GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hey all, well I decided to not buy a top name brand CAI, but just kinda build one of my own. Came out looking good, but anyways I need major help with this thing. Here's how it looks. I used the stock hose, just added the filter. Ok, now the problem, when I press the gas, it bogs down hard. The only way I can get it to even think of accelerating is tapping the gas. It has a great nice growl to it and everything, but when I press the gas, it bogs the RPM's down to around 200-500. Sensor and everything is hooked up correctly. Tomorrow i'll be running back to auto zone to either get the problem fixed, or a refund. If I get to keep it, i'll be painting the stock air flow tube silver just to add a little look, but yeah, any help?

Did you disconnect the neg battery terminal while you did this mod?

I had the entire battery out. I put the stock box back in and the car runs fine, it's only when I have the new cai on that it does this.

Is the pipe that holds the MAF in the stock airbox smaller then the spectre one?

Yeah, I'm thinking the car is getting to much air so the sensor is shutting it off or something. Is there anyway to bypass my MAF? If yes, what would be the consequences of doing so?

Got your IM. Not exactly sure what it might be. First thing that comes to mind is that the filter might be too close to MAF sensor?? Wait a few days until your ECU has a few driving cycles to try to adjust to the increased airflow to see if it gets any better.You cannot bypass the MAF.

The thing is though is that it's not drivable with the CAI on. It bogs down unless I tap the gas pedal. Should I try taking it for a spin to see if my ECU might adjust?

Quote, originally posted by bassrocker032 » Should I try taking it for a spin to see if my ECU might adjust?Take a rip around the block!!!Maybe buy some more peices and put the MAF about halfway between the filter and the throttle body.

I had an additional piece I worked into the mix and moving the sensor farther away made it worst. And I'm not able to drive it with the CAI on there. It bogs down to almost dead everytime. However, I might have found a slight solution to my problem. As seen in the pics, I added the small filter to the tube that runs off the stock air flow tube. I plugged the hole on the stock tube and left the small filter on there, and removed all the hose that comes after the main filter box. Should give me some gain, but I'm thinking highly about just returning the product and keeping my drop in K&N. Got pics coming up in a sec. EDIT: PICS!!!

I too got your IM, now that I see your thread, helps.My guess is, either you have an air leak, the maf sensor isn't in the correct position to correctly read the air flow coming in, or too close to the filter and is getting too much air.

any chance the MAF sensor is in backwards? cause it sounds like your MAF sensor isn't functioning properly.just my $.02

MAF may be toast or you have a vacuum hose disconnected/connected in the wrong spot

The MAF is positioned correctly. If you cannot rev over 3K then the MAF is bad otherwise it is fine. Bad vacuum line connection is plausible. You are DBW, so your engine requires the breather filter for it to operate properly. Do you have any CEL's?

Well I tested for vacuum leak, no leak tested the sensor being to close to air flow so I moved it farther away, no luck I'm just going to stick with my drop in until I can afford a legit CAI. I possibly will stick with my stock box and drop in and just change the stock black rubber hose out for some stainless steel or something just to give it that look since i'm keeping my stock box, can't hurt. I took everything back to the store and swapped it out for a cherry bomb turbo plus a little chunk of cash. I'm guessing it was the sensor was so sensitive, it wasn't the exact distance that it needed to be from both the throttle body and the air filter. Guess that why you don't see many people building their own CAI's.... Oh well, lesson learned, and I got a free cherry bomb out of it. Used my $20 auto zone credit I acquired by buying this stuff, took it back and still got to keep my credit so i'm happy i guess.