GTMark052

As I was poking around my engine this afternoon I found the rubber gasket on my Tuned Induction CAI appeared to be dry rotting. I'm not sure if is for sealing purposes or just cosmetic, but either way I'm not real happy with it. I've only had this CAI about 3 months and it shouldn't show wear&tear this soon, IMO. In one place the rubber is damaged about half way through it's width!
I have photos of it, but for some reason the website isn't showing them in my post.
For anyone who has one (I know there aren't many of you) it's the rubber ring that goes around the airflow tube, just past the MAF sensor, where the tubes connect and change diameter.
Did any of you have the same thing happen or hear of it happening?
thanks

tdbrown75

I hate to say this but not only did I have a problem with the rotting gasket, the two halves of the inlet pipe separated altogether on mine. I used PVC glue and silicone to get it put back together airtight, only to have a months worth of hell with idle surging issues as a result of an air leak where the MAF mounts to the tube. I can not get it to seal at all and am running my car with the stock air box right now.

Mine is only a little over a year old, and I’m waiting to hear back from Demolet on whether or not they are going to get me a replacement. The owner seems to be a stand up guy and I’m hoping he replaces the faulty components; I’ll let you all know how it turns out.

Tim

jayguy

I'll have to take a look. I bought mine used from another member here, so I'm not really sure how hold it is.

I don't recall seeing a ruber gasket there though, but I think someone glued the two pieces together. I've got the Carbon Fiber tubes. I'll definitely check before I head home tonight, but I haven't had any problems with it so far. I got the DeMolet in March, been almost a year now.

GTMark052

Well thats not very comforting news Tim. At least I know I'm not the only one, but the air leak problem is not something I'm looking forward to either
Well, I still was not able to attach the photos, so I posted two links to them instead. You can see how bad it has dry rotted in only about 3 months...I'm figuring about 1500 miles or so on it.
http://usera.imagecave.com/lynch052/Mustang/TICAI1.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/lynch052/Mustang/TICAI2.jpg

I remember that there was another website that Demolet was a member of and a lot of members had his CAI. I'm going to try and find it again and see if there are any problems posted.....though before, everyone was raving about it and him, thats what got me to purchase it....along with the price.
Yes, if you could let me know how it turns out that would be great. Thanks. BTW, How long ago did you contact him about the problems?

tr6nut

I have one of the carbon-fiber Demolet CAIs with the same problem. I emailed Demolet and they replied within 24 hours. According to Demolet, the rubber (on the CF CAI) is cosmetic-only. They said if I sent them my mailing address, they'd send me a new rubber gasket. I'm gonna do that, but I'm still wondering if its just a bad batch or indicative of the rubber part they use. If its because of the type of rubber they use, I'll be back in the same boat in another 6 months.

GTMark052

thanks for the info tr6nut. At least the gasket isn't sealing anything, but should last longer than it does. I may have to e-mail him myself and get a replacement also.
thanks again.

tdbrown75

I first contacted him a couple of weeks ago when I was still troubleshooting. He replied within 24 hours and let me know he would be happy to to replace any defective components and that he was sorry for the aggravation. I replied a couple days later letting him know I was working with my tuner on the issue, and I just left it there.

I have been running a "stock" tune from my tuner to isolate the problem to the CAI, which we have done. I just finished emailing him regarding these latest findings and my suspicions. I'll let you know what happens next.

From my dealings with him so far, I doubt you will have a problem getting that rubber gasket replaced.

Tim

tdbrown75

I'm not sure I agree with that. Unless the glue has created an airtight seal that ring may be stopping unmetered air form entering the CAI, which would cause idle surging and hesitation issues.

Tim

GTMark052

I was having that very problem with my car.(I started another thread toady) It started out relatively minor a couple of weeks ago, but as of today it had gotten a lot worse. I removed the CAI, cleaned the TB and re-set the tune back to stock. My car runs good again. You think it was the CAI after all??? I was kind of hoping it was the TB, but with only 4100 miles on my car I was a little skeptical too

jayguy

Is this the ring/gasket you're talking about? Mine's at least a year old, and has some cracks, but nothing deep.

GTMark052

Yes, thats it. I posted links to 2 photos (above) that I had taken yesterday. My CAI is only about 3 months old and as you'll see, there is quite a difference in the way yours looks compared to mine.

tdbrown75

I had a response from Demolet sitting in my inbox this morning. He has asked that I send him the meter/TB pipe portion of the intake and he will do whatever is needed to get it good as new again. I’ll be sending it off tomorrow.

Tim

GTMark052

That sounds good! Since mine is having issues like yours (confirmed today) I'm debating whether I want to be bothered sending it back to be "fixed" or just get a different intake altogether

tdbrown75

Between you, me and the other forum members I no longer trust it and I have already gone with another option. I'm just hoping to recoup some of my losses by selling the replacement Demolet on eBay. We will see what I get back from them, I will not do anything that may result in me passing the problem along to someone else.


Tim

jayguy

Wow, yours looks much worse than mine.

Hope it all works out, I will probably switch to another intake someday myself, just for looks if nothing else. I'd rather have something like a C&L there than this one, but for now, it's more fun than the stock airbox.

GTMark052

Hey Tim,
Which one have you gone with?? I don't want to make the same mistake twice. I was considering the Modular Depot CAI, but it is so new and not many people have them that there may still possibly be some "bugs" to iron out, as with any new product, though I'm just speculating there. I really like the way the power curve looks.....throughout the rpm range and not all on top.

On edit: Ok, I read your other post...the BBK. Keep us updated as to how you like it by comparison.

Yeah Jay, I'm wonder if mine had sat around a while before I had purchased it. When it worked, I really liked it and WAS happy with it performance....now, it's probably headed to the trash unless there is something I can use off of it.

blak05

I was set to order my Demolet TI CAI today from Bren...I think this thread may have changed my mind..

tdbrown75

Gotta make your own choice about which one is right for you.

Tim

tdbrown75

I have an update. I finally sent off my TI CAI to Demolet and he has had a chance to inspect it. Although he says he could not find a problem other than some rubbed off paint, he is replacing the MAF and throttle body assembly. He also offered to send me a set of his tunes to help isolate the problem. He's certainly standing behind his product; I give him an A+ on service.

I’m currently running a BBK CAI with Brenspeed tunes and am not having any issues. I’m going to give the Demolet one more try just to see if the problem was in fact the CAI for piece of mind, but am going to be sticking with the BBK long term for show purposes.

Tim

GTMark052

That sounds really good Tim.
Yeah, I agree, from everything that I had read about him and his company before I purchased the TI CAI, he seemed to have a really good product and customer service rating. Maybe we were just a couple of the unlucky few who's products were defective

For me, I can only imagine that the problem was with the CAI itself and not the tune. When I purchased it, I had also purchased an X2 (as a package deal) which was loaded with 3 of his tunes. I had no issues at all for the time it was on my car (approx. 3 months). But then the surging/hesitation started....the rest, well, is history. My signature says it all.