cold air intake.. good/bad?

[Gr8ful]

My friend was telling me that putting a cold air intake on some vehicles can actually damage the engine. I've had an AEM intake on my 2000 323i for about a year now, and am wondering if I'm doing it more harm than good. Anyone have some input? I've also heard that driving a car with an intake on rainy days is bad.. *shrug*. Thanks

 

[Tom]

It depends, yes it can be bad if you drive through a puddle and suck up water into your engine. Most people that use a CAI intake will normally install a bypass valve to trap any water that is accidentally sucked up through your intake.

 

[Section_8]

Other then what Tom pointed out about traditional CAI's that go down deep behind your bumper - they are basically as safe as can be. They actually increase your gas milage and of course give a small performance increase, you've removed the 'restrictive' stock airbox, providing more cold air for the engine. A software upgrade will make better use of the CAI as it will be able to provide the car itself with a way of handling the increased air flow, among other things that software upgrades generally do.

That's why I like my ECIS. It's a short ram - but uses the original air intake over the radiator to feed air into the ECIS box, this a combo of the 2. No water is getting up there.

 

[Gr8ful]

Thanks guys! Knew I could get some answers Now I can drive without worrying about it.. I don't drive it in the rain too often, and if I do I don't go through any deep puddles..I've opened the hood on a rainy day and it was dry as a whistle. I'd like to get a software upgrade next, but I'm debating if I should put that money towards the savings for my e46 m3

 

[aNoodle]

If there is less filtration, then you're letting more contaminants into the engine. This would be a trade off for increased power. But some mods don't sacrifice filtration. I guess you just have to find the quality ones from the bad....they're not all alike as Sec8 points out.

 

[jimp]

Cold Air Intake

Does anyone have any feed back on the cold air intake noted below; it seems to provide 20 HP but I wonder if this is due to less air restriction which would allow more contaminants into the engine; Can you recommend one? thanks.

BMW 323 Series Cold Air Intake
Part #5410441
Brand AFE
Year 1999 - 2003
Chassis - 323I, E46
Description Cold Air Intake, Magnum Force Series, Stage 1, 20 HP Increase. Magnum Force Intake Kits Give Your Vehicle The Air It Needs By Replacing The Restrictive Factory Intake System With A High Flow Conical Air Filter, And Providing Isolation From The Hot Engine Air.
Your Price $401.79

 

[nadroj]

Does anyone have any feed back on the cold air intake noted below; it seems to provide 20 HP but I wonder if this is due to less air restriction which would allow more contaminants into the engine; Can you recommend one? thanks.

BMW 323 Series Cold Air Intake
Part #5410441
Brand AFE
Year 1999 - 2003
Chassis - 323I, E46
Description Cold Air Intake, Magnum Force Series, Stage 1, 20 HP Increase. Magnum Force Intake Kits Give Your Vehicle The Air It Needs By Replacing The Restrictive Factory Intake System With A High Flow Conical Air Filter, And Providing Isolation From The Hot Engine Air.
Your Price $401.79

the intake will NOT give you 20 hp. it will make it sound nice, and a lil more hp that could be magnified with a software upgrade.

 

[Big Daddy]

Also make sure any CAI is isolated from the under the hood hot air and is drawing cold air from outside the engine compartment.

 

[sharkman330Xi]

sound is the biggest gain, but without software it may just slow you down.
I will save my $$, BMW has done an exceptional job with the stock air system, and I have been down the air intake road before...

My old jetta vr6 sounded great with K&N system and heat shield.
But it was slower, it was not until the software that the gains showed.
Then a bigger throttle body, to actually take advantage of more air, then it got even better.

But technically, if you let more air in, you have to let more air out also..... or the gain is minimal.

My buddy's 330ci, he did exhaust and cold air intake at the same time, so it showed a nice difference

If you are not ready to invest in software, this will be a purely 'sound cool' upgrade.

 

[PhatBimmer]

I agree 100% with sharkman, exhaust and intakes should be done together to improve everything more nicely.

 

[kips330ci]

air intake can be good

be careful installing cold air intake. I installed one on my 2001 330ci and the whistling noise was enough to drive you crazy Just be prepared for a loud whistle noise whenever you step on the gas. It got so bad that I removed it and put back on the stock system.

 

[nathan56989]

Just for some reference, I had a car come in that the complaint was that the car stalled when it rained. It had a dinan cold air intake (which I know yours is AEM) which tucked in behind the bumper cover. It always had a fault for the air mass meter. We replaced the air mass meter the first time. Then it came back (same thing) i took the intake off and found that it was full of foam. The cone filter had the little bag on it to keep the water out but it did not work. We put the stock intake back on and it has not been back. (the customer is not happy about it though) oh well at least his car is operating properly