Air filter service question
 

I cleaned my K&N air filter element last night (and what a pain in the ass - I think I may just go back to stock paper elements).

I noticed today that at WOT now, my engine has a remarkably deeper, noticeable low growl at the low RPM range that it didn't quite have before. It just kind of sits below the normal engine noise. There's no change that I can perceive in the car's power output or acceleration characteristics, either positive or negative - but the butt-dyno's never very accurate, is it?

I know I'm not imagining the sound because my wife commented on it this evening, and she doesn't usually pick up on subtle differences in the car like this.

Now, I cleaned and re-oiled the filter according to the instructions. I'm pretty sure that I didn't over- or under-oil, but I'm uncertain as to what change in the filter might cause my engine to sound deeper.

Any ideas, or is this something else that I'm concerned about unnecessarily?

How many miles were on the filter since the last cleaning? Was it extremely dirty?

It had nearly 17,000 on it, and had a fair amount of dirt, but wasn't mind-bogglingly nasty. I decided to clean it mostly because A) it's crazy dusty between Dayton and Carson every day, and B) earlier this week I had to drive straight through a cloud of ash that was so thick you could barely see twenty feet ahead (one of the fires was blowing straight across hwy50e).

Are you sure you got the air cleaner cover back on correctly? Getting the engine side on completely is quite a challenge.

Second, did you knock out, or dislodge the snorkle?

I'm pretty sure I got it back on correctly. It was just as big a pain in the ass to get it hooked up at the bottom as before. I'll re-seat it and try again just to make sure.

Ow. It was seated correctly, and I just gouged my left hand knuckles open on the side of the engine bay getting it back on.

It looks like there may be a little excess oil on the filter - it's darker at the "bottom" than the "top" (relative to the angle, not the side) and even though it seemed like just enough last night, there is now a little dribble at the corner - so I'm just gonna chuck it and replace it with a paper element. K&N isn't worth the trouble.