well, I got the AEM intake installed today at PAA and I must say, they are great to work with. I got a loaner for 2 hours and decided to just wait around for the car rather than drive all the way home. When I got in the car to drive away, i noticed that when I shifted into drive or reverse, the car vibrates enough to really notice. when in neutral or park, it just vibrates a little. At every light I was going crazy cus it's like japanese torture with the drop of water on the head every second. I showed the mechanic and he agreed with me but we said I should wait on it and see what happens since I was in a rush to get some work done.
did anybody have this problem or know how to stop the vibrating?

The CAI sounds awsome, but I really don't feel any power increase at all. It actually feels a little slower midrange.

 

Do you know if they reset your ECU?

 

I installed it myself and its working A-ok Maybe the dealer just installed it bad, but hey, who knows.

As for the power gain, you sure there wasn't any gain? air leaks? From picking up from a stop, I could feel the difference with the CAI and without. After having the CAI, pick up from a stop seemed slower than with a airbox, but I can feel the car go faster when its moving and i floor it or just gradually applying more gas. I think picking up is better with stock since there was that black box that and it sucks up the air from there. The CAI needs to ram in air from the front then suck it in.

And yes, it does sound great.

 

I noticed from a standing start, the car is a tiny bit more responsive but as the CAI starts to really howl, it kinda lets up then right before shifting, she jumps forward in the highest rpm . when its the loudest is when it feels slower. I am going to reset the ECU, is there a special way or a link to a thread that , ah I'll do a search. Once again, the value of this board is priceless.

 

Just disconnect the battery for 30 mins. You should be good to go.

Just make sure you have your radio code!

 

For resetting the ECU, something i didn't do and do plan too, to me it doens't really that much.

From what i remember you:
1. disconnect the battery for 10-30 mins (don't remember time)
2. reconnect and let it run for 10 mins
3. take it out for a drive so that the ECU gets use to the CAI

Something that I think you also need are some kind of codes since you dis your battery. Someone correct me if i am wrong.

 

Hey Rondog, remember me? I met up with you and Bigman at his house. I have that black 99 TL.

IMO, I think you have to reset the ECU. You took a ride in my car and you felt how it picked it crazy speed with the AEM CAI, even with 4 guys in my ride. As far as vibration, I don't have any.

 

Jens worked on my car, He said just drive it as I normally do and see what happens. He also said that the ECU is constantly monitering and adjusting the car's characteristics so reseting it isn't nessasary. I just want this vibrating to stop. I pulled the #13 fuse like a few threads mentioned and there was no improvement.

 

lucky bastard...

 

yo, do you have a Bypass?

Once I putthe bypass on my Injen it felt alot more powerful

Could be that maybe its just opening the bypass all the time and getting more air now

but in anycase... it feels more powerful.


i really need to stick a camera under the hood and watch whats going on with the bypass.

 

DUDE.........some people don't even feel the extra 32 hp from the headers

 

I noticed the exact same thing after I got my intake installed. But for me, pick-up off the line is substantially improved. High-end is louder, but I'd speculate not much performance gain there...

 

what are you talking about? The CAI is not a ram-air mechanism.. it inducts air.. hence the name and sucking sound it makes

 

all this talk is making me want to get the CAI, but i have no money.. grrrrrrrrr

 

I just came back from an hour long drive, I now noticed that the low end has almost no kick like it used to. I used to give my girlfriend neck aches, now its not pulling hard until redline, then it jerks me back before the shift. It sounds like its making a lot of fuss over nothing. The shaking is bothering me more now too. I'm really thinking of selling it, but its gonna cost me $90 to take it off. then I'll lose money. this sucks, the car was meant to be the way it was from the factory, engineered by the men who created it to perform. I'll sell it to anyone in NY or around here for $175 with the bypass already attatched. I just got it installed today and I would sell it today too.

 

first you are selling your springs and now your are selling your 1 day old intake?? what's next?? your car??

damn dude ..just relax+have fun and stop being so sensitive and picky....:shakehd:

 

Hey! Don't give up on it yet...have you talked to the company that makes the CAI about what you have described here? There could be a simple solution just around the corner...

"There are no problems...only solutions" - and I say this just having discovered that my 2002 CL-S has a transmission problem (see my post "2002 CL-S Transmission Failure Club")

 

Well AEM makes one of the best intake for our car and i dont think anybody had any major problems with it so far except ron+gold type s Plus his intake is installed by JENS ..so there shouldn't any problems...

JUST wait few more days and let the ecu learn the new air flow to the engine....

relax RON...just my 0.2

 

boo hoo well i am sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyy. I don't know how to explain it in english yo.... me english no good....

my2sense => <= 23wt

 

maybe they don't go over 5500 rpms !!

 

who are the dumbasses of which you speak? that's crazy talk man.




rondog, i just don't understand how you keep having all these problems. i installed my cai and was shocked by how much difference it made, especially in vtec. if you are experiencing a vibration, take it back to the dealer.

 

dude, why would you go so far as to have a dealer install a CAI for you??? its the simplest install in the world (its easier than putting in new spark plugs!!!!) you paid 90 bucks to have it installed and now you wanna spend another 90 to have it taken out?? holy shit...i dont know about anyone else but this is the first time ive ever heard of anyone paying to get a CAI installed. I dont have much mechanical knowledge but i installed mine in about 45 minutes...i do know what you are saying about the performance, i didnt notice much of a gain...loved the sound but was expecting more from the performance...in any event, take that shit out yourself dude!! dont waste money!

 

Rondog,
I'm sorry to hear you got problem from the mods again. It seems like you are having bad luck with that car. I think it's best to keep it as it is (stock) or sell it, get another then mod. If you still have problem with the next car, maybe you should mod your car in Photoshop only

 

yo, i had same problem with my Injen CAI... lost MAD power off the line...

didnt get it back till i put bypass on.


and yes i reset the ECU... and i think thats why i lost the power. I dunno tho.


either way, if you want... ill take your intake off for you for free when I install bigmans on saturday.

but i say just stick with it. either way ill figure out what the vibration is

 

I might sound like I'm bitching all the time, but Since I already bought the car in full, I want to make sure everything is up to snuff and covered under warranty. The reason I had the intake installed by the dealer is because if I slip just a litle and anything gets into the engine throught the intake, my car is fucked and so is the warranty. I am going to take out the intake tommorrow and reinstall the original box myself. AS for the springs, I found out that one of the springs was not sitting in the proper position so I had an annoying noise at every bump.
Today I just got dusted by an old ass 95' infiniti Q45 by 3 car lengths and I was flooring it! if that isn't enough of a reason to get rid of the CAI, then the vibrating sealed off the deal. Jens installed mine and he looked baffled when he noticed the car vibrating. I'm through with modding out my daily driver.

 

bro, Thanks for the support I'll see you sat. either way lunch is on me.

 

I'm sorry about your bad experiences with the CAI. Seems like everyone else has had good experiences with it. Or at least no one else has reported that the CL starts rockin' and rollin' after a CAI install...

I wonder if your intake was properly installed in the first place? I could imagine that if the intake wasn't properly installed, air could be leaking between the intake and the actual err... engine (whatever it's called). You know, where the two parts are joined. And if the engine is getting uneven airflow, that could might the same effect as misfiring cylinders.

I'm just theorizing...

 

rondog:
About the vibrating...pop your hood and find out where it's coming from. See if the CAI is touching anything at all. Best situation is that it's only touching the throttle body and the one mounting bolt it has. Otherwise there's your problem. I would definitely get adam or someone to remove it for you if you have to...$90 is half the cost of the intake...and it's a very simple 30 min job. You're the first I've heard who's felt a loss...maybe you should make sure they put the filter on right...didn't kink any of the hoses that come out of it, etc. Otherwise it makes no sense. If you have the money to burn on the install...go to a dyno shop instead and dyno it with stock and with the CAI...see what you get. Just an idea...

Austin519

 

the bypass valve won't open until there is so much water down at the end of the cone filter that the vacuum will suck up water into the manifold, which would b VERY bad...so the loss in pressure down low from the cone filter will automatically open the bypass valve...but under NORMAL conditions, the bypass valve and the cone filter down low cannot b open at the same time...i am aware of the issues on very old bypass designs where the mesh covering of the bypass has been sucked through the valve and into the manifold, so on those designs, perhaps there were also issues where both the valve and cone filter were utilized...remember the test with the NSX they did a while back when they totally submerged the cone filter into the container of water while the engine was running.

if for some reason both the valve and the cone are open at the same time, perhaps u're giving a little extra boost, altho it's hot air the bypass is sucking in, so it's a marginal boost.

 

geeze, one day and you are going to rip it out?? Reset the fawking battery and you will feel a difference. Jens is right. ECU does constantly monitor and adjust settings but its SLOW. I'm talking a good 2 weeks of driving.

 

i've learned that if u reset the ECU (disconnect the battery AND take out the fuse), AND when u drive hard continuously for approx 75-100 miles, the ECU learns the best with the intake since the intake supposedly yields the best gains higher up on the RPM band...but as Zapata pointed out, the ECU is constantly readjusting settings at a slow rate, so the harder u drive on a consistent basis, the more jumpy the car's gonna feel continuously

 

You sure your V-Tech thingy is working?

I mean that actuator thing that opens the intake. Maybe yours died, hence the performance loss.

 

actually scooterkin's... unless youve put a bypass valve on an Injen CAI and monitored it through the rev range...

you have no way of backing up your statement.


if for instance... your filter was clogged... your bypass valve would open.

if for instance... you have a sensitive bypass valve... its more then possible that the force being used to suck air through the filter is enough to cause the valve to open.


this is not a precision tuned devise. it is a couple of rubber flaps... you can not be sure that they are not opening... and letting more free flowing air in.

yea, its probably hot but its also a faster supply of air.


im not saying this is happening. but, it more then certainly could be.


point is. i got more power after putting a bypass on my CAI, explain that to me?


can you show me the figures that prove a bypass valve wont open unless there is a "a ton of water?"

on my Xephyr CAI, ive witnessed the foam element around the bypass become soaked just from driving through a car wash. nothing else in the engine compartment was wet but this piece. this would cause me to believe the bypass opened without the cone filter being "soaked"


you cant honestly tell me you believe this bypass performs the same way on every CAI, on every car, can you?

the forces in each CAI on every car vary greatly... how do you know what the breaking point on our car is?


im sure the bypass is made to be a lil hyper active. AEM wouldnt make it extremely resisitant to opening just to have people bitch/complain/sue them if it happened to let water by.


i mean, i could be totally wrong, but i have no more scientific data backing me up then you do.

point is.... dont believe everything you read.

 

im not sure, but i think the actuator has been dying in the closed position.

this shouldnt reduce low end performance, just high end.

 

btw, scooter.


until somebody sticks thermometers under their hood...

im not sure I can believe that the air next to the battery is extremely warmer then the air below it.

were talking a FOOT of space here...


our car has a decent underbody with aerodynamics that direct air into the engine compartment, the wind under our hood is probably great enough that the hot air is getting "all the way" down to your CAI filter as well.

the filter of your CAI is actually out of the way of where air is being FORCED into... so I doubt the ram air effect is even a factor. the shit sits inside the bumper cover for godsakes.


based on your comments here & in austin's thread it seems your making alot of assumptions based off marketing material.

just my 2 cents.

 

heh, and here you go....

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...&postid=795022

read BNuts comments....

 

ok, i'll address each point...

1. if the filter was clogged, and the bypass valve opened, where's the advantage??? bypass valve accepts LESS air than the filter, no??

2. there's only SO MUCH air that can b in the manifold...having warmer air means even LESS air allowed in the manifold...y?? physics, man...hot air is more expansive than cold, dense air...hot air molecules bounce around much more than cold air molecules...marketing assumptions??? nah

3. see point #2

4. seeing as tho u can't even install a CAI, i'm not surprised...u could've used the turny clicky thing and get more power nah seriously, it could b fuel mappings or a cooler day with less humidity or placebo...fact is there could b many reasons y the car's jumpy after the fact, so u can't say the bypass valve did anything at all

5. i don't have numbers...i have the AEM video of the NSX demonstrating it

6. my bypass valve mesh gets wet all the time when i wash my car, and nothing else gets wet either, so i dunno what to tell u

7. uhhh yeah i can...it's almost like saying u can't honestly tell me all cold air intakes don't do the same thing on every car...maybe i'm not understanding where u're coming from here

in summary, a CAI is called a CAI b/c it sucks in cool/cold air...that foot of difference from the battery is major when u consider how the car is designed there...there is virtually no heat down where the cone filter is...plus hot air rises...the S-R setup gives no gain cept for sound since it's in an area where hot air has virtually no place to go, blocked/insulated by the hood...throughout most of my points, physics was used...physics of the density of air and physics of hot air rising, and the physics of the structure of the car keeping hot air away from the cone filter...add the video demonstration to that, and there's your proof, not assumption...the other couple points are shady since any number of factors could have contributed to your case

 

soopa:
I think you successfully posed more questions in your post a few posts up adam than I have all in total on this forum !

Austin519

 

Scooter:
The only thing I disagree with is your saying the SR gives no gains. Assuming it allows for a less restrictive airflow than stock...it will provide higher gains because you won't have the effect of less denser air arising from the small vacuum effect created by the stock lower flow filter/intake and the throttle body. That's all.

Austin519

 

fair enough...we should get a dyno to see what the gains actually r

and when i say "no gains" in the S-R, i'm wrong...i consider 1 or 2 HP gains as being no gains compared to the 8 - 10HP from the regular CAI