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shifts hard AFTER CAI install

4K views 10 replies 4 participants last post by  Lampoon 
#1 ·
my son decided he wanted a CAI on his 2.4L-- told him that it doesn't do much according to what I have read here
and he should stick with his K&N filter in stock box as he was getting 29mpg mixed up from 24 after the filter was installed.

long story short since the CAI install his car is shifting very hard now... tried to do a search here but nothing was coming up
no matter how I worded the search..

it threw a P0171 code after install but has not come back since clearing it

any ideas would be appreciated
 
#4 ·
he has the hypertech tuner.. we fudged with it for a few hours today and just couldn't get it to function right
so he went back to stock air box with K&N drop in a jet MAF sensor.. running great and shifting normal again
its a life lesson, I researched on here before and told him he wouldn't see any real gains anyway but he had
to give it a try..

but thanks for the information
 
#5 ·
It's due to the size of the Intake tube at the maf sensor.
It has to match the stock size only at the maf sensor.
I ran into this issue and ran the adaptor to neck the intake tube down to 2.5" at the maf sensor.
I eventually fixed it with a complete tune which actually improved the vehicle quite a bit
 
#6 ·
do you have a photo of what you did, other than completely altering I don't see any way to
neck down the aftermarket CAI that he bought..

I have a couple days left to mail it back for him AND it took some arguing on my part as the ebay vendor
kept trying to blame us for installing it wrong even though I pointed them to multiple links found on this and
other sites regarding the CEL and hard shifting
 
#8 ·
2.4 4cyl Intake Without Tune Solution - Pontiac G6 Forum

That's a post I made years back with the adapter I found and used. Worked perfect until I got my tune and removed the insert, still works for the maf.
my son has the hypertech tuner and even with that we couldn't get rid of the CEL with the ebay CAI he bought..

in any case they have finally accepted the return but it was like pulling teeth to get them to do so and I would not recommend
ebay seller chromeintakes to anyone looking to make a purchase
 
#9 ·
The hypertech tuner only flashes a few changes to the ecu, it doesn't grant enough access to fine tune the ecu like HPTuners does for instance.
The 2.4's are pretty darn picky with their intakes because of the maf setup.
I started with an ebay intake myself, Ended up replacing some sections with Spectre aluminum intake parts to improve the design.

Even after all that I had to have my ecu tuned a few times to fine tune everything. They did the tune, I drove around and sent them data logs and they sent back updates.
After about 3 updates they decided it was finally good enough and I've been pretty happy since.
Full 3" intake and no CEL or driveability issues.

The first person that tuned my car flashed a pre-written file. It DID work, but not as good as a tune that someone had to go back and clean up as I drove the car.
 
#10 ·
ebay seller chromeintakes tried to pull more shenanigans with the return
definitely NOT a seller deal with as we ended up having to get ebay involved
to get the refund for the item..

in the long run they admitted that it would require more parts to make it function correctly
( IE: the spectre kit or similar for the MAF) BUT they failed to mention it in their ad and have
been selling the kit as a plug and play item..

once they admitted more was required ebay sided with us and gave my son a courtesy refund
unfortunately this does not penalize chromeintakes for their unscrupulous business practice
and considering they make all of their feedback private people have no way to know what the negative
and neutrals they have are for...
 
#11 ·
Consumers dont care if Chromeintakes are crap....they are cheap.
Kiddos that now drive the G6 arnt interested in quality. They just want cheap (quality and price).
I find it funny that they cry about it later. Lesson learned? Perhaps...

Oh and an intake does make a difference...just not with a 4 banger G6 (sans a tune).
 
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