Best Cold Air Intake for MPG's

JAG4AU · 03-26-2008, 06:55 AM

Does anyone know what kind of MPG increase their Air Intake produces? What is the best brand and model Air Intake? Thanks!

**Blackbeauty** · 03-26-2008, 07:02 AM

Nope... Intakes don't usually increase MPG for two reasons.

1) They sound so good, you stomp your right pedal just to hear them, eliminating any potential fuel savings.

2) When you increase the air into the engine, the ECU adjusts and asks for more fuel to match the calibrated atomized air/fuel mix.

Some say that additional air would allow for more complete burn inside the chambers, but nothing else changed but the flow characteristics. The engine wouldn't really become a more efficient fuel catalyzer by adding more air and gas, so I don't buy that hypothesis.

Bottomline, don't buy the intake to increase fuel mileage. Buy it to increase HP or drivability or to tow better or to give yourself a nice intake sound. Alone, the gains are nominal at best, if even apparent.

cneary812 · 03-26-2008, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty

Nope... Intakes don't usually increase MPG for two reasons.

1) They sound so good, you stomp your right pedal just to hear them, eliminating any potential fuel savings.

2) When you increase the air into the engine, the ECU adjusts and asks for more fuel to match the calibrated atomized air/fuel mix.

Some say that additional air would allow for more complete burn inside the chambers, but nothing else changed but the flow characteristics. The engine wouldn't really become a more efficient fuel catalyzer by adding more air and gas, so I don't buy that hypothesis.

Bottomline, don't buy the intake to increase fuel mileage. Buy it to increase HP or drivability or to tow better or to give yourself a nice intake sound. Alone, the gains are nominal at best, if even apparent.

bb you must be cut and pasting your answers by now

in theory an intake should allow for better mpgs because the added horsepower (minimal) will give better throttle response and therefore theroretically you can push the gas peddle down less to get the same effect without it...

RJacks258 · 03-26-2008, 07:35 AM

Actually I believe an intake could have and adverse effect. By adding more air, the ECM adds more fuel right? Right. Gaining al ittle more power and throttle response in the process. Now with that, unless you mash it to hear your engine you might be inclined to give the engine less throttle to do the same amount of work or same rate of normal acceleration as before your intake. Factory systems are so choked that in most cases it takes a good amount of throttle to get the engine going, in theory. So less throttle with the intake = more throttle without intake to do the same amount of work.

Quartz · 03-26-2008, 07:37 AM

Don't buy an intake if you are hoping to increase your gas mileage. It's not going to happen.

Jerrygfd · 03-26-2008, 10:08 AM

Went with the K&N Polished Aluminum Kit, part number 6012KP and pushing close to three years of use without any problems. There were no gas mileage improvents although my Nissan dealer said there would be. If you do get the kit buy and install it yourself, its cheaper. I just happen to be getting my truck service and said go ahead and put one in when they offered it. They charged $424.18 for the kit plus $90 in labor when I got my invoice and that was in July 2005. Today you can probably save yourself another $250-$275 doing it yourself. The HP improvement was noticeable especially with my Stillen Dual Straight Pipe Exhaust setup, part number 509547.

Rolex · 03-26-2008, 06:54 PM

For what you pay for ANY of these CAIs you'd have to drive the truck for 10 years to save enough on gas just to pay for the cost. If you want more power and to make the motor sound sweet, buy one. If you're trying to save gas forget about it.

fishinfrenzi15 · 03-26-2008, 07:03 PM

i did not buy my S&B cai to increase gas mileage, that was the last thing on my mind. however, mine did go up. while its not a major gain, it was definitely noticable. maybe mine was a random case of awesomeness, but it did go up.

White Lightning · 03-26-2008, 07:12 PM

I just installed the Volant on my 04 Monday. Granted my fuel mileage test was only for 100 miles, I jumped from 15.5 to 16.8 MPG. I know more mileage is needed to get a real world test, but initial results seem promising (If I behave myself..lol) I was cruising a 4 lane to and from work (all highway) and kept it at 65. The power was noticeable, since the truck didn't downshift in areas where it used to.

billwitte · 03-26-2008, 07:30 PM

It's pretty simple with my air cooled ghia, get more air in & more air out and you have more power (and more efficient engine). With my 99 maxima the problem was the stock Y pipe was VERY restrictive, so once that was replaced it opened up the car alot, both power and mpg (I'm currently getting about 27 mpg with city & highway, but I baby it.

A good test would be to restrict the titans air intake to see if the mpgs go down. I would then presume that if they did, the more you open the intake up, the more efficient the engine will be... but I have no idea of how the ECU will try to compensate, so my theory could be wrong.

just my 2cents.

JAG4AU · 03-27-2008, 10:48 AM

Thanks for all the help guys, I think I am going to go with the Volant CAI after doing some reading, who needs gas milage when you can have more HP and a better sounding motor!

EX-FordGuy · 03-28-2008, 03:28 PM

I put a K&N with the plastic tube on my new Titan with very pleasant results. It sounds great when given some foot and response is fealt in the seat. Installation was relatively easy. For gas mileage? Ain't no such thing IMHO.

RJacks258 · 03-28-2008, 06:34 PM

These Titan OE intakes are very, very restrictive. I'd be willing to bet that a minor increase under normal driving is very achieveable. When I am going slow, like through a drive thru at a bank or fast food joint I can hear the restriction this engine has to deal with. The engine takes a second to respond to throttle input, while sucking through the intake. It sounds like the choke is on. And like someone else and I already mentioned, it's a more efficient engine when there's less restriciton.

**blavis** · 03-28-2008, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quartz

Don't buy an intake if you are hoping to increase your gas mileage. It's not going to happen.

Shhhhh! Lets keep that on the down low.

That is what we tell our spouses when we ask permission to buy one.

jessefrank · 03-30-2008, 11:21 AM

In my case...mods = better MPG, but not substantially.

I never got good mpg numbers for each mod, but before and after having an S&B CAI, JBA EVOL and 2* advance my average MPG's went from 11-13 (mostly city) to 12-14.5 (again, mostly city). I drove the truck, stock for 1.5 years and drove it for a little more than 1.5 years modified pretty much the same routes distances and habits, etc; being that this has been over a 3 year period, it kinda rules out the tanks I really babied it, or redline it often.