nnuzzo141

So over Christmas my parents got me a KN intake for my 2006 f150 with the 5.4l. After installing it I then began to peruse the forum which was the wrong thing to do because now I'm scared of causing damage from running too lean. All I have on the truck is the intake and I don't want to tune it. Should I put stock on and sell the intake or am I just being paranoid

grss429

I think you're being paranoid, if you got it use it it should help A LITTLE with MPG not much doubt u'll notice too much performance gains everyone says use GOTTS mod but it's just not good looking

wirenut2002

Get rid of it sell it and put the money to a tuner

Bossgame

No gotts no glory

nnuzzo141

im not going to tune it so i would just pocket the money and call it a day. I only did it for the sound which is awesome, not worth a blown engine though

Mod (Ret.)

No worries with your trucks engine running too lean with a K&N intake. Many folks (including myself) are not huge fans of CAI's (Cold Air Intake) as a mod that will provide any significant difference in performance over the stock intake. Just about every fuel injected vehicle today has a CAI from the factory. You can define a CAI as the air intake coming from the outside air (not warm engine heated air). Our trucks use an intake that gets its air from the drivers side fender, that is drawn from the front of the truck. Most do not like the aftermarket kits that have an open air filter element that is not in a "sealed box"; the K&N uses an open type box that is supposed to seal against the hood when it is shut, but it still will draw some warmed engine air, effectively not making it a true "CAI". For a whole lot less, you could do the MOTTS modification (search it here on this site), and got a better deal over any CAI. But eye candy can be a deciding factor too, so many go the route of an aftermarket CAI for its looks.

And there are those that do not like the K&N filter, as it requires itself to be cleaned and re-oiled; many over oil the filter, and this oil can damage the MAF (mass air flow) sensor. If you follow directions that came with the kit when it comes time to clean it, that intake kit will be fine.

MGD

Straight from VMP's website:

"We can tune for different cold air intakes on 05+ Mustangs and 04+ F150s. Any aftermarket intake that flows well and puts the slot-style MAF sensor into a larger less restrictive housing is going to REQUIRE a tune for the vehicle to run properly. Intakes that do not require a tune are often just as restrictive as stock and do not result in large power gains." - Justin Starkey (owner and lead tuner)

^^^ K&N qualifies as one such

More:


http://www.f150online.com/forums/exh...tock-tune.html

http://www.f150online.com/forums/exh...ir-intake.html

http://www.f150online.com/forums/3912951-post27.html

I suppose one could say that this is another of those situations where the user must decide - except in this case, the expert tuners are advising against it with stock (uncorrected) calibrations.

For myself - I'd at least independently confirm by calling those tuning vendors - and/or datalogging the truck. Or just believe them and avoid the risk entirely.

MGD

nnuzzo141

I know the truck uses a narrow band o2 and i have an OBDII reader so i can read what the a/f ratio is. I just have no idea what is should be at idle and WOT

Mod (Ret.)

Are we talking a unique situation to the 5.4's only? I read a long time ago here on this site that the 5.4's were able to "adjust" for these types of aftermarket CAI's without a tune.

I very well could be wrong, and if so, my appologies for providing incorrect information.

nnuzzo141

Yea I was under that impression too. I just wanted to check to make sure it "adjusted" correctly