intake help, my CEL came on | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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intake help, my CEL came on

rileyrs

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Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 ranger
i just installed a cone filter on the X, mine is similar to the kkm. anyway, while i installed it i had the neg battery cable off to reset the computer. i plugged the vacuum line and heat riser, so there are no leaks anywhere.

when i took it for a test drive anytime i stepped on the gas it just bogged down. is this normal?
when i try to pull of a light after being stopped, the car barely moves for a few seconds, even if im very light on the throttle.

i expected something like this since i figured the comp would have to learn the new settings, but this seems really bad.
then while cruising down the street today the CEL came on, and then it went off ten mins later.

did removing the neg cable for probly twenty mins not reset enough?
is there anything i can do to speed up the computers learning process?
or should the vacuum line not be plugged?

any help would be great, thanks
 



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Clean the MAF with MAF cleaner. Clean the interior of the housing. Can you get me a pic of your setup? I had something not unlike this problem when I installed mine.
 






Clean the MAF with MAF cleaner. Clean the interior of the housing. Can you get me a pic of your setup? I had something not unlike this problem when I installed mine.

Dan,

Are you saying you had a similar problem with your truck when you installed one? What was the problem and how did you fix it?

Joe C.
 






cleaned the maf when it was all out, i bought a new straight through maf pipe from spectre, that the actual sensor mounts onto, i figured this way i would get most airflow, and then a TB is the only i would need down the road.

i will go take pics now
 






To be honest it was a series of troubleshooting checks and a little dumb luck. On my setup I installed an aftermarket MAF housing (if I did it again I would use the original and get an adapter) and I believe this was the weakest link in the system. I had a rough idle and a few times it almost died. So I checked the housing and looked for leaks. No joy.

I accidentally fixed it when I loosened the restriction band around the cone filter to check something else. Somehow, it reduced the rough idle tremendously. I believe more air was needed in the system for it to function properly since it was possible the cone filter was a little too restrictive.
 






cleaned the maf when it was all out, i bought a new straight through maf pipe from spectre, that the actual sensor mounts onto, i figured this way i would get most airflow, and then a TB is the only i would need down the road.

i will go take pics now

haha now that i look at your pics MrQ it looks like you have the exact same setup as i do, not 100% sure tho.

here is my setup, new maf goes into intake tube, and then cone filter goes over maf.
clamp all down and its done!

i also plugged the vac line and heat riser line with a bolt so there would be no leaks.
i assume the heat riser is ok to plug, but is it ok the plug the vac like, or should it be put on a vac source?

pics:
intake2.jpg


intake3.jpg


size difference is significant, and as you can see, i have the sensor installed in the new tube, and it seems to come down into the airflow path plenty:
intake1.jpg


any help with my bogging problems would be great.
thanks
riley
 






It is EXACTLY the same. Loosen the clamp all the way on the cone filter then try it again.
 












Ok here's where you gotta look at the tradeoff. Let a little bit of unfiltered air in and keep the cone filter, or play it safe and put the air box back on.

In all honesty I believe that the seal will be good enough without the clamp and the little bit of air that does get past should have little or no effect on the engine.
 






k i tried that and it didnt do anything, still rough idle and bogging :(

but the point of a cone filter is to let through more air, right? so why do you say is more restrictive?
 






btw, i also have an adapter for a cone filter to use with the stock maf, so im gonna go put that on and see how it works.

i just used the spectre maf cuz i though i would get more air and it would be better.
 






Do you have the original stock MAF on a different diameter tube? The MAF/computer is probably calibrated for the standard diameter. A smaller diameter will have a higher velocity airflow than standard for a given volume of air. I suspect the fuel injected is increased (richened) by the computer to make up for the erroneously determined airflow. If the MAF is mounted on a larger than stock diameter tube then it would have the opposite problem (too lean). I would be surprised if the computer would be able to compensate (learn) for a significantly different than stock MAF tube diameter.
 






ya it was the stock sensor on a different tube, but ya that makes perfect sense, so i switched back to the stock maf and maf tube, and then put the adapter and cone filter on, and it seems to work perfectly.
no more bogging, but i can now feel the power increase from more air coming in.
 






thanks for the help guys.

btw i bought the adapter for the stock maf off ebay for $12, and a cone filter for $25.

so all in all it seems worth it, not to pricey, but significant power gains it seems, and hopefully some fuel mileage too.
 






I'm glad that everything worked out for you. I'll soon be doing an air filter mod myself. Edelbrock offered their cone shaped air filter that is used on their Honda turbokits for $9.95 each. I just couldn't pass up that kind of bargain so I ordered 2 and they were shipped today. Now I have to determine how to mount them. The filter outlet has a 3 inch internal diameter which matches my air hose diameter. By the way, the inlet diameter on my stock air filter box is only 1 3/4 inches - a possible Ford design goof. I plan to dyno test my Sport before and after to see if the less restrictive filter makes a difference. I anticipate a slight increase in power but no detectable improvement in gas mileage.
 






if you could let me know the results of your dyno that would be great!

i mounted with this:
Adp_Explorer.jpg


it cost $12 on ebay.

the filter i got had a 4" id, so i used the included rubber ring to downsize it to 3.5" which fit the adapter.
works good.

but ya if you can tell me how the dyno works out it would be great.
thanks
riley
 






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