Does any one know if the OEM filters Honda uses have ever come pre-oiled? I've read somewhere on the internets that import car companies make OEM filters that are lightly oiled sort of like the oiled benefits of K&N filters but not lifetime (still disposable).

I checked my air filter today and on side facing fresh air it looks wet like it's soaked very lightly in oil. It's not glistening and dripping off and there's no oil in the lower half of the air cleaner. I can prove the filter is soaked because it's darker almost like if you soak a paper towel in water and by smelling it (it's definitely not engine oil, smells sour) and by leaving it on a paper towel (it soaks into it and makes it clear). However the side facing the throttle does not look wet at all and both halves of the air cleaner housing are clean and dry.

I also took the ring of rubber gasket on the edge of the filter off and there's oil under it as well as (obviously) oil on the filter housing that was mating with the gasket. Quite a bit actually and it smells just like the oil on the filter.

Anyone know how this happens and whether oil on air filters are normal? Is it from exhaust on the highway? Is it from the engine? Or maybe it's normal and they lightly oil them and also put oil between the gasket and filter housing to prevent air from getting in that way?

 

a few yrs ago I bought a Fram air filter for some car that was described as extra heavy duty or something similar.
The claim on the package was it had been pre-oiled (or pre-something) for benefit in dusty conditions. Looked very normal.

Anyway, it was the top of the Fram air filter line and I don't know anything else. Maybe yours one of these?