KKM True-Rev - Install warning

[jhard]

So I got myself the KKM Tru-Rev air induction kit (for a 2004 4.6L V8) a couple weeks back, thinking it would do an adequate job over a K&N kit and save me a few bucks too.

After the install I did the disconnect battery to allow the PCM to start to re-learn the air/fuel mixture, but it's never ran quite right and hesitates and stutters on the highway now when it never did it prior to installation and I've driven it for a while so the PCM should be caught up by now.

Anyway, one of the installation steps is to mount the support bracket for the KKM cone to one of the valve cover studs, which I didn't even question and just followed the procedure. There was no mention of using proper ft. lbs. of torque or anything using that mounting point. Since my engine started acting funny, I removed the support bracket from that spot and hammered it out straight to reach one of the retaining bolts for the Coolant res., put the valve cover stud back in and torqued it down to spec. and now my engine is running fine again.

My question is, what would having a loose valve cover bolt do to induce this kind of behaviour in an engine, and if it would pose a problem why would KKM ask you to use that as a mounting point instead of somewhere not directly to an engine component?

This is not an attempt to defame KKM, I'm just trying to figure out what the problem was.

 

[corkey]

could have affected the EGR circuit,or PCV , the engine has a hose from the valve cover back to the intake, that sucks the crap out of the engine called positive crankcase ventilation, actually burning in the cylinders the fumes produced inside the engine as it runs,, if the seal is broken that system will cause a lean condition, and the engine starts to do funny things,,
need another example,, take out you oil filler cap, and start the engine,, it does the same thing,,

 

[jhard]

Corkey, thanks for the reply. It's making sense after what you've just explained.

I'm no engine expert by any means, but yeah... obviously there's a reason why Ford requires certain things to be torqued to spec. and not just a magic number they pulled out their a$$es.

I'm just kinda peeved that it potentially could have cost me a pretty penny taking it into a shop to get diagnosed for a problem that would never have exsisted if It wasn't directed to do so in the instructions. For that price addition I could have just gotten the K&N instead and had no problems.

I'm going to email KKM and advise them of this situation, so they can hopefully amend their bracket design and instructions to somewhere not so critical to operation. I'm also going to take a picture of how I re-mounted my bracket so others in the same situation might be able to rectify this problem.

 

[corkey]

the symptoms are also the same if the pcv valve on the one valve cover goes bad,, it is just a check ball that opens and closes, allowing the engine to seal and unseal as required by the intake vacuum pulse,,