Just installed a Airaid CAI kit 2 days ago...It's been getting pretty hot in the afternoons here now...well this afternoon after work, was running around..for a little while without the A/C..then picked up my kids...turned on the A/C...headed to McDonalds and sat in the drive-thru...yeah well I started noticing the Temp guage creeping past the usual middle mark it stays in...then got a little more past that...I rolled the windows down and turned off the A/C and started blasting the heater. Well within a couple of minutes it returned back to normal and even a little lower...got through the drive-thru and turned the A/C back on for the short trip home and it was fine....got home and shut 'er off. No coolant leaking or anything...I waited a couple of hours and popped the hood...everything looked normal...no evidence of coolant leakage...the engine still felt real hot though..I touched the Airaid intake tube that goes to the throttle body and it is hot as hell....this CAI kit uses the bottom of the stock airbox...and of coarse it pulls in from the passenger side fender...not sure if that's optimal for pulling in decent air? I mean it's right there behind the headlight...just does not seem like it's getting much air or 'cold' air.....what do you guys think?

 

if it were me i would start by checking to make sure there are no bugs or other crap caked into the radiator and condenser core (the small radiator for the a/c unit) and then i would check to make sure the electric fan is coming on, it sounds to me like your e-fan isnt coming on and that was the rising temp problem in the drive thru, this is easy to check by simply turning the a/c on and looking to see if the e-fan goes on, if it doesnt check the relay and get back to us

 

Yeah the e-fan was coming on....I'll check the radiator today for sure then....thanks for the tips! I did take the mechanical fan off a few years ago like a lot of the other forum members were doing and have never had a problem...

 

Your cai shouldn't affect operating temps much. It basically just allows more air in to increase compression. The term "cold air intake" is a bit of a misnomer. It's more like cooler air.
So, you removed the mechanical fan entirely? I personally have a hard time justifying the pros of that. Don't you have a performance tuner? Seems to me like you you would need the addition fan to maintain acceptable temp with increased performance. Just a thought...

Since the weather temps are rising, I would start simple: coolant levels/concentration, e-fan as mentioned, tstat, etc...

 

if you dont have your clutch fan on there that would be your problem almost 100%

also a CAI doesnt increase compression, just allows the air to flow better


for the record compression ratio on an engine is actually a volume ratio, the volume at bdc/the volume at tdc, an air intake isnt going to change that

 

I had a feeling you would call me out on that out . I realize it's not really measurable, but colder air = denser air = more air in the same space = higher compression. Density = mass x space. You're right though, the semantics are not appropriate for automotive discussions.

 

i would tend to agree that removing that fan would have been a bad idea....

 

I saw one thread here where someone replaced the clutch fan with a bigger electric one, but I don't think the stock fan moves enough air to make up the difference. And I like the roaring sound the mechanical fan makes, you don't get that with the electric.

 

density= mass / volume (space)

and yes the CAI (if a true COLD air intake) will increase the mass flow into the cylinder simply bc of the density change, however im not sure how much of a difference there really is in the mass flow with a CAI versus without considering that air does not experience a really drastic volume(density) change at the temperatures we are talking about.

 

Not to mention that with increased air volume, there would be an automatic increase in fuel delivery, it's why we burn through so much more fuel in Winter.