I know there are many topics sounding the CAI topic...But I was just wondering what everyone has and what they recommend as I convinced myself that this is my next investment...Please let me know what you guys have and if you like it or not. THanks!

Brandon

 

Like you, I am also looking for a CAI, but confused. My friend say they do not work until a cetain rpm/speed is reached, usually at mid throttle. He says the MAF (Mass Air Flowl) sensor will not take advantage of the colder, denser air until those readings had been met. Therefore, driving at 30 mpn & 2500 rpm maynot effect the advantages gained by the colder air.
I don't know if this is totally true, I thought the MAF is used as a sensor to calculate the the amount of fuel to inject into the combustion chambers given the amount of air following into the intake ducts. Therefore, all CAI's should come w/MAF adapter to offset the factory settings. I saw some cheaper ones on Ebay for $40 missing this little piece of hardware.
So you may want to further research this. Let me know what you find, cuz some vendors skirt this question and others feed me lines but they can't explain why. Thanks []

 

it's a bit of a different story depending on if you have the V6 or the 4banger. none of the intake come with any MAF adapters really, though the CP-E intake does come with a box that helps the ecu not notice the new intake, but take advantage of the new air. on my 4banger i've had, for at least 2 weeks of driving, both AEM srs and cai, Injen cai (also ran as a short ram for a while), CPE and of course the "airbox mod" for a few months before anything else was available. my fav was the AEM srs, as i do mostly hwy driving and heat soak didn't effect me much, but it's not for everyone. i ran the Injen for a good 5-6 months without a CEL, AEM CAI was pretty steady with the CEL. i didn't like the CPE at all for what it cost.

V6 (especially 03/04) seem to be hands down lovers of the CPE intake. as the models progressed in years, thier stock maps weren't as bad, so the intake made less improvements it seemed. but again, if it's not CPE you shouldn't be suprised to get an CEL, might not happen, so don't espect it, but if you are pissed about it, then you didn't look around before buying.

 

hey mr tea. do you know why you had the cel with the aem cai?

 

all the intakes throw a lean code (except K&N i believe) as the stock ecu is so sensitive. no damage, just not what the ecu likes. cp-e sends a signal to the ecu saying it's all good which keeps the code off.

 

i've gone almost 10k miles with my injen CAI and only had one CEL when it was first installed, then afterwards... i have yet to see another CEL... i probably just jynxed myself damnit! [:@][sm=smiley36.gif]

 

Allthough tend to disagree about the no damge aspect i do have a 3 so it might react a little diff, in my case when my AEM CAI was installed it threw the cel code for a while like i expected but what my car was doing was very unexpected, while it was thrown the cel my mpg took a noticeable heavy blow, and when i got into the 4000&5500rpm range my car severly studdered and while ideling at a red light it got dangerously close to shutting off, so yeah, K&N might throw a code but will probable last no more then a few minutes.

 

ive had the aem cai for almost two years now and the only cel i managed to throw from it was the maf getting messed up from oil. since then, ive switched to the oiless aem filter and have had no other problems.

 

the 3's react very differently to intakes, as mazda used some different tuning...which is why cp-e can't help out at all. as far as harm, if you look at any of the dyno with A/F on them (should still be plenty on 6tech) there is no way anything the intakes do cause harm. the oiling thing with any intake can be a problem if you aren't familiar with the reoiling process, but as you said, once you know it's pretty basic. the CEL that you get from our intakes is lean at idle or low load, it doesn't show up while on the throttle at all.

all the intakes on the 4banger were on par with each other that i had on my car, i did the prototyping for both AEM and Injen, and bought the cp-e to see how i liked it. some a bit more top end, some a bit more down low, some a weird hesitation off the line i hated....most of the differences were sound for me. i wouldn't put the performance of any one i tried over the other. if i had to buy one, i'd get the Injen as you can run it CAI as much as you want, and if you fear the rain & water, change it to short ram for the winter or each storm...it's that easy.

 

Maybe someone can help me out regarding my CAI..... How often are you supposed to change your filter? I'm had my CAI for about 2 1/2 months now and i noticed that it's not picking up the way it used to lately. Anybody have ideas on what else it might be?