface of the foam.

The trouble is that even this amount of stickiness isn't quite enough to contend with a turbocharger sucking air through it at very high flow rates, and this is why IMO loss of the gunk will always be a problem with this style of filter. Even if it doesn't damage your airflow meter on the way through the engine, the loss of the gunk will eventually reduce the effectiveness of the filter itself, as (admittedly small particles of) foreign matter that would otherwise stick to it will pass all the way through the foam and into the engine.

I don't have anywhere near the same concerns with the K&N product when it has been supplied fresh from the factory, or been serviced properly. IME contamination issues with these filters seem to start when they're serviced improperly.

The natural "I'd better put a little bit more on, just to be safe!" tendency when re-oiling can easily result in the filter being over-oiled, and in these circumstances it's not hard to visualise the excess being sucked off in the period following refitting. Under normal circumstances though, I don't believe it's a problem with either the K&N, or indeed the Green. Just my take on the situation of course, but it's one that makes sense both in my head and according to my experience.

dowser

Agreed - except the consistency (when I last bought one - 18 months ago I guess) of the green snot in the ITG is such that 1.4 bar on mine never sucked anything through, even when brand new (ie; before the gunk has dripped out). Gravity over night when they're new is a different matter though. I should keep quiet, my airbox is going back on soon so will need to buy another ITG....hopefully prices have dropped

Richard

The_Judge

Spot on GM.

scoobymanWRC

I;ve got an ITG filter from my 00MY sat in my garage in its box at the moment, was only on for about 2,000 miles. If you're looking for a cheap one you can have mine for a tenner plus postage, so let me know if this is of interest!

Sanj