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2010 4.0 Pony Mustang duel exhaust. Just got the Stage 2 CAI, need a tune before mounting - I get this so far. I can buy a X4 tuner for 338.00.
They are telling me I have to have a custom tune added to the tuner to make it work with the intake. Seriously I need to pay an extra 100$ to have
a custom tune added to the tuner.
OK, now I get it. The CAI really doesnt add much in the way of power, its there for looks and sound. Its the tune that the car benefits from. Add a K&N filter
to the existing housing, up your octane and put a tune in it for a mostly stock motor and you have everything that little 4.0 will do. I should have studied more
before posting - my bad.
Last edited by maxgraphix; 6/6/24 at 05:33 AM.
Reason: I've learned
2010 4.0 Pony Mustang duel exhaust. Just got the Stage 2 CAI, need a tune before mounting - I get this so far. I can buy a X4 tuner for 338.00.
They are telling me I have to have a custom tune added to the tuner to make it work with the intake. Seriously I need to pay an extra 100$ to have
a custom tune added to the tuner.
OK, now I get it. The CAI really doesnt add much in the way of power, its there for looks and sound. Its the tune that the car benefits from. Add a K&N filter
to the existing housing, up your octane and put a tune in it for a mostly stock motor and you have everything that little 4.0 will do. I should have studied more
before posting - my bad.
Most SCT X4 programmers have preloaded tunes for cold air intakes, depending on which vendor you purchase your hand-held tuning device from... Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with the Stage 2 CAI, so if it's not under the CAI list options in your preloaded tune menu? then, yes you may be required to get a custom e-mail tune or custom dyno tune which is designed specifically for your CAI...
like he said ^ you could check with SCT to find out if they provide a setting for that CAI
The important thing is the diameter of the mass air flow metering section. Apparently the "Stage 2 CAI" you are referring to, has a larger diameter than stock, and that is why it requires a tune. If you can find out the diameter, there might be a different CAI with the same diameter that is supported, which should work just as well. You could discuss all of this with SCT if you can get someone on the phone.
This is how it went... Installed the CAI and the tune, 93 Octane. Car runs much better! Increase in the lower rpm range (noticeable) and increase the shift points. Put maybe 50 miles on it all is well. Then got a check engine light, hooked up the scanner and states running rich. I guess that happens alot, so hooked up the tuner and the tuners says it found a change in the settings and asked if I would like to re-tune and I said yes and it fixed it. No more check engine light and now it runs even better! Could I make it run even better with a custom tune? Maybe, but if I like it the way it is with no issues.. Why bother! Im happy!
Btw Never Seen a 4.6L Engine Cover on a 4.0L Not Bad! I Sold A Couple of Pallets Worth of Those Covers When They Came Out Back in The Day For Some Lowly Price in the $60.00 Range ! Went Like Hotcakes!
I got lucky - found that one for 50$. Let face it - the 4.0 is a butt ugly motor. I would go to a car show and some guy would say "open the hood", I'd say - its a work in progress!
I just put the cover extension on it and that helped and when I get the strut brace that should cover up the "still weird" looking parts. I dont have much left to do, gotta be careful I dont put too much money in it I'll never see again.
Yup I saw it - doesnt look bad I just didnt care for the box look. I actually got the idea of the 4.6 lid from a post on here.
Thought it looked more stylish!
This is how it went... Installed the CAI and the tune, 93 Octane. Car runs much better! Increase in the lower rpm range (noticeable) and increase the shift points. Put maybe 50 miles on it all is well. Then got a check engine light, hooked up the scanner and states running rich. I guess that happens alot, so hooked up the tuner and the tuners says it found a change in the settings and asked if I would like to re-tune and I said yes and it fixed it. No more check engine light and now it runs even better! Could I make it run even better with a custom tune? Maybe, but if I like it the way it is with no issues.. Why bother! Im happy!
If your satisfied and content with the performance of your current tune, why bother with a custom tune? Unless you intend on adding larger heads, cams, LT headers or add forced induction which all require additional airflow and tuning, your stock engine otherwise can only benefit from the amount of airflow that it was originally designed for... Anything beyond that is just nothing more than overkill...
Therefore, IMHO you would be wasting your hard earned money by upgrading to a custom tune on a stock engine that won't really benefit from it, to begin with...