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Steeda cai problems

4K views 47 replies 14 participants last post by  D-Rad 
#1 ·
Hey I hope someone can help me. I just put a steeda cai on my 2008 focus auto trans, and now whenever I'm cruising down the highway and it shifts into overdrive when it's bogged down to like 1400rpm, my car starts bucking back and forth? If I take it out of overdrive the problem stops. I know there's a sleeve inside the air pipe that you can take out if you are going to tune your car, but I didn't take it out so it should work on a stock tune. Or so steeda tells me. Anyone else have this problem? Thanks
 
#2 ·
Should have just left it stock its a expensive lesson for you sorry! I guess if you kept the old parts (you did keep the old parts didn't you) you can put your car back together stock, and your overdrive will work like new again!
 
#3 ·
I'd hesitate to just throw the stock stuff back on... There are tons of 2nd gen owners who have the Steeda cai, and this is the first I've heard of something like this. I'd talk to Steeda and see if you can find a member around here who has that setup.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Did you disconnect the negative battery cable when installing? If you didn't, give it a try, and leave it off for about 10 - 15 minutes.

PS - Make sure you have the MAF sensor pointing in the right direction. Not sure if the Steeda allows you to install in the wrong direction, but it would be a good idea to make sure it's the right way.
 
#11 ·
If the pipe is in upside down, that may cause an issue. And tuning the computer is a pretty lengthy process... not to mention expensive. But you really shouldn't need to. I've been running my CAI for at least a year and a half now, and still haven't gotten a tune and it runs just fine... I think having the MAF sensor or the MAF sensor pipe in the wrong way would make the most sense. Also, removing the negative battery cable may help as Duhamel suggested.
 
#15 ·
If you find everything is installed correctly, and you haven't already done this recently, you might try cleaning the throttle body. I can imagine a situation where some strategically deposited gunk in the throttle body didn't interfere while running with the stock air box, but it suddenly causes issues when the throttle body is dealing with the air flow from the new CAI. It's a cheap and quick stab at solving the problem, plus it'll be good for the car even if it doesn't fix the issue.
 
#21 ·
ok so i went out today to see if i could resolve this problem. i first started with disconnecting the battery to see if it would make any difference at all. it didnt help. So i removed the intake pipe and flipped it around. took it for a road test and immediately got the wrench power-train fault light. come to find out steeda did a good job making sure it could only go on one way...and ford was even nice enough to engrave flow-> on the maf sensor...so it can only go on one way. any other ideas? im stumped
 
#24 ·
i've got the same problem. not sure the rpm and it bogs down from the start. when i have my stock intake on it's fine. and if i take the resonator off the airbox it does the same thing. so really, i guess all it needs is a tune. i hear people say that this intake works better with a tune but no one tells you why (cause the first thing people think is yea this is cool!) my friends car has the same intake and her car does the same thing. [dunno]
 
#27 ·
yea. it sucks. it sounds good but i'm contemplating about putting my stock airbox back on cause i can't afford a tune.
 
#35 ·
300+ if you get it from fswerks. or take it to a tuning shop with a dyno and they can hook you up. i hear thats better anyways cause they get the most out of the car. fswerks has the tunes ready to go but of course not all cars are created equal
 
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