Legend2TL

Interesting Honda TSB on the aftermarket CAI and low-restriction filters. I have the same opinion of the aftermarket CAI systems and K&N filters in that the CAI gains are probably zero or extremely small for a 3G TL which has a good factory intake system. If there was something that cheap and easy to do, then the OEM would be doing it. The Honda/Acura's are getting better intake plumbing with the 2009 Pilot take a look at this picture.

http://www.hondanews.com/categories/889/photos/17073

There is a further description on the operation in the technical description.

"High-Mounted Fresh Air Intake

The Pilot has a high-mounted fresh air intake system that reduces air intake temperatures to help improve low-end torque while protecting against water intrusion into the engine. To supplement good off-road and towing capabilities, the fresh air intake is mounted just above the front bulkhead (underneath the front edge of the hood.)"


So the aftermarket CAI and low restriction may look cute, any added results probably do not match the looks however.

BEAR-AvHistory

Two of my daughters have Pilots & the BMW system is similar. The intakes sit just inside the very top part of each of the grill openings.

This seems to be getting more common in factory systems.

01tl4tl

The car makers are required to meet CAFE fuel standards- the ultimate scam on the public- It keeps slooooowly rising and `geedub` just set the 2011 standards at 31.5 mpg
Now what CAFE means is Coporate Average Fuel Economy. google it
You add all the models from acura together and find the average fuel number and make that ~make believe number~ come true.
How do you balance the 14/24 mpg gas guzzlers MDX of the line, with the econoboxes?- make the econobox get 45mpg, and that brings the CAFE average right up!

Why would they want to improve the mileage on the guzzlers? they dont have to!!
Car makers have had engines on the shelf for years, and decades, that blow away anything they sell now, but being so connected to big oil and the master plan of ~war on the middle class~ (when will those people give up and just leave the country and go home! oh wait- thats 3/4 of legal americans are middle class incomes)

There is no benefit to the makers to do more than the absolute minimum- to make the most profit---its called business

Oh- the biggest CAFE scam- the switch from 5-30 oil to 5w20 on gen 3 TL
the lower drag of w20 on the warm engine test made an ~ .5 mpg increase in mileage for the CAFE testing. Do that to a line of cars and it adds up.
Why 5w20? they found 20 was the `minimum` you can run, and not cause the engine to self destruct real soon-- as it pummells metal parts together at 7000 rpm
Oil -- the `LifeBlood of the engine`- not only cools and transfers combustion byproduct crud to the filter, its a cushion as parts contact over and over.
I have a gen2 and stick with 5w30 full synthetic.

My opinion on why cars dont have CAI and most other mods we do?- they dont have to! and they probably have stock in the companies making the mod parts- give them tech help etc....
One users opinion

geekybiker

I don't have a CAI on my TL, but on previous cars I did notice a small increase in MPG when installing a CAI. Oddly enough the biggest increase I saw was a rally skipplate I put on the bottom of my subaru impreza. Got 2mpg out of it. I guess it smoothed the airflow under the car alot.

Legend2TL

Your opinion but if one looks at all the technology that is put into modern internal combustion engines this viewpoint is just a conspiracy theory.

If you consider all the electronics, mechanical engine components (two-stage intake manifold, VTEC, ...) and wonderful S/W that make modern cars not only efficient but lower the emissions to only a few percent of cars of 3 decades ago. Those last two factors emissions and fuel economy often are a extremely delicate compromise.

In terms of CAI, almost every modern cars already has a CAI system built in from the factory wheither it be Toyota, Ford, Honda, BMW, or Chevy. The last time I looked at any induction system that was a compromise was a car from the 70's (with the old classic round barrow air filter). My 1986 Prelude and my wife's 1986 Integra both utlitized cold air intakes.

FWIW, many car manufacturers use to use the Michelin MXV4 Energy tires as OEM equipment to improve the fuel economy of some of their cars despite the tires being not very good in the dry, snow or rain (alot of Accord EX owners used to complain about them).

A friend's neighbor was a high level manager at GM and he used to tell us some of the efforts to improve the efficieny of the motors (he worked his way up from being a mechnaical engineer in one of the many GM engine design and development departments). He didn't tell us any propiertary secrets but the one thing I always took away from those talks was the incredible amount of effort GM put into improving fuel economy and increasing power. Those two factors were often extremely important selling factors for personal or commercial ownership of a vehicle, and that translated into increased sales.

An example of this is the 5.7L V8 put into the camaro and Corvette in the mid-80's. Not only was that engine more powerful than the Mustang 5L V8, it also got better fuel economy in the Camaro which tranlated into better sales.