I read up on all the jazz about removing the intake baffles and screens and played around with it today. I had to leave one screen in because of a very rough idle, but no big deal.

What I found interesting is that when I removed the first screen (inside the horn) I found a dusting of what appeared to be a black dirt. At first I thought the K&N filter wasn't oiled properly or something and planned on cleaning and re-oiling it after I was finished. But, when I pulled off the second screen (one closest to the MAF) I distinctly noticed that the "dirt" was on the engine side of the screen, and not the fresh air side.

Since the "dirt" was black I figure it might be carbon, but that far up in the intake? Any ideas on what this is?

 

Sounds like a little bit of oil (or oil vapor) collected there.
You probably have an '04 or '05?
In those models there is a breather hose for the oil filler neck that connects to the intake.
Might want to give the MAF a generous spray with contact cleaner to ensure the resistor wires are clean.

 

He has an 09.

My throttle body was alittle oily, could just be from the same place..

 

It's possible that dirt got through the filter. Maybe there's a very small turbulence vacuum behind the lining of the screens so dirt collects there. It's similar to the turbulence and vacuum created by the rear of a truck when they're doing 55 mph.

 

OOPS... just saw that in his signature. Nevermind!

 

Just to be sure I cleaned and re-oiled my filter.