I recently bought an 01' Ram 1500 that had CAI already installed. I noticed that when I accelerates, it has a high-pitch whistle, I assume from the air intake sucking air through the tube. Is that normal, or indicative that it's starving for oxygen? If it isn't normal, what modifications need to be made to ensure that it has plenty of air?

Thanks!

 

the 14" round old school air filter many here use is also loud...I would just check your vacuum lines to make sure its not a leak there...

 

That is correct. The round air cleaners do make the whistle noise under acceleration.

I believe that its whistling cause its allowing more air to be pulled in. Its not hurting anything. So unless it bothers you I would leave it alone. Else you could just reinstall the original type air cleaner.

 

The sound doesn't bother me - I just wanted to make sure that this was normal, and that I wasn't depriving the engine of oxygen. Sounds like this is to be expected, so I'll leave it be.

 

Poke around under there, and see if you can tell where the whistle is coming from. It could possibly be a leak somewhere in the system.... (after the filter... not good.)

 

I had the air cleanre and took it off (the one in my sig). Because the sucking was so damn loud. The shistling was caused by the BOLT that holds it down.

is the CAI box held down with a bolt through the top? When the air goes in, it will whistle over the threads and get higher pitched as you push the throttle?

It could also be that you don't have your CAI attached to the TB perfectly flat and tight and with the gasket. If the seal is not tight it will suck air in through that space...and whistle.

I could not stand the sound, so I put on the stock airbox. Better performance than a 14x3 IMHO. THe 14x3 might work better in the winter, but not in the arkansas summer. THe engine bay is a sauna and your truck will gasp like a fat kid running up stairs, outside, in july.

 

am I the only one that thinks that a CAI is not even an upgrade for our trucks? I mean, the air is taken from the fenderwell on the stock unit!!!

ANd by experience, my 14x3 was a dog compared to the stocker with a KN or SPectre filter.

BTW, spectre has a 10 dollar off sale on their HPR filters. THey cost 25 bucks, plus 10 off, that is 15. It is a mail in rebate form that is on their site: K&N costs 49 bucks, and the spectre ones look better to me. I have a KN, but I got a spectre for mywife's YUKON. had both the KN and Spectre side by side and the spectre looked better.

Buy by 30 june and you are good.
http://www.spectreperformance.com/#HOME
^^ Look at the link boxes in the middle of the page, you will see HPR and rebate info link. It is the form and all the part numbers for the valid filters.

15 bucks for a performance cloth, oiled filter. Can't beat it.

NOTE, I do not work for spectre, but we have lots of new members, especially youngsters low on cash. And I am just looking out before someone runs off and buys something quick. ALso, if you bought one and still have the receipt and UPC, you can use this rebate.

 

For a lot of the "cold air induction' systems, the 'cold' part is a misnomer. They draw air in from the engine compartment, which is anything but cold...... Going to the 14X3 may or may not get some performance, sure, it probably (note: Probably) is less of a restriction, but again, you are sucking in hot air from the engine compartment. Not really much of an improvement as far as I am concerned.

 

If the gasket ontop of the tb is not the problem check the one under the tb.

If the tb has been off & the gasket under it is not centered to the tb/kegger bores it will cause a whistle also.
Gasket will act like a reed & vibrate causing the whistle as air flow by it.
Open the tb bores & slide a finger down the inside to see if its hanging out anywhere.
Center of the bores the gasket comes to a point, usually where the whistle comes from.

CPTAFW, did you use a K&N 14x3" or a paper filter?
Makes the world of difference in results

 

I have the paper filter on my 14x3. The filter for the mopar round is actually 14x2.75 and i cannot find that size. YOu would not believe how TIGHT it is to slip the top on my air cleaner. So I just didn't get a cloth one.

SInce they are so cheap now 9with the rebate) I think i will just try out a 14x3 cloth filter.

thanks for the tip RM.

--Dan

P.S. I still think that fabbing a ram air intake will be better. If I can get close to 1LB of boost at highway speeds that should be good for towing and help out with negotiating long steep hills on the hwy.