Good evening gentleman

I just got an 06 5.4L 150 and am looking into getting a CAI of the KN variety. After doing research and forum scavenging, there are questions that I would like answered. Is it necessary to purchase the products together, and let the Edge (for example) tune with the new CAI, or can I run the CAI without the programmer? I would like to not screw up my truck, and don't wanna be in the hole $$$ if I have to buy another product. What are your experiences? Thanks!

 

I went with the K&N because I was told it isn't necessary to tune the truck with it. I was worried because I know Ford tunes these trucks to run lean for fuel mileage, but that's what I gathered from numerous posts i've seen on different truck forums and K&N themselves. I had just the CAI on for about 4 months with no tuner and didn't have any issues. But I did pick up a tuner in December and couldn't be happier. Not only because of the added performance, but because of the peace of mind knowing my truck isn't running dangerously lean.

If you can do both, I would.

 

I ran the rousch cai for over 1 year without a tuner , no issues. Then i put the spacer in about 2 weeks after the cai, no issues. Then a couple of months later i did the exhaust, no issues. Then i finally got the edge, never had any issues with anything running wrong, or throwing codes or anything. The programmers make a big difference all around, but if you buy one with canned tunes (like mine ) you still don't get everything out of it you can with custom tunes, but i'm ok with that, maybe someday i will swap it for something with custom tunes but not anytime soon

 

I have had a K&N CAI on my truck for almost as long as I have had the truck since 06(I bought it with just under 200 miles on it) and have not had one issue with it. I just recently purchased a "tuner" and will be adding that to the mix shortly. I know some have had issues with running lean and some don't. I am one of the ones that doesn't run lean, it has been tested by a couple Ford dealerships on the "Lean" subject. This is just my experience. Will it make yours run lean, I have no idea. But if your able to get them both at the same time and install them, that would be the safe way to go, in my opinion.

 

I would tell you anytime you change the configuration of the airbox it would be smart to run it with a tuner, to be better safe than sorry.
Now if you were to just do a filter and the "gotts mod" which is replacing the connection from the inlet tube to the firewall with say a 3" piece of pvc pipe, then.. don't hold me to this, but you'll be okay.
Most everyone here will say run a custom tune, so you're not leaving it to chance.
75% love edge tuners and having a specific tune written for their vehicle. I already went with a superchips tuner and downloaded the the matching tune for my Cai setup for $7.99 and it runs much better. They have a k&n tune written as well for $7.99.
Good luck

 

So is the Edge CS a "canned" tuner? Which tuners offer a custom settings? I'm going to be getting one shortly.

 

Thanks for all the input! Now I will have to do some searching about Edge tuners; how they are programmed and such. I appreciate the help!

 

Edge are canned, the gryphon is almost the same but it offers canned or custom tunes, i think they are from php, do a search it will pop up lots

 

an Edge CS (color screen) comes with canned tunes, but can be up loaded with custom tunes via the internet...PHP can write custom tunes for your specific engine set up and then you can download them into your Edge CS...and Edge Evo needs to be customized by PHP to be able to receive theses customized tunes...once an Edge Evo is customized it becomes a Gryphon. An Edge CTS is the same as the CS but has a touch screen.

 

Perfect, thanks! How much are the custom tunes to download? I'm going to get the CS.