[Mighty Mitch]

purchased a cold air intake from Pep Boys, installed many times and done everything to get it to work but just doesnt seem to work. Everything was hooked up correctly, reset the ECU and everything. Do i need a proper tune for my focus (2000 ZX3) or what? The problems i have are the car struggling to breathe and eventually the engine dies... PLEASE HELP PM me or anything. thank you

 

[toeycrack]

do you have your mas air flow sensor hooked up too?

 

[Mighty Mitch]

yes. my friend who is good with cars that drives a impreza WRX all modded out couldnt figure out the problem. hes conclusion was i dont have my car "tuned" the right way...idk...dont understand why im having such a problem when its like the simplest thing to install etc for a car.

 

[toeycrack]

even if ur car isn't tuned it would still run.

can you drive the car without any problems?

is it just when ur idle-ing?

 

[Wagamos]

Are you sure that you reset the ecu? Maybe you didnt unhook it for long enough.

And no you shouldnt need a tune just for a cai.

 

[Mighty Mitch]

like the whole time, it would sound like something kept stepping on the gas and letting go, like reving the engine continuously. The whole car would rock with it too and act like it couldnt get enough air. When driven, you had to press the gas down really far until you were pretty much flooring it and it would finally start to accelerate. If left idling it would eventually die. I reset the ECU many times. When turned on after all the gauges went all the way up and mileage was reset so... im new too this and have done everything

 

[Mighty Mitch]

here is the setup.

 

[Wagamos]

Maybe its b/c you still have the airbox there... Maybe it isnt getting enough air with that there.

 

[Mighty Mitch]

you think? we took off that tube leading from the engine to the airbox and custom made it into the intake, still no luck.

 

[badass3]

check your connection from the the wires to the sensor that was the prob on a buddy's car and ya get rid of that airbox and about a foot of the weather stripping and get hood washers to help with heat soak btw you have a SRI the CAI puts the filter outside the engine bay. aRE YOU SHOWING ANY CODES by way of check engine light if so tale it to autozone and get them to run an OBD2 scan on it and that will tell you the problem.

 

[Wagamos]

Im pretty sure that most ppl with Short Ram Intake (what you have) remove the airbox completely. You could quick check if its the intake or if its maf by reinstalling the stock setup and if it works then you know its something that is wrong with the intake.

 

[Mighty Mitch]

ok so remove airbox and what do i do with the tube running from the engine to the airbox? is that a sensor or what? and what is weather stripping?

 

[Wagamos]

ok all you need is the piping from the throttle body to the filter. Dont worry about the other stuff he mentioned till you get this running right. He was just talking about removing it to help keep engine temps down to prevent heat soak.

 

[Mighty Mitch]

i know but there is a tube running from the engine to my airbox. if i remove the airbox what do i do with that tube?

 

[BOOSTA]

your MAF sensor isnt upside down is it? I had the same problem, i accidently put my MAF sensor upside down.

 

[Mighty Mitch]

nah the MAF is in fine. i promise.

 

[Wagamos]

OOOhh i think i know what hose you are talking about now. It goes from your valve cover to your airbox? If that is the one then you need to hook it into your piping. At least that is how my cai works.

 

[dezerteagle323]

^^^ ur talking about the pcv or pvc valve that hooks up from engine to the airbox or piping on an intake, and yea the valve is important but not to the point where the car just would just turn off during idle, i was using a temporary homebuilt short ram myself without that valve and the car would run fine,

theres a real good chance that it could be your Idle Air Control (IAC) valve (which can be found under the car) that needs to be checked ... alot of ppl in the past with engine idle problems found it to be that ... not sayin im right but just sometin to think about ... but then again it'd be a strance coincidence that your iac valve would go bad right when you get an intake


ohh and yea u dont need that airbox or whatever it is sitting in front and underneath your filter i would take both off asap

 

[BradWhite]

nah the MAF is in fine. i promise.

I'd still be willing to put my money on the Mass Air Flow Sensor! It's either facing the wrong direction, dirty or not connected properly. Every time I've seen a thread like this "Help, I Just Installed a CAI and....", it has been the MAF 99.9% of the time. I forgot to connect mine once after doing some work and, though I knew what I did as soon as I stepped on the gas, the symptoms sound identical to yours.

But if you are positive the MAF is facing the incoming air exactly the same way it was in the stock setup, I'd double check the connection (any pins get bent or broken, any wires get pulled loose) and make sure the MAF didn't get dirty or wet during the install. Pep Boys should sell a MAF cleaner you just spray on.

Just my two cents worth - what ever it is, I hope you find it soon.

 

[knoxrocks222]

id put the stock airbox back on and put a k&n drop in filter it outfows and gives better gains that any other except the svt setup, but id check that mass airflow and makesure its facein the right direction it will have an arrow on the top, also check your connections with it, what i did with my pcv line was just get one of those little tiny cone filters from autozone and stick it on the valve cover where that line runs in