400amonth

Wow since winter has hit and the temp outside is 20 degrees my MPG has went from 28 mpg to like 22. Its the K&N. I am guessing the car is dumping much more fuel due to the temp intake charge. Anyone else??
Also the car wanted to stall out twice at lights the past few days like maybe too much fuel for steady idle. Anyone else?

Thanks
Scott

pureXtC

cold air is good that seems odd...

zer0

Buy Injen...

killerxromances

your cai shouldn't have anything to do with how much fuel is going in and out. it also isn't to blame for your 22mpg.

the only draw back with a cai in winter is the fact it takes much longer to warm up vs. any other time of the month. Which is normal anyway for any car. The best thing to do is wait till the motor is fully warmed up before you start driving it around. I know, the manual says . However, i've done this with any car i drive no matter what season it is.

Cya

pdrizzle

The brand of you intake makes no difference in this case; cold outside air should be better for efficiency, not worse. I suggest resetting your ECU.

killerxromances

Brand, or anything with intake makes no difference as far as fuel goes. He could very well just be driving a little harder than usual during the winter season since the car feels a little faster. Also, unless he threw a cel i don't see what the reset will do. I've never heard/had any issues in winter months regarding something as little as a intake. I guess he could try the reset, but i don't see it making that much of a difference.

Cya

emiller

Ive got a K&N with no change in mileage. I think its something else. Cold and short drives are bad for mileage though. Cold engines are the most effient.

TheScionicMan

Does your area use a Winter Blend of gasoline? Many places add oxygenating agents to their gas during the winter to lower emissions and these seem to have a bad effect on MPG. i know we use it here in CA and it can cost a couple of MPGs.

Also consider other weather related issues. wet or snowy roads cause more drag, wind, etc.

From a troubleshooting standpoint, if the colder ambient air is the cause of the problem, wouldn't this same thing happen to the OEM airbox? I mean, would your subject line still hold true if you removed the "with CAI"?

killerxromances

Yes, because it doesn't matter where the air is drawn from when its cold out. Winter effects all cars the same. They run cooler, they take a little longer to warm up and they cool down much faster than they do in say summer months. Which is why the cai shouldn't be the problem at all.

I never thought about the gas though. We don't get the winter blend of gas in the south so thats new information for me.

Cya

Totemobakadesu

I think someone is blaming th eweather instead of his heavy foot...hehehehe

killerxromances

I beat you to that comment, common pay attention!



Cya

B1uEsC1uEs

I got the injen CAI and it seems like i am starting to save gas ever since it got a lil bit colder down here in cali. i used to have to fill up every week but now i fill up every week and 2 days. i dont drive as much anyways. but like what everyone is saying, try resetting your ecu. it prolly thinks your CAI is still the stock airbox.

killerxromances

^ ^
If the ecu did think that, there would be a strong chance of a cel thrown. It would have been thrown a long time before now. A day or so after install. Rarely do just intakes have that effect on the ecu. I suppose what you are saying is possible, just very doubtful. Good suggestion though.

As for your mpg bump up. Thats unlikely. Yeah, CAI/SRI do give a few more whp but it doesn't really effect mpg much at all if any. You might see five more miles per tank than regularly. But, i dont know. People swear they get better gas milage with intakes but out of everyone i know, including myself, no one has ever experienced it. *shrug*

Cya

Krayzie_Los

damn, i wish i was getting 22mpg, but with my lead foot, reving on people, and cruzin, i get as low as 14mpg...heh

killerxromances

Revving at people? What are your mods? Stock 2az? Thats a rice attitude right there. Sorry but it is. Doesn't prove that you are faster than anyone.

Cya

400amonth

No heavy foot...I am driving 20 minute runs at 65 mph to and from work as usual. I will say that my months of great mpg was when gas was $2.90 per gallon...maybe with the price hike they gave us better quality of gas? Long shot theory.This is a drastic MPG difference and I'm not even using the air-conditoner like during summer. As far as my theory in the first paragraph..its all I have to go on as its the only change (the outside temp). Cooler and more dense air would imo make the MAF see a need to dump more fuel. I did pull the main 40 amp fuse so I hope that re-sets the CPU.

Scott

unlimited77

Maybe your stepping on the gas like crazy and your wheels are spinning due to your MAD tq tc and you dont notice cause you just sliding on snow....and your actually using gas, but you dont realize it...

400amonth

No snow on the ground...dry and cold. Not heavy on the gas. I;m the guy who tries to squeeze mpg. on a tank. Best gotten 387. I would say I'm getting 35 less miles to a tank at the minimum.

killerxromances

If everything you are saying is true, then something else is wrong. Trust me when i say, cai does not give you a loss of 8mpg no matter what the weather is doing. It makes virtually no sense that it would regardless of your ecu theory. If it was misreading, the chances would great of a cel thrown. If a cel wasn't thrown, the ecu would have corrected itself. A CAI doesn't draw that much of a difference in air temp. for it to cause a ecu misread error, which is why you rarely hear just a intake throwning a cell or anything along the lines of that. If your pulled fuse solves it, then thats a new one on me.
Obviously colder air is more dense, but as i said, its not that much colder than a SRI which isn't colder than stock. It just draws more air flow in vs. stock.

Cya

PolyFM_TC

Trust me, as a mechanical engineer with a real good feel for fluid mechanics, the winter months are not going to amount to much of a change in the density of the air (especially here in california!). You are probably feeling the effects of the different winter chemical composition of gas or you really like to show off your tC, aka you rev the hell out of your car from stoplight to stoplight. It's ok, I do it too on occasion, its fun! just relax and try to keep your foot out of it, huh. You would be surprised on how much an occasional lead foot decreases your milage.

Just to clarify some points already brought up. No, your computer doesn't think that you still have the stock airbox installed...the ecu doesn't know the difference between a FI and a stock airbox, it just measures air flow and calculates the appropriate fuel ratio to deliver to the injectors based off of these readings. Don't worry about it. Just take it easy and I guarantee you your MPG will increase!

-Jason