can a cold air intake make you run lean, and if so how do you compensate for this?

 

a tune and i believe it can

 

wat kind of car do u have

 

not enuff for you to really notice it. I ran my intake plus header/downpipe and exhaust and my car ran fine no lean codes at all. However once you do all those mods then get a tune to get the most hp you possibly can.

 

ok, I'm really new to this stuff so im kinda lost when it comes to tuning so what type of shop would you go to for a tune, and would the intake also trip the CEL

 

SS S/C...there is a faint white smoke out of the tail pipe when you get on it but not a whole bunch of smoke.

 

if your in lehigh valley, pa, search on here for the philly chat thread and u can get a tune via BYT or red05ss/sc.

 

yes, depending on how much additional air your car will be taking in.

actually, the ss/sc is known to throw a lean code whenever you put on an aftermarket intake. SS/tc's will have fuel trims skewed noticeably. But either way, the solution is the same....a tune

you sure that's not coolant you're burning?

 

not sure im new to all this stuff. how do you tell if its burning coolant and if it is would be the same result as everything else...a tune

 

uh...you can't fix leaking coolant into your exhaust with a tune.

 

ok. Wow will i go about finding out with it is and how could it be fixed

 

well hold on before you start making a mountain out of a mole hill. What other mods do you have? How many miles do you have on your car? I'm assuming you're not tuned, so I'm guessing you must be stock with the exception of the intake? And if it's just a faint amount of smoke, then most likely it's no white (which means you are getting coolant in your engine) and that you have an excess of co2. Which means you are lean and you will throw a CEL soon (p0101 i believe is the code). It's not a big deal, honestly.

 

yeah its stock besides the intake and the CEL is on already.

 

yeah, i bet if you have one of the auto zone jerks to read it, they will give you the code that i posted (essentially saying that you're running lean). This is because of two things:

(1) The stock injectors are too small for the car and don't normally deliver a lot of fuel, and;

(2) The aftermarket intake is letting in more air than the stock sized intake. It's throwing off your fuel trims and that's what's setting off the CEL.

I would get a tune if it's bothering you a lot, but honestly it's not a huge deal at the moment, as long as you don't go WOT (which you shouldn't be if you're stock). But if you're gonna consider getting a tune, consider getting some other stuff first to make the most out of it, like bigger injectors and a smaller pulley.

 

ok so its something that I can daily drive the car and not worry about it. thank you for the help

 

You'll get mixed answers on here. Ideally, no one should ever run lean because it creates a lot of heat and pre-detonation is more likely to occur. My honest opinion: after seeing how much it throws off your long term fuel trims, I say you're okay to drive it as is, so long as you drive it normally and don't go WOT or something stupid. You're car is stock right now: don't think you can start raping sti's or evo's just yet