When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
2011 SG Mustang GT 37k miles. Borla Axleback and no other mods other than appearance.
I bought a used CAI - Airraid and SCT X4 tuner from a local guy who had a 2011 GT 6-speed.. CAI looks almost new. It's the race version without the MVT so it needs a tune. CAI installed - it was first time ever installing one but it was fairly simple. Loaded tune and after cranking it made an awful noise....very loud..car shaking and literally sounded like someone was banging something metal under my hood. Freaked me out to say the least. Just bought car, I'm not an engine guy and right away there are issues that sound down right frightening. First tune or anything for me so I didn't think to record it, etc...I expected it to go normal. It went on for about a minute then settled and Idled normal. No CEL. I don't drive much...it stays in the garage and gets about 50 miles a week. I drove it once the following week just a few miles - no issues. The following Saturday, the second time I drove it the CEL light was on with P0100, P0108 & P0110. They were all sensor circuit related.
I emailed tuner and he said codes were odd that he hadn't seen them before. He asked for my strategy code and said the ECU code I gave on my original tune sign up form was different. I sent him a picture of my factory sticker showing the ECU code and he said it was wrong. I installed the factory air box back on and flashed back to the stock tune. CEL went away and it drove fine.
Tune said he would craft a code for the stock air box/93 octane and we would start from there. We did, and I uploaded it and it was fine. I drove for a couple weeks and no CEL, car drove fine.
Tuner sent me new tune for the CAI and 93 octane. I re-installed the CAI and uploaded the new tune and this time recorded in case that wild noise started again.
It did. It has me a little nervous to be honest. The CAI looks almost new and there's not much to it...I know the MAF sensor is fine because it was connected to my stock air box.
Any thoughts?
He is the sound after cranking for first time after custom CAI / 93 octane tune. Sound goes away after about a minute or two then idles normal and drove fine after. But it also drove fine after the new tune a few weeks now ago then started throwing codes.
I don't really want to say because I don't know if it's the tune, the CAI or something I'm doing. I bought the CAI used but again it looks flawless. Not trying to throw the tuner under the bus...just want to make sure I'm not trying to do something above my mechanical pay grade. I did a lot of research and read a zillions reviews about the tuner and they clearly know what they're doing. I'm just a noob with a lot of car payments left
I swear I have looked at it inside and out… I had it for a couple weeks before I even tried to install it then after I took it off the first time I took it completely apart and look at it again. The only thing I saw was one of the adapter tubes had a small ding here
I actually called air raid a week or so ago and even though I did not buy it from them they were willing to send me a brand-new tube at no cost it was really really cool. So they sent it to me and I put it on it was a piece a cake obviously and install the new one today. The guy from air raid said he highly doubted that that little ding or indention would cause the car to throw codes or anything like that however.
I would be a bit leery of a tuner who hasn't seen MAF codes, but maybe it was an exaggeration of "I haven't seen issues with a simple Air/Fuel mixture tunes"
The mismatch between the strategy code and sticker could be because the car had the ecu remapped. The dealer should be able to find record of that if its the case.
I don't think your issue is the CAI, but the engine trying to run the tune. Since it seems to run fine after a few minutes, or at least doesn't bang, I would say its in the startup idle settings. Something just seems way off. With a noise like that, I wouldn't keep trying personally.
If you have the means, perhaps try another tune company. Plenty of canned tune vendors to try. If not, I would cut my losses and go without. Not worth bigger engine problems and costs for a couple of HP.
I would be a bit leery of a tuner who hasn't seen MAF codes, but maybe it was an exaggeration of "I haven't seen issues with a simple Air/Fuel mixture tunes"
The mismatch between the strategy code and sticker could be because the car had the ecu remapped. The dealer should be able to find record of that if its the case.
I don't think your issue is the CAI, but the engine trying to run the tune. Since it seems to run fine after a few minutes, or at least doesn't bang, I would say its in the startup idle settings. Something just seems way off. With a noise like that, I wouldn't keep trying personally.
If you have the means, perhaps try another tune company. Plenty of canned tune vendors to try. If not, I would cut my losses and go without. Not worth bigger engine problems and costs for a couple of HP.
To be honest I've been saving for wheels/tires and if I go with a different tune it's another $150-$200 so with the CAI and tuner and two emailed tune companies I'm pushing $750-$800 with nothing much to show. I don't have a super high comfort level to be honest tinkering with the engine, changing it's parameters, etc. so not sure I want to try another tune. Down the road I may go with more bolt ons, headers, etc but if I decide to scrap the CAI / tune idea do I have any real need for this tuner?
That is not a tune I'd keep trying to run if it's causing those noises, which it certainly sounds like it is.
That kinda sounds like it might be related to the variable cam timing.
Buying used there's always the chance the car's had engine work, maybe the "stock" tune is set up to run whatever hardware the car may have in it now, stuff like maybe cam limiters or lockouts ... I'd get the car on a dyno so the tuner can datalog what's going on ...
Gabe do you mean get it on the dyno with the aftermarket CAI & tune so they can see what it is CURRENTLY doing or is that a big risk just driving it to the shop? There is a good speed shop about 20 min away but not sure if putting the stock kit back on and flashing back to the stock tune is going to mask whatever issues are going in. Also, what does it typically cost to have that done on a dyno? My main reason for doing so would be to make sure nothing major is wrong.
Sounds to me like it is sucking air and backfiring randomly. Then after a minute or two the PCM is fatting up the mixture to compensate. It probably runs this way during open loop and once it goes closed loop the PCM is making enough change to iron out the lean issue. Just my .02.
Gabe do you mean get it on the dyno with the aftermarket CAI & tune so they can see what it is CURRENTLY doing or is that a big risk just driving it to the shop? There is a good speed shop about 20 min away but not sure if putting the stock kit back on and flashing back to the stock tune is going to mask whatever issues are going in. Also, what does it typically cost to have that done on a dyno? My main reason for doing so would be to make sure nothing major is wrong.
The dyno shop should be able to plug in and analyze the conditions and write a custom tune specific for your car. It would be the best option tune wise.
You would want to drive there with whatever safe tune you have.
Since you'd just swap in the CAI, you should be able to swap before rolling it on the dyno. I don't know why you wouldn't be able to. Don't try to drive it with the bad tune or the CAI intake in on factory tune.
Call ahead and set it all up. Ask the price so you don't have sticker shock. The best option, though most expensive, would be they analyze and custom tune it there. If your current tuner is willing, most shops have an option to hook up and just record all the numbers. You could send this output to the tuner who should rework your tune based on the output to correct whatever went wrong. If the tuner was a friend, drag him there with you to fix it on the fly.
The shop by me charges $100 an hour to run the dyno while you tune it yourself. You'd of course need someone to do said tuning. Custom tunes by the shops cost between $300-$500. While that seems expensive, what you get is something written for exactly what level of performance you want and specific for your car.
In comparison:
Lund tune: $200 (with diagnostics pod for about $550)
Bama Tunes for life: $150
Lethal Performance: $200
The above 3, and any of the other options, sort of depend on your knowing exactly what your car has. As Gabe mentioned, perhaps there was something done in the engine you don't know about. Otherwise you could end up in the same boat. I'm also assuming that you bought the car used. Otherwise, I guess you'd know for sure.
This might sound stupid but, you do have the MAF sensor facing the right direction.
I believe so....it only connects one way - The screw holes only lineup with it inserted in one direction when it's screwed into the housing so the sensor itself only clicks in one way… So I don't think it can be inserted incorrectly. Shop said $475 for the custom tune dyno. I know it would be the right way to go… But it would eat up about a quarter of my tire and wheel budget to gain 15 or 20 hp a best and considering I've already spent $300-$400 on the cold air intake and tuner and another $150+ on the tune itself I just don't know that I'm going to go that route. I almost think I'm better off flashing everything back to stock, re-installing my stock kit - selling my intake and tuner not messing with that anymore.
Shop said $475 for the custom tune dyno. I know it would be the right way to go… But it would eat up about a quarter of my tire and wheel budget to gain 15 or 20 hp a best and considering I've already spent $300-$400 on the cold air intake and tuner and another $150+ on the tune itself I just don't know that I'm going to go that route. I almost think I'm better off flashing everything back to stock, re-installing my stock kit - selling my intake and tuner not messing with that anymore.
You could always keep your tuner for diagnositics or toss it all on EBay and try to recoup your costs. The tuner itself is about $400 new so it should be an easy sell. CAI are always coming up for sale. Might be harder to sell separately unless its cheap. I'd bundle them, and post it for $500 to see if you can get your money back. "Going back to stock sale". Be sure to be up front about how many unlocks are left on the tuner.
Get your new wheels and circle back when your ready.
Sounds like a sight bit of reversion/backfire into the intake.
Mine will do this if I:
-Accidentally load a tune revision w/o a re-scaled MAF table (this is what the CAI tune should be accounting for). For example I have a JLT CAI, if I attempt to start the car with the stock tune (or a stock scaled MAF table), I get this exact result.
-Idle speed too low, if you play with the idle speed, you can get it too low, and the same result occurs. My guess is this starts to occur because the MAF starts to see reversion (air moving backwards or turbulently over it...)
Which then leads to the possibility that if you installed the MAF itself clocked 180 backwards (you can!), it would probably also do this although I haven't tested that yet personally either intentionally or not so (I do my own tuning...)
Also check for any vacuum leaks or install errors that would be allowing unmetered air in past the MAF.
2/12/16, 05:20 PM
