Poor Performance After CAI

[brady_f]

Anyone suffering from sluggish takeoffs after installing a CAI? Have about 3 solid days of driving with the Secret Weapon R CAI and the car seems to be more sluggish from stops, stop and go traffic, and all around performing poorly. I am highly attributing this to the lack of a tune, however I was just trying to see if I was alone or if I should go ahead and put it back to stock until tuning options become readily available....

[Sponsor]

[Bwill9886]

Originally Posted by brady_f

Anyone suffering from sluggish takeoffs after installing a CAI? Have about 3 solid days of driving with the Secret Weapon R CAI and the car seems to be more sluggish from stops, stop and go traffic, and all around performing poorly. I am highly attributing this to the lack of a tune, however I was just trying to see if I was alone or if I should go ahead and put it back to stock until tuning options become readily available....

Given that your in Houston, you have to be experiencing weather at least as hot as ours in St. Louis.

With your intake, you are now pulling a lot of air from the engine bay. This already gets hot just from the engine operating. Now add this horrible heat and you get a LOT of heat-soak (if you haven't heard of the term, look it up).

What you are experiencing is a normal side-effect of short ram intakes (the Weapon R is NOT a CAI, even if you were able to fit that snorkel). Sitting at a stop, the heat in the bay has no where to go very fast. It just builds up. Your engine sucking up a lot of hot air isn't great for performance, hence your driving experience.

[brady_f]

Originally Posted by Bwill9886

Given that your in Houston, you have to be experiencing weather at least as hot as ours in St. Louis.

With your intake, you are now pulling a lot of air from the engine bay. This already gets hot just from the engine operating. Now add this horrible heat and you get a LOT of heat-soak (if you haven't heard of the term, look it up).

What you are experiencing is a normal side-effect of short ram intakes (the Weapon R is NOT a CAI, even if you were able to fit that snorkel). Sitting at a stop, the heat in the bay has no where to go very fast. It just builds up. Your engine sucking up a lot of hot air isn't great for performance, hence your driving experience.

I've owned 7 different mustangs in the past 3 years....5 of which were Forced Induction cars; so I am pretty familiar with what heat soak feels like on an engine in the Houston area....this car is not experiencing the same symptoms. I am about 90% sure it is tune or A/F ratio related.

[dyn085]

I doubt it is afr or tune related and agree with BWill, especially with your description of the cars symptoms. Many of the members are running CAI's (SRI's like yours but with a heat shield) and aren't experiencing those issues. Even the most highly modded member is still running within AFR parameters, albeit a bit closer to lean than most.

The two things that I would try is using 93 octane and disconnecting your battery to reset the LTFT'S. If neither of these help, try to find some members running the FSWerks or Steeda without the shield and send them a PM to see if they are experiencing the same issue.

[Bwill9886]

Originally Posted by brady_f

I've owned 7 different mustangs in the past 3 years....5 of which were Forced Induction cars; so I am pretty familiar with what heat soak feels like on an engine in the Houston area....this car is not experiencing the same symptoms. I am about 90% sure it is tune or A/F ratio related.

I experience the same symptoms as you and it is quite normal on a 4 cylinder car with an SRI. It sucks, but it is normal. Fortunately it's only when it's really hot out and I've been at a stop light for a bit.

You can try what dyn085 suggested and disconnect the negative terminal and what not but idk what that'll do for your bogging. I did it to try and alleviate some rough idling and it seems to have worked fairly well. I wouldn't do it unless you are experiencing other symptoms (resets everything obviously, which is kind of a pain).

[dyn085]

I don't have the issue because I am still running an enclosed box. The newmission mod is something similar to what Volant would produce if they were in the game...

[1turbofocus]

Go back to stock and see if the problem goes away , I also feel its tune related

Tom

[dyn085]

People who are currently stock and running 87 octane are all complaining about about the same thing, especially when running the ac.

[brady_f]

Put the stock CAI back on and the car drove better. Although the "bogging" is most prominent at low speeds and stop and go, it does experience negative symptoms everywhere with the Secret Weapon R intake; most likely due to tuning related issues. I'm most likely just going to put it back on and deal with it until SCT releases a handheld for these cars

[Focus12k]

When are you getting it tuned? My Mustang's aftermarket intake specifically indicated that a tune is required after installation, and they weren't lying. I drove it to dynojet and it basically had nothing until about 3500 RPM. Yah I know it's a Mustang and not a focus, but the idea is the same.