Gearheads/techs please help!! Cold air intake? yes or no...

D

Drummer Boy75

New member
I have a 2002 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 3.4L and was considering either A) a K&N or similar filter or B) even considering a less expensive cold air intake. I've heard more air=more fuel but have heard others make claims of better economy. I wouldn't mind if my mileage stayed the same or improved i just don't want to lose any mileage, and is there a noticeable power difference with such easy mods? Anyone have any personal experience with any of this? Thank you in advance for any help with this.
 
I put the cold air intakes in all my trucks mainly to keep the dirt and dust from hunting from getting into the engine. Depending on which model you select, you may get more intake noise but it sounds pretty cool when you get into the gas pedal. I noticed a slight gain in gas mileage when I put one on my big block dually. Throttle response seemed to improve as well. I also put a K&N on my 4x4 Honda Rancher too. They are nice because you can clean them when they're dirty and they seem to do a much better job of trapping dirt than the stock filters with less air flow restriction

Kevin
 
I run KN filters in all my vehicles...Overall cost is much less than replacing the paper filters over a specific length of time and maintenance is not that much or hard..

I've had a couple where the increase in fuel mileage is negligible, but they were getting great mileage to begin with..Trucks and big blocks seem to have more of an impact..

I've found that if you increase the incoming air flow, you really need to lighten up the exhaust to get the most benefit, but you have to be careful on some of the newer American and many imports as they are engineered to run on specific back pressure factors...The 'high efficiency' computerized models can be screwed up if the balance is not kept...
 
When I bought my 7500 mile 2008 Shelby GT 500 it had been modified with a K&N cold air intake, big exhaust, and a smaller diameter super charger pulley. Before even getting around the block from the dealership to test drive the car the check engine light came on. I quickly decided that the mods needed to come off so I made that part of the deal I worked out with the dealership. Before removing the mods the dealership talked me into trying the car with the mods in place just in case I wanted them left on it. They reset the check engine lite while we did the paperwork, then I headed home with it. Again, the check engine light came on within the first five miles. I kept the car for a week with the mods in place before making arrangements to return it to have the mods removed. All the mods except the cold air intake were replaced with OEM parts. I thought I'd like to keep the cold air intake system. Again as I drove home with it the check engine light came on. There was still too much air entering the engine, causing the cars computer to turn the light on. The engine even began surging and acting as if it were running out of fuel at times. The car needed to be tuned for the cold air intake in order to run properly, and I decided I didn't want to fool with it. I bought and installed an OEM air cleaner assembly, had the check engine light reset and have had zero issues with it since. I am going to install a K&N filter in the original air cleaner box as soon as the paper element needs replaced though.
 
Thanks for all the input guys! Next question... found an off brand cold air intake for about half the price of the K&N. Work just the same or do you get what you pay for?
 
I run K&N filters on my Ford truck and have Walker AirSeps on my boat motors. The boat's diesel motors are DD 671TIB: Turbo Charged, InterCooled, Blower and Aftercooler. This pushes alot of air and horsepower is on tap. Clean Cool dense air is key to horsepower. But, remember if you breathe deep, you have to let it out without excessive horsepower robbing backpressure.

Stick with K&N unless cost issues are a concern.

T2G
 
Youre going to end up with a love it/hate it response to the kn. some folks think it knocks 10 seconds off their 1/4 and some think it knocks 1 million miles off the longevity of the engine because it doesnt filter well.

So lets ignore that and do math. Figure a really good bolt on mod adds 10%hp. With a 150hp motor like an average taco... 15hp. Tops. And tops is rare, best case scenario. You will never, short of driving an actual go cart, notice 15hp.

Then you have to factor in what your engine actually produces. A 1 billion hp engine is actually making 30-40hp just driving around. So again youll never notice 15hp spread across the entire powerband, unless you drive wot all the time. A 100hp car uses the same 30-40hp to do the same job

So cost/mpg. If a bolt on adds 1-2mpg, how many tanks of fuel do you have to run through before you break even? For many people they will sell the car before that happens, much less before they see a savings. If youre just looking at a filter swap, both performance and cost slide down the scale.

Most bolt ons dont add much, if any power. Same with mpg. Oddly enough the company that spent millions developing the engine, do a decent job. Better than bubba and his jegs catalog. As long as the engine is basically stock, there are few gains to be made. As you deviate further from stock, you wont make gains with the parts, but the parts may be needed to let the engine perform as it should. The best running shoes wont make grandma outrun an olympic sprinter wearing keds.

But youll notice a lot of companies advertise gains in %, it sounds more impressive than saying 5hp. No one would buy a car that made 5hp, but they'll spend $500 on 5%, even if it means the same thing. And they will 'feel' faster, even though they arent.

Having said all that, i still throw money at parts i know return a negligible return. Because i feel like playing with my toys.
 
Originally Posted By: coyote6974When I bought my 7500 mile 2008 Shelby GT 500 it had been modified with a K&N cold air intake, big exhaust, and a smaller diameter super charger pulley. Before even getting around the block from the dealership to test drive the car the check engine light came on. I quickly decided that the mods needed to come off so I made that part of the deal I worked out with the dealership. Before removing the mods the dealership talked me into trying the car with the mods in place just in case I wanted them left on it. They reset the check engine lite while we did the paperwork, then I headed home with it. Again, the check engine light came on within the first five miles. I kept the car for a week with the mods in place before making arrangements to return it to have the mods removed. All the mods except the cold air intake were replaced with OEM parts. I thought I'd like to keep the cold air intake system. Again as I drove home with it the check engine light came on. There was still too much air entering the engine, causing the cars computer to turn the light on. The engine even began surging and acting as if it were running out of fuel at times. The car needed to be tuned for the cold air intake in order to run properly, and I decided I didn't want to fool with it. I bought and installed an OEM air cleaner assembly, had the check engine light reset and have had zero issues with it since. I am going to install a K&N filter in the original air cleaner box as soon as the paper element needs replaced though.


You can go into the computor and reset your tune to the newer parts if you have the right equipment and know how. There are several shops across the country that can perform such a tune. You probably took around 100 hp from your engine by swapping back to the oem parts. A new tune would cost between $250-$500.
 
Originally Posted By: Drummer Boy75Thanks for all the input guys! Next question... found an off brand cold air intake for about half the price of the K&N. Work just the same or do you get what you pay for?

If it were me, I would just get the filter/intake from Toyota (TRD) along with the cat-back exhaust..and if you have the 6spd manual, have them change the shifter out as well.
 
Ask a diesel mechanic what he thinks of k&n. He'll tell you he loves them. Loves them because they don't work for [beeep] and allow dirt into engines which he gets to rebuild after they grenade. No offense to predator masters forum but this ain't really the place to ask auto tech questions.
 
I ran a K&N filter for ~ 150,000 miles in my `93 K1500 PU.
K&N replaced it about in the middle of the years I owned it after I left it out to dry for too long and it shrunk up and did not fit the housing diameter anymore.
I too question their ability to filter as well as a stock unit.
 
Originally Posted By: coyote6974When I bought my 7500 mile 2008 Shelby GT 500 it had been modified with a K&N cold air intake, big exhaust, and a smaller diameter super charger pulley. Before even getting around the block from the dealership to test drive the car the check engine light came on. I quickly decided that the mods needed to come off so I made that part of the deal I worked out with the dealership. Before removing the mods the dealership talked me into trying the car with the mods in place just in case I wanted them left on it. They reset the check engine lite while we did the paperwork, then I headed home with it. Again, the check engine light came on within the first five miles. I kept the car for a week with the mods in place before making arrangements to return it to have the mods removed. All the mods except the cold air intake were replaced with OEM parts. I thought I'd like to keep the cold air intake system. Again as I drove home with it the check engine light came on. There was still too much air entering the engine, causing the cars computer to turn the light on. The engine even began surging and acting as if it were running out of fuel at times. The car needed to be tuned for the cold air intake in order to run properly, and I decided I didn't want to fool with it. I bought and installed an OEM air cleaner assembly, had the check engine light reset and have had zero issues with it since. I am going to install a K&N filter in the original air cleaner box as soon as the paper element needs replaced though.

Remove MAF (mass air flow sensor), clean with non residue contact cleaner, reinstall...problem gone. They tend to be more sensitive with after market cool air intake systems. I run a AirAid system in my Av and never had a problem with it. Clean it every 1000 miles, while its drying I run a stock paper filter spare and the reinstall once its dried out and re-lubed.
 
Back
Top