j-stang

Hey everyone - most people who know me on this board know I am not bias on any product. I am just trying to modify my car with quality products. I use this forum as a research and communication tool to help me fix up my car.

I have tested certain products (exhuast systems and such) and written full explanations and reviews.

I DO NOT want to jump on the JLT ban wagon but I had an issue today that I feel should be brought to our members attention as I would want to know if I was in the market for a CAI.

First - if you read any one of my posts I always defend Jay at JLT as I think he is a good guy and has made every attempt to fix any issues. I have heard great things about his Cobra CAIs and that is why I purchased his CAI for the 2005 GT. He has been a great help with all the fixes and even sent me a heat shield when he was not obligated to. Ok now to the issue...

Today I had to take my JLT off because I'm going to get a stock baseline dyno done today. Attempting to take the JLT off I noticed I could not get the MAF sensor out of the tube. I seriously had to use some force to pry it out. This was against my better judgement as I did not want to damage the sensor but I had no choice unless I wanted to cut the JLT tube.

To make a long story short - I noticed that the senosr hole was deformed. It was very clear that the MAF sensor was not seating flat against the tube and the answer to why it was hard to remove from the hole. Clearly the hole had deformed due to heat. Now I must say it is HOT out here in New Mexico but I would not have believed anyone if they would have told me this would've melted (or deformed).

Please do not take all this out of context or as a personal attack against Jay because I only want to let members know who are looking for a CAI some issues I have had with mine. Things to consider when looking at the JLT (HEAT and where a person lives). If I had another brand of CAI besides the JLT I would still write reviews and my issues if I had any.

Here are some pictures although it is more visible in person.
[attachmentid=23673][attachmentid=23674]

To sum it up - yes I am a little discouraged because the JLT puts out great numbers; however, I do want a quality product (as most do) on my NEW car. I will decide whether I will continue to use the JLT or move to another.

Cheers_Jay

Tucker

You have got to be kidding me.

adrenalin

Hmmm, not a very good answer to that one Jay. The mount obviously is deformed but why, who knows. I can't see heat deforming it unless the wall of the inlet tube is that thin. However, it would still require some sort of force to bend the metal, that wouldn't just happen from heat. Right?

j-stang

Yeah - I'm a little stumped myself too. I know for a fact that it was not deformed before because I installed the MAF sensor and looked at the mounting of it to ensure it was seated correctly (because of the CEL issue).

John, the whole pipe is PVC not metal. I really don't know at what temperature PVC is good for (or what schedule of PVC Jay is using) but I do know that HEAT had to melt it because there is no other logical explanation (I think)...

Mrericpm

I believe PVC melts at 360 degrees farenheit

adrenalin

Oh, see what I know. I assumed it was metal (aluminum). PVC, well that is a different story. That would have to be a lot of heat. However, the heat under the hood, especially after a long drive on a hot day. I guess anything is possible.

2005RedGT

wow

I agree with you Jay, "You have got to be kidding me." ANyone know the temp in which that material begins to warp ?

-Bryan

Mrericpm

as i said... about 360 degrees... which

nbk13nw

Maybe a combo of heat and pressure from the clamp?

j-stang

That is actually a very good point.

LordBritish

It looks like the tube twisted clockwise when looking at the end of the filter. It's puzzeling how your tube got so warped. I live in L.A. and it can get hot here and I have not had any warping problems yet with my JLT.

70MACH1OWNER

No OEM manufacture makes anything on the engine out standard PVC that I am aware of. Wonder why? Bottom line you get what you pay for. Just my opinion. I have read all of the CAI issues for over 6 months. The biggest thing JLT has going for it is it's price. Hope it's worth it. My gut told me to go aluminum. Glad I did. Best of luck with the fix. Flame on!!!!!!!!!!!!
Scott

j-stang

Well Jay from JLT contaced me and he is working on a fix. He was on it like stink on poopy.
I must say he has been very helpful. It is only fair we give him prompts for trying to make things right. These things happen. I don't know how the pipe got warped and I think Jay was just as stumped as us.

Bottom line is he is doing something about it. That is the difference in dealing with a small company verse a big one. For example, try to call Saleen about a problem.
Good luck with that.

Anyways I will keep people informed.

Cheers_Jay

Tucker

Dare I make a post????

I must say I'm at a total lose for words here. One thing after another today.
Well I think there all related. I can't believe the amount of twist on this pipe.
As said before pvc melts at a much higher temp then you would think, but with the added heat in NV this past week or so and over tightening of the clamp (understandably so with all the filters falling off) the end of the pipe has been cruched, basiclly.
When you tighten the clamp here and there when it's hot or warm the clamp is strong enough to squeese the pipe, distorting it.

I think a thin metal insert with a bell end will fix both problems. This will keep the round form and keep the filter from coming off. I will be sending parts and drawing to a machinest tomorrow. It will take a while I'm sure, but I will let you know how it goes.

If anyone needs to contact me about anything please email me or call.

And yes, I understand if no one from this site buys another JLT. I don't blame you one bit.

Jay
jay@jlttruecoldair.com
757 335 1940

adrenalin

Jay, even though my intake is not from JLT (because I bought the first one out on the market) I still think you do a great job at supporting your customers. I understand a lot of people are upset but hey, new car, new products. A lot of people don't buy a first year car because they want to wait to see what issues there are first and buy the second year. I bought the first year model and have had lots of issues with the car. I sort of expect to have some issues with aftermarket stuff as well, and actually have.

Dysan

Welp..something similar to Elvisim just happened to me today. I re-installed the 93 octane tune for my JLT intake since I wanted to try out the 87 octane and didn't like it, Took the car out for a drive and coming back up route 295 with a tractor trailer behind me the engine went into failsafe mode but with no pot-hole. I pulled over and low-and-behold the intake had fallen off. I pushed it back on, got back home and turns out both ends of my pvc pipe had deformed. The pipe is un-salvagable since even the area by the MAF sensor mount goes is warped. The zip-tie you see on it was to hold a piece of rubber that I used to stop the chewing up of the pipe when it rests on the power-steering fluid resevoir.



I hate to say it but I will be contacting Jay and trying to get my $$$ back. I feel this is too unsafe and will eventually cause damage to my car when the un-filtered air enters the engine.

[attachmentid=23737][attachmentid=23738]

Dysan

One more thing...I will say that the past few days have been dang hot here in New Jersey for this early in the year. It's been in the 90's and i've got a black GT so I'm sure it was baking under that hood.

169stang

That's schedule 40 pipe. I can ask my injection mold guys about heat temperatures for PVC. Those engineers can also tell me the elasticity of PVC piping. Plastic can have ABS and other ingredients to allow it to stretch more than others. Ex. cheap toy-brittle, snaps. Frisbee, folds, bendable, more elastic. Sorry for the rambling....Schedule 80 pipe may react at the same temperature. The other downfall to sch80 is that the inside diameter is smaller. 4" pipe is 4" pipe. It's the inside diameter that changes between the different classes.
Jay, if there is any info you'd like for me to look into, let me know. I have 6 engineers and a dozen or so people in the injection molding facility that knows PVC/plastics/ABS, and so on.

Mongoose

I sent Jay a photo of the insulation material I put on mine as well as the screw I installed to keep the filter from being knocked off from hitting the fender. Do you see the rings the filter leaves on the tube?

I have hammered Jays product a lot in the past in this public forum and have decided this is not the place to do it and if I have any issues with it I will call him.

Problem. Not enough surface contact between filter and pipe and filter gets knocked off.

Solution Use filter without the grooves or make the small pipe 1/2 inch longer or do like I did and install a screw.

Problem #2 Heat deforming the pipe.
Maybe solution. I warped mine in a heat insolation wrap and so for no problems. This material is available from several places but I got mine from JCWhitney. It is not in the current catalog and I have thrown out the older one. The material is in two sizes 12X12 and 12X24. You need the larger one for the wrap. Outside diameter X 3.1416 will give you distance around the pipe. Over lap the ends then cut through both surfaces and remove excess for a perfect fit.
Send me your E mail address and I'll send photos
I live in MO and it is not as hot here as other places and this might not work for you but it did me.
In all fairness to Jay I think he did all his development in the winter so this problem would have not showed its ugly face at that time.
You can find it in the exhaust section of a JC Whitney catalog maybe a year back. It is on a RIGHT page, This is not the stuff with the foam back. The backing is like fiberglass but a I think boron material. I would be great if someone had the stock number and could post. I Think the cost was about $21.00
I have photos but do not know how to post here. Send me an E mail and request photos and I will send but even better would be for someone to post them for me.

killo-11

Sounds strangely familiar.