Hey Everyone,

So my driver's side battery has been overheating and boiling for the last few days so I have been unhooking the positive battery clamp and that has made it stop. Yesterday morning I go out to start the truck, hook up both the batteries, and now it won't start. I check the voltage for both the batteries and they are at 8volts each. I grab my charger and start charging both batteries up to 12.7 and then hook them back up to the truck and go for about an hour drive up the highway. When I get back I unhooked the batteries from the truck and each other to see what would happen overnight. I checked them this morning and the passenger one is at 12.7 still and the driver's side is at 9.7. So is my one battery dead and just not keeping a charge, and when hooked up to the other one dragging it down with it, or is there something else going on??

Also my truck was in the shop the other day, while they tried to fix the above problem and didn't and still made me pay them for not doing their job, and told me my K&N had to be removed. They have had 4 trucks in their shop with engine issues all with K&N filters now and none of them have been covered under warranty due to the air filter. All left with big bills they were saying.

TIA

 

You have a dead cell in the drivers side battery. Without testing the voltage when running the engine there is no way to know if the failure was caused by the truck or just bad luck with that one battery.

 

Most likely, you need to get two new batteries as you want to replace them in pairs so they are the same age. It does sound like a bad battery. Just do a search on the K&N issues / discussions

 

I tested it when the truck was running and they both have a voltage of 13.5, that is what lead me to believing there was an issue with just the battery.

 

Just remember you will have to change BOTH batteries not just the bad one. batteries behave differently with age, a new battery with an older one will charge/discharge differently

 

Regarding your k&n filter, they do not filter as well as others. I like S&B due to the fact they used ISO testing to test the filters. It filters better than stock, yet flows 40% better also. If it were me, I'd put the stock one back in until the warranty is over.

 

I believe it about the K&N filter. I bought a drop in right after I bought my truck. It would suck the filter minder shut in less than 500 miles of driving. I thought it was just a bad sensor but a friend of mine suggested a afe drop in filter. It has not pulled shut since with the afe. I think the k&n's are great for gas motors, but I won't be running it in a diesel again.

 

Take out the K&N!

While I had one on my last truck (a 2002), I would only run it in non-dusty conditions. I ran it one spring (dusty) around here, and found dust in the intake tract past the filter. And yes I oiled and cleaned the filter properly.

K&N lets more air through, but more dirt too in my experience.

 

Just had an oil analysis done and my K&N filter is fine no dust no problems showing on analysis. Surprised your battery went bad so soon mine are original and check out fine but cells will go bad even in a new battery.

 

I sent mine to Blackstone, and it too came back with low silicon levels, even with the K&N. But, do yourself a favor, and check the inside of the air duct post air filter. You might be surprised what's getting through. I was of the exact same opinion as you before I looked in the tube. Then I was shocked.

 

Dirt doesn't necessairlly make it into the oil. Just wears the cylinder walls and goes out the exhaust.

 

Well no matter what, they didn't care much for the K&N on my truck so I changed it out and put the factory box back on, at least till after my warranty is done then maybe look at a different one.
Oh by the way, checked my batteries again later today and the one is still reading 12 and the other is right around 8.2 volts. Draining ever so slowly. I might be going out to price out some new optima or conventional batteries tomorrow.

 

Keep fooling around with a shorted battery with some boilover and your playing with fire.They can and do blow up.

 

You guys are killing me!!
My K&N filters great. My intake track is so clean I could drink a cold beer out it.
Why did you pay the dealer for work he didn't do?? Why would the dealer tell you a K&N will void your warranty, my dealer wouldn't think of telling me something like that in fact you can buy one right out of their parts dept.
And lastly, why are you still monkey'n around with bad batteries, you know what the problem is, run up to costco and get a new set of batts.
I almost find it comical now, as it seems the norm to throw the term K&N filter in with any non-related mechanical problem. And everytime you see the same banwagon bashing. Some people just believe everything they read on the internet.

 

I am not fooling around with the battery. I have them both disconnected from the truck and am just seeing how low the one battery will go in voltage all on it's own without having anything hooked up to it. Can't see how it can blow up like that. I am going to pick up new batteries today and change them both out. Thanks everyone!!