Cold air Intake running lean?

[GLINick]

I have installed cold air intakes on several of my vehicles in the past. My last vehicle was an F-150 and it was well known on the F-150 forums that any CAI would cause the engine to run too lean as they stock program was programmed to run on the lean side. The only fix for this was to have a custom tune for a CAI to prevent long term damage to the motor.

Is there any risk of this with the VW 2.0 T, or is it a safe install with no or little risk of long term damage?

[pattrick02]

I have installed cold air intakes on several of my vehicles in the past. My last vehicle was an F-150 and it was well known on the F-150 forums that any CAI would cause the engine to run too lean as they stock program was programmed to run on the lean side. The only fix for this was to have a custom tune for a CAI to prevent long term damage to the motor.

Is there any risk of this with the VW 2.0 T, or is it a safe install with no or little risk of long term damage?

There's pretty much now worries at all if you're installing just a CAI. You'll be fine.

[GLINick]

Sweet!!!!

[pattrick02]

Sweet!!!!

[GLINick]

Ok New questions here...... I am new to a turbo motor. If I install any kind of intake say like Carbonio or VWR or BSH race intake, is there any risk of causing other parts to fail? I think I read about needing to upgrade a diverter? or is that mainly when you flash a tune that really increases the amount of boost.?

TIA

[GoFaster]

"Cold air intakes" generally accomplish nothing in terms of performance on late model VW engines (which are factory-equipped with cold-air intakes ... take a look at where the air is coming in from).

Main problems have been related to inadequate air filtration causing occasional issues with MAF sensors and possibly turbo compressor damage in the very long term (small particles make a big impact on a turbo compressor spinning at 150,000 rpm), and hydro-locking due to inadequate separation of water that might be drawn into the intake system if the actual air intake location is poorly chosen. If you live in an area that has a periodic emissions inspection program, some of those don't look kindly on this sort of thing, either. (Take note of where the crankcase vent goes, for one thing.)

Not a fan of cold-air intakes "unless necessary", i.e. you have installed a turbo that simply will not work with the stock air intake routing ...

[pinkertonfloyd]

"Cold air intakes" generally accomplish nothing in terms of performance on late model VW engines (which are factory-equipped with cold-air intakes ... take a look at where the air is coming in from).

Main problems have been related to inadequate air filtration causing occasional issues with MAF sensors and possibly turbo compressor damage in the very long term (small particles make a big impact on a turbo compressor spinning at 150,000 rpm), and hydro-locking due to inadequate separation of water that might be drawn into the intake system if the actual air intake location is poorly chosen. If you live in an area that has a periodic emissions inspection program, some of those don't look kindly on this sort of thing, either. (Take note of where the crankcase vent goes, for one thing.)

Not a fan of cold-air intakes "unless necessary", i.e. you have installed a turbo that simply will not work with the stock air intake routing ...

Also, I'd add that CAI's (which usually are "WARM" AIR Intakes, the factory ones 9 times out of 10 bring in real cold air from the front) do NOTHING on a turbocharged car.

Reason is the Turbos are plenty big and can pull all of the air that the program (including the tuners) can take. So the question is, do you want to pull clean air through a paper filter, or "dirty" air through a foam or gauze type filter. The restriction is moot in the fact the engine and turbo will pull plenty of air through either one of them.

I'd rather have the clean air through a paper filter... and if the paper filter gets clogged, it's a few bucks to replace, the CAI ones cost almost as much to clean/reoil and sit a day to dry out.