Well, I went ahead and bought a Bomz CAI for $40 on ebay figuring it was an ok buy and I dont really care for the big name brands if this does the same thing but heres the fun stuff!

I figured I didnt have the right tools for the job so I went ahead and to it to my mechanic who said he could put it in for $40 and would only take 20min(actually was $80 and took about 1hr or so)

Anyways it didnt seem like there was much of a problem without putting on the rubber tubing that goes behind the MAF and just clamped it down onto the pipe. Bad freaking idea. I drive it to my work and right before I pull in my car dies and i was like hmm odd but it started right back up and I figured I must have left it in first and stalled...NOPE!

I come back out with pay check in hand and start up my car and as I start to drive up the hill away from my work it dies on me again and now i know it wasnt me stalling out...I try to start it up for a third time it turns over and dies. Pop the hood and see that the piping had fallen apart where it connected to the MAF and I knew i was kinda screwed but luckily I had the other rubber thing in my trunk and a screw driver handy along with the clamp that I found out goes on where the tubing enters the engine but works here too and seems to work. So I sliped it on and after about 10-15min of road side repair work I was good to go.

Just looks like where the piping enter the engine it looks like it not connected or something but I think it will be fine the tubing is holding it on nice and tight but I'll do what i can to fix it later. Maybe move the clamps around and basically reinstall the damn thing...

But now my check engine light is on and I can't figure out exatly what it is but I have a good idea. So i need to go back to my so called mechanic and see what the deal is. unless u guy know why it might be on?

 

sounds like a vaccum leak to me. when it pops off and loses the vacuum up at the throttle body, the car will stall and die. i had the same thing happen to me. CEL came on and the code said the engine was running too rich, aka getting too much air.

dont take it back to the mechanic. get under the hood and make sure all of the rubber hoses and hose clamps are on the endes of the pipes/MAF/throttle body and tighten em down. this will give you a little wrench experience and save you some cash to put towards !!

 

yea CAI is the easiest mod just make sure everything is secured using hose claps (tighten with a screw driver) and make sure the hose by the throttle body is fully connected. Make sure your not driving around with your intake not properly installed otherwise the odds are really good on screwing up your engine

 

yeah, exactly what dave said. you could suck something nasty/big into your engine if everything isnt properly connected, but if youre not getting a good vacuum the car really isnt gonna be running too well.

 

i took it back to my mechanic and then had a friend who works on cars take a look at it and they both said it should be fine. Turns out the engine light was turned on when it fell apart the first time and I had it reset a few hours ago but other than that it seems to be running fine.

 

yes, the engine light was triggered when the CAI fell off. id be willing to bet the code was for the engine running too rich.

 

My concern would be buying a cheap $40.00 CAI, off brand, I'd question the filtration of the filter. One might want to consider replacing the filter, IMO.

 

the filter seems to be working fine. Makes a soft "psseww" noise when i shift as if it was a turbo or something in a subaru. Not sure if its suppose to but it sure does sound cool

 

yea mine does the same psseww sound. speaking of filters...anyone know of a k&n that will fit the BBK fenderwell CAI?