Honda Civic Engine Air Filter K&N Si EX (96-00)

Honda Civic Engine Air Filter K&N Si EX (96-00)

Your 1996-2000 Civic EX, HX, or 1999-2000 Si uses a paper engine air filter in the factory airbox. When that filter is dirty, K&N 33-2104 is the washable Honda Civic engine air filter that drops in that same VTEC box.

Read the trim before you order. A 1996-2000 Civic CX, DX, or LX uses a different paper panel, and that is K&N 33-2120. Same generation. Two different boxes. K&N's 1996 EX year page lists 33-2120. Honda's 1996 EX air cleaner is 17220-P2J-003, which is this filter. Measure the old element if you are not sure.

What It Is and Why It Works

The trade here is paper against oiled cotton, and it is worth being honest about both sides. Honda paper filters fine, and you bin it every service. This is four layers of oiled cotton gauze that you wash and keep for as long as you own the car. K&N rates the media at up to 99 percent overall efficiency, per manufacturer. It ships pre-oiled, so it goes straight in the box out of the bag.

What you give up is the oil-free part. Over-oil a cotton filter and you put oil film in the airbox. That is how you make a driveability problem the filter caused. Use the right amount, which K&N puts at 1.25 oz for this panel, and keep the oil off the gasket face. If you would rather not think about oil at all, buy a dry filter instead and stop reading here. If you will clean it properly, this is the correct VTEC panel and it is the last one you buy for the car.

Set your expectations on power honestly. A panel filter sitting in a stock airbox does not make horsepower you can feel. The restriction on a D16 or B16 is the box, the snorkel and the head, not the element inside it. Buy this because you are tired of replacing paper, not because you expect a dyno result. K&N backs stock-replacement High-Flow filters with a No-Hassle Lifetime Limited warranty, limitations apply.

Specs

Fitment

Factory engine airbox only, and it is not a cabin filter. EX, HX, GX, and the 1999-2000 Si share Honda 17220-P2J-003. CX, DX, and LX do not. Those cars take K&N 33-2120, Honda 17220-P2F-A01, which is 8.813 by 6.5 by 1.125 inches. This panel is 7.875 by 7.563 by 0.938 inches. If you are holding something closer to 8.8 by 6.5, you want 33-2120. A 1992-1995 Civic is 33-2047. A 1988-1991 Civic or CRX is 33-2025. A 2001-2005 Civic 1.7 is 33-2192. Integra is E-2427. Official K&N and Honda also put this panel on 1997-2001 CR-V 2.0. Confirm you are in a P2J VTEC box or a first-gen CR-V box before you order.

What to Know Before You Buy

Buy the right chemicals with it. This filter is oiled, so when it comes time to clean it you need K&N cleaner and K&N oil. Dry-filter cleaner is the wrong bottle for this media, so if you have an AEM DryFlow spray on the shelf from another car, leave it there. Re-oil amount is 1.25 oz (37 ml). That is more oil than the 33-2120 panel. Do not guess. Wash it, let it dry all the way, oil it lightly, done. The most common way people ruin one of these is soaking it and putting it back in wet.

Confirm the engine before you order, not just the year. If the valve cover says D16Y7, or the car is a CX, DX, or LX, this is the wrong SKU. If the valve cover says B16 or D16Y8, or the lid is P2J, this is the one. 33-2104 stays in the factory airbox. If the car already has an aftermarket intake, buy that kit's filter, not this panel. And if you came here looking for the thing that stops the cabin smelling like a wet dog, that is the cabin filter behind the glovebox, and it is a separate part.

While the airbox lid is off, spend two minutes on the rest of it. Check that the lid gasket is seated flat and the clips all latch evenly, because a warped lid on a twenty-year-old Civic leaks more air past the filter than any element flows through it. Look at the PCV plumbing that feeds this box too. A soaked elbow puts oil mist upstream of a brand new filter, and then people blame the filter. Snug the intake tube clamp on the way back together. That is the whole job.