Can someone please answer the subject question?

 

First things first:

IF you are worried about your warranty, DO NOT MESS WITH THE CAR. Leave it stock until the warranty's out. Because if you are in any way being *dependent* on that warranty... be kind of silly to intentionally void it by accident, right? Right.

Second things second:

IF you are absolutely unable to afford a new motor or such on the car, then it stands to reason that you should NOT mess with the engine if it means you will be stuck with getting a new engine.

Mods are serious business, and sometimes they can carry a serious after-the-fact pricetag. You are hereby now aware of that and will take that into consideration, yes?

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Basically, technically, anything that makes the car non-stock will void a warranty on the parts that are affected. In this case, a CAI could do it for the engine if it causes damage. It's less likely by a lot that the transmission or axle would be affected, but the entire drivetrain is one big assembly, so...

If you get the Ford CAI and have the dealer install it, then the full warranty should apply. If I remember that correctly. That's sort of the point of having that done.

If you get a non-tune CAI (which do exist) then you can always swap the original intake in and get away with it, probably. They might, if they bother, and there's a reason, see something slightly off in the computer from when it had the CAI on it, but probably not. The non-tune CAI just flows a little better, but is otherwise very similar to stock, so as to not go outside the boundaries of the computer's fuel mapping with the amount of air allowed in.

If you get a tune-required CAI, and then proceed to not tune the car, then there will be too much air for the computer to correctly 'read' going in the intake, due to the larger diameter tubes they have, and it's possible that could damage the engine due to a lean condition. I'm not saying it will, but that's how lean happens, too much air expected for the fuel delivered into the cylinders. Best scenario, it'll just run like crap and throw codes. It may, due to that, also cause the techs and/or Ford to say "yep, engine is now warranty-less, you messed it up with the intake."

Worst scenario? The lean is too great, and the engine grenades, like what happened to some of the early Coyote 5.0 tunes. Boom! went the #8 cylinders due to a lean problem.

So either get a non-tune CAI, or get the full tilt boogie and tune it, but be sure you know how to put it back for any dealer maintenance. And know they can tell you tuned it, so...

And be aware that *any* mods not Ford installed are subject to 'you broke it, you bought it'. Ford is not in the business of supporting *every* configuration. They have their baseline setups, and if those fail, they cover it. If you stray from the baseline, that's on you. So if it ain't stock, they aren't under any obligation to help you, it's in the rules, man. (I'm sure someone will point out this or that, yeah yeah, ok, but overall.)

Weigh your options seriously, choose wisely, and good luck!

 

Well I purchased the Roush CAI (no tune required). So I'm guessing I should be ok

 

Yeah, probably. Just don't be surprised is all.

They'll probably let that float on by, since it's tune-free, and they work with Roush.

I'd say overall though? If the car's running ok, it'll be fine. They won't bend ya over for that, it's a pretty common thing.

 

It was a waste of money.

 

Why was it a waste of money? The CAI didn't perform as advertised?

 

If a Cooler Air Intake doesn't require adjustment of the stock tune, it is not having enough influence on performance to make the investment worthwhile. If the CAI is added, as are 90% of Mustang modifications, "because it was there and I could", then it is surely worth whatever you are willing to pay for it. Most aftermarket CAIs do look a lot better than the stock ones, after all.

Very early in my Mustang experience (2006-ish) I researched the available materials and concluded:

· A CAI plus tune yielded just barely enough performance increase to be consistently measured. Worthwhile if you are involved in some competition where success is measured in tenths of a second.

· A CAI alone did not make such a difference in performance as did the CAI plus tune.

· A tune alone would yield about 95% of the performance improvement of a CAI plus tune.

· Dollar-per-unit-of-improvement was way out of proportion for CAI alone: at the scale we are working at, actual horsepower and torque increases were not consistently measurable.

· Dollar-per-unit-of-improvement for a tune alone was the best value.

· CAI plus tune was not measurably different from tune alone, dollar-per-value-wise, but was always most satisfying because of aspects not related to performance; a nice setup is a nice setup, after all.

Since the advent of the S197/5.0, it seems pretty clear the Ford folks have done their homework, made an excellent intake path a stock feature, and the CAI builders and advocates have fallen on hard times. So the inevitable conclusion is: CAI alone is not worth the money on any S197 Mustang, doubly so on a 5.0 Mustang, performance-wise.

Now, tunes, that's a different matter. Any stock tune involves compromises the manufacturer must make to provide a streetable, dependable car. Aftermarket tunes usually manage to make different compromises in the name of performance, shaving just a little off the streetability and dependability factors. They might be worthwhile to many, and essential to a few.

For my part, I was very pleased with Bama Tunes for my 2006, '08, and '09 cars. The latter two had FRPP CAIs and tunes, and were very good that way. The Bama tunes went on right over the top of the FRPP tunes that came with the CAIs, and were good for off-road uses (strip and track), easily put back to FRPP-tune status for normal driving.

I had the FRPP tune on the 2013 5.0 car and really liked it. I would have bought the FRPP CAI for that car but... FRPP considered the stock intake arrangement too good to bother improving on it! Good message in that. I have the FRPP tune for the 2014 Mustang, but have not installed it yet, since the car is so new I want to let it break in a bit more and establish a base-line of experience before changing it.

Summary: CAI alone is not worth the dollars; tune alone is worth the dollars to some; CAI plus tune is not worth the dollars performance-wise, but a neat setup, if that is important to you.

 

Your car came from the factory with a true CAI. What you did was spend money on something that doesn't perform as well as the stock one. That's money you unfortunately pissed away.

 

To be honest I only bought it for the sound and aesthetics. Currently, I am not interested in gaining hp, however how can you say it doesn't perform as well? I have read in several places that the CAI will increase my HP and MPG slightly.

 

Read from whom? The people pushing parts on unsuspecting guys like you? Don't believe everything you read. You wasted your money if you thought you were going to see an improvement in performance.

 

It's hard to buy any intakes for these cars when the stock ones work so well. Intake temps are almost always right about ambient temp, the only improvement might be with a better filter.

 

A CAI is a waste of money. It has been proven a million times now.. The power comes from a tune. A cai + combo may next more power then a tune alone, but a cai with no tune will not get you anything. The no tune cai is the same as a drop in filter.