[skim3544]

I have been using K&N for number of cars and here is my take on it.

K&N will increase engine noise and you really don’t get much HP gain unless you go with Cold Air Intake. Usually comes with a down pipe to relocate your filter under the front bumper. The bad news is when you this, you increase chance of your car sucking up the water during heavy rain (which happened to one of my car). A bigger problem is that yearly, I have to lower the bumper clean the filter element. When you take out the bumper (something that is not designed to be taken out so often) you would end up with several broken bolts, clips, plastic parts. You would end up replacing those every 2 – 3 years (which can get expensive)

HP gain is minimal. The vendors claims that you would get 10 – 20 HP, but on my car, it was more like 5 HP (I guess depends on cars). For some cars (Volvo, Maxima, BMW,…) the air mass meter is right next to the air box. So no matter how well you oil the filter, you just cannot prevent the oil from destroying the sensor (and this is an expensive sensor to destroy) For some cars (specifically BMW) engine temperature is pretty high so normal CAI won’t work too well – it will just be sucking down hot air and hurts the performance. So you would have to build a heat shield around the filter (and after market heat shield is pretty expensive for these cars)

Then there is a quality issue. The mounting hardware isn’t as good as stock and they rattle over time (or makes whistling noise). Car car will also suck down more dirt and dust and it will shorten the life of the engine. So if you care about the engine, then keep the stock filter. Otherwise go with K&N.

[skim3544]

Did you loaded the weight on the car before torquing down the suspension parts? All cars are different so I am not sure what is the procedure for your car. For most Hondas, you jack up the control arm until the weight of the car can be lifted from the jacking point – then torque down the suspension bolts -The same procedure for the front and rear. For BMWs, you would have to put it on a ramp and load driver and passenger side of the car with 150 – 200LB of weight. I am sure that you would need to do something similar – either place the front end of the car on a ramp or left part of suspension with a jack.

[skim3544]

I have been using K&N for number of cars and here is my take on it.

K&N will increase engine noise and you really don’t get much HP gain unless you go with Cold Air Intake. Usually comes with a down pipe to relocate your filter under the front bumper. The bad news is when you this, you increase chance of your car sucking up the water during heavy rain (which happened to one of my car). A bigger problem is that yearly, I have to lower the bumper clean the filter element. When you take out the bumper (something that is not designed to be taken out so often) you would end up with several broken bolts, clips, plastic parts. You would end up replacing those every 2 – 3 years (which can get expensive)

HP gain is minimal. The vendors claims that you would get 10 – 20 HP, but on my car, it was more like 5 HP (I guess depends on cars). For some cars (Volvo, Maxima, BMW,…) the air mass meter is right next to the air box. So no matter how well you oil the filter, you just cannot prevent the oil from destroying the sensor (and this is an expensive sensor to destroy) For some cars (specifically BMW) engine temperature is pretty high so normal CAI won’t work too well – it will just be sucking down hot air and hurts the performance. So you would have to build a heat shield around the filter (and after market heat shield is pretty expensive for these cars)

Then there is a quality issue. The mounting hardware isn’t as good as stock and they rattle over time (or makes whistling noise). Car car will also suck down more dirt and dust and it will shorten the life of the engine. So if you care about the engine, then keep the stock filter. Otherwise go with K&N.

[skim3544]

Quoted From JohnS_Rosamond:
I have Redline 75W-90 synthetic trans fluid.

This could be your problem. Redline 75W-90 does not perform too well in cold temperature.

[skim3544]

Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:

I think that one might be old enough that it uses a ‘cold start injector’ meaning they have another fuel injector mounted in the intake to add more fuel during cold start up. This injector often runs on a separate circuit than the main injectors in that it has it’s own coolant temp switch and fuel supply. Sometimes the switch will fail and cause the injector to be on when it shouldn’t but I’ve also seen situations where the injector itself was leaking. Try looking at the intake plenum to see if you see anything that might resemble this part, it would have it’s own fuel line going to it.

It’s something to check for anyway.

I thought most of cars have this (or some form of it). That coolant temperature switch is called “thermo time switch” and is usually threaded into thermostat housing (and is also color coded as it often looks like the coolant temperature sensor)

[skim3544]

Quoted From Kieran_Mac:

Yestorday i gipped the fuel feed line with the vice grips and the car started perfect but then died down due to lack of fuel.

The preasure was really low. Then restarted it just letting more preasure go through and started fine again.

Is this eletrical or fuel preasure?

How sensisitive are injectors to fuel preasure?

.

I would say take a look at fuel pressure regulator first.

[skim3544]

I have good experience with Hyundai/Kia cars. They also publish the factory repair manuals online for free (all you would need to do is register to the web site) – cannot comment on their trucks. We don’t have them here in U.S (except mini-vans, they are under truck category, but not really a truck)

[skim3544]

I have been using
Autel MaxiScan MS300

Dirt cheap ~$20 and reads code from all my cars. The review said that it has some problem reading newer cars, but never had an issue.

[skim3544]

I have been using
Autel MaxiScan MS300

Dirt cheap ~$20 and reads code from all my cars. The review said that it has some problem reading newer cars, but never had an issue.

[skim3544]

You can go with multiple (small tool boxes) or a one big tool box. Going with multiple boxes are cheaper.

For the sockets, take a thin piece of wood and drive in long nails with a hammer, and file off the tip. You can also use plastic organizer.

[skim3544]

Sounds like this is problem with ECU, Coolant temperature, or fuel injection problem. I had similar problem with Nissan Maxima – I suspected coolant temperature sensor at first but couple of weeks later the car would not even crank with good battery. The problem turned out to be starter.

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