Multiple issues after installing Injen Intake

ASSISTANCE Hybrids & Advanced Aftermarket Engine Performance
1

Hey all, just wanted to bounce some stuff of you guys as I’ve been having a lot of issues.

A week or so ago I installed an Injen RD1400 Cold Air Intake. I removed the stock intake system and installed everything to the t according to the manual and everything seemed to sync up. After going for a test drive, I noticed I would bog down when trying to accelerate, I.E. it was underpowered. I think after a while it went away, and I drove it pretty hard as I enjoyed he sound and it seemed like things evened out.

However, I noticed there was a slight “whistle” whenever I would accelerate. At first I thought it was downshifting, but then came to realize it really whined whenever I accelerated. Studying further, it would stop whistling or whining after I would get enough revs.

Recently, I’ve been dealing with major suspension issues so I focused on that and let it go a bit. Then, it seemed to get worse; to the point where it was difficult to drive in elevated areas, and then after replacing some UCA’s, it even Idled rough and a little sporadic.

The next day, today, I started her for a little and drove to a spot to check the tightness of all the fittings and go through the vaccum lines (guessing and going by the hood diagram). I found the rubber coupling from the cone filter onto the CAI pipe had a loose band, so I tightened it.
I also noticed that the fine edge of the hole (where the CAI goes down into and where the old box use to drop through), had eaten a little into the pipe. I could feel the cut, but I don’t think it broke through, and I put some material between it and the pipe until I can find a 100% solution. I didn’t look exactly at it, but It might be the air leaking through a possible hole where I’m getting my “whistle” sound.

It’s hard to hear, but you can tell if you listen closely when I accelerate the “whine/ whistle”. Sort of a “heee(warble)”

As I was looking for vacuum leaks, I listened to everything for hisses and what not. After the engine ran for awhile I heard a pretty abysmal sound that I thought was coming from the intake manifold, but I’m not sure. It definitely was internal to the engine or IM.

Here is a video of it:

I’m not sure if it’s associated with, or a completely different beast, but I was an idiot a little back and topped off the oil too much. Not sure if it can be associated with that, but the bogging down started immediately after CAI installation.

(the pic is after a clean wipe after the engine warmed up)

I did a bunch of research and ( as it’s usually hard to find Gen 2 articles) I came across a couple general postings about how B18’s will not like you throwing an aftermarket intake on, and the MAP sensor can go bad.

I’m really just wondering, mainly from the video, how bad it is for me to be driving around. my gut says don’t even drive it to a shop, yet it’s my DD and I really can’t just stop driving it. Hoping maybe I did something stupid and forgot to hook something up properly.

Appreciate any help!

Ian

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2

Couple of quick comments…

  • In general every aftermarket intake I’ve seen has sucked in terms of fitment. There’s always some rubbing or some other fitment issue that is less than ideal.
  • Did you reset your ecu after installing the intake? The bogging could be a symptom of not resetting the issue, although this is definitely not typical.
  • I had an intake that whistled once, it was just a harmonics thing. A bit annoying but nothing harmful. I couldn’t hear the whistle in your video so I can’t say if what you’re experiencing is the same as mine.
  • I’ve never heard of a MAP sensor going bad because of an intake.
  • It’s really hard to tell what the noise in the second video is, but it doesn’t sound good. My initial thought is that it’s completely unrelated to the installation of the intake. I can’t think of a logical reason why an intake would cause any sort of engine damage so I wouldn’t be looking at the intake as the culprit and would assume the issue is simply coincidental and caused by something else.
3

Thanks Colin,

Yeah I have heard from others that aftermarket intakes will have that whistle thing, I just wasn’t sure if maybe it was a common happening or an obvious sign of a leak somewhere.

I’m not sure why the installation of the intake would warrant bogging down. I assumed that since my old stock intake was full of missing piping, broken clamps, and overall a poor looking exuse for holding a vaccum, that the tightness of the aftermarket intake might annoy the ECU.

I did reset the ECU twice. Once, during the install, then again when I went to check it. Each time for well over 5 minutes.

The noise in the video was something that I believe as well was just a random occurence that seemed to work it’s way into my original problem. Would you think overfilling oil would cause this? I get no white/blue smoke or CEL… I do believe they are seperate issues, however I feel they enable each other or make one or the other worse.

I went through the vaccum diagram and it is just beyond me. I did notice that the tops of the “EVAP purge control Solenoid valve” and “Fuel pressure regulator control solenoid valve” looked deformed, especially at the top. In the illustration there are blocked caps, yet on mine the tops seem to be open and one looks broken.

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I would not expect over-filling the oil to cause a noise like that. Is the car still bogging? Have you checked your mechanical timing? It’s possible that if the timing belt skipped a tooth it could cause bogging under acceleration and some strange engine noises. Although the noises you’re hearing don’t immediately sound like that of a skipped tooth. Always hard to tell from videos though.

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I wouldn’t think it would either, but that’s really the only thing I can think of (that I’ve messed with, unless something is failing). As for the bogging down, Using cause and effect I know it has to be the installation of the intake ( or something I did during the install/ something that was affected by the intake) that started the sluggishness.

Do you think the ECU is still trying to relearn everything? Or does that sound stupid. I remember (a usdm 2001 car I had) I had another issue like this where it took a lot of varied driving [different shifts, RPM ranges, WOT runs] before it worked things out, although that was an auto.

I’m gonna have a shop change the oil and run it for a couple of days. If it’s still bogging I’ll probably take it to a proper shop to get looked at.

Pretty sure this is completely unrelated, but my turn signal 10amp fuse keeps shorting out. It happened after the install as well, but I didn’t think much of it as the ebay clear markers I bought fell out, and those marker holes are open to environment (plugs included).

Is it stupid to think that maybe the system is getting too much air from a more efficient system and can’t keep up with the stock A/F ratio? I can hear the whir-whine of the fuel pump when I turn to ACC so I don’t think it’s a fuel delivery/ pump issue. I’m wondering If I can somehow increase the amount of fuel sent through the injectors?

6

Car re-learned itself I guess. I left my lights on and had drained my Optima battery for the 6th time (amazingly still runs no issue).

So I had started back at square one with poor acceleration and idle, but now it seems to be a thing of the past. I’m assuming the ECU re-taught itself but I don’t know enough about that.

Thanks!

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these ecus arent “smart” enough for a relearn from an intake. if the issue resolved itself, i would suspect bad gas and a coincidence.

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That’s what I thought. I don’t think it was bad gas, it happened right after install. I guess it was just a short term fluke as my stock system was held together with ferengi ductape.

Seems good so far though!

Other thoughts on the Injen intake are that it’s easy and nice to maintain, but the vacuum of the intake produces a high-pitch whistle that’s a little annoying. I’m thinking maybe switching from a cone style filter to a mushroom type, but I doubt it will change the dynamics.

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nope, every intake i have ever had, every filter brand and type, all make noise. some more than others, but they all do.

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Sad face :tsk:

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Our ecus may not be smart enough to learn an intake and tune for a/f ratio, however they do need to relearn a new intake regarding smooth idle. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve switched intakes and when starting it up and driving the idle pulses about 600-700 rpm’s until it was up to operating temp then idles like normal.

When this occurs I recommend to let the car sit overnight to cool off completely. The next day pull off the battery terminals for 20 minutes or so to reset ecu and reconnect. Start the car and let it sit. DO NOT touch the gas pedal after starting until the car has warmed up completely. This will allow the car to relearn proper and smooth idle. This has always worked for me and has helped many people out. This is assuming you don’t have any other major issues with you sensors or vacuum system.