Ya so I ordered an S&B intake a few weeks ago in hopes of boosting my fuel mileage a smidge.

Did the install, followed all the directions to a T. I even had a certified mechanic friend of mine help with it. It worked nice, made the truck sound pretty mean and helped with the throttle response yaddah, yaddah, yaddah...

There was a slight ill effect though. My fuel mileage got DRAINED. I lost 5 mpg easy.


And FYI...I was not mashing the throttle at all when testing the fuel mileage. I acutally kept my foot out of it...needless to say, I sent the damn thing back.

Anyone else run into this problem?

 

No.

 

Well....? Suggestions?

In all honesty, I'm not looking for something that gives me a whole lot of power. I'm really just after fuel mileage.

Would something like an AirAid Jr kit work? It just replaces the stock intake tube to give the air a smoother path to take, and replaces the stock element with a high flow filter. But I'm having the notion that the high flow element is the culprit of my bad mileage...I know that sounds stupid, but why else would the S&B ruin my mileage like that?

Maybe just use an AirAid Jr. Kit with a OEM filter? Just a thought...don't flame me please...

 

It's not the cold air intake, something else was wrong. I had it as well as MANY other people and this is the first I've ever heard of this ...

 

did you get a tune afterwards?

 

Even if you lost MPG, i couldn't see it being more than .5-1 mpg. Plus, the engine should be making more power, and if your driving habits stayed the same, your mileage should go up.

BS on losing 5 mpg man. sorry.

 

ok, ok...5 was a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like 3-ish. Before installing it believe it or not, I could consistently average over 20 mpg highway. Hell, I could still average around 18.5 at interstate speeds. Like I said, believe me or not...I'm not a mechanic, so theres no possible way I can explain the loss. I just know it was there because I actually payed attention in math class and know which two numbers to divide to get a miles per gallon ratio Numbers don't lie.

But after the CAI, I took about a half dozen highway jaunts just puttering along and setting the cruise at a strict 65 mph. Never once was my mileage any higher than about 18.3. Trust me...none of my friends really believed me either until I told them I had shipped it back to the manufacturer. If the difference would've been negligible, I would've just left it on.

Maybe I'm just asking for more fuel mileage than my truck can put out. I'd imagine theres a break point where it just can't really get any better without spending major dollars on serious engine mods to boost fuel economy...

 

I believe you on the 20 mpg highway. The 2004s seem to get really good mileage. My 2004 with Troyer Tunes and K&N intake (BEFORE i lifted it) was averaging 19.2 @ 70mph. If i drove 60 or 65 i could probably have gotten low 20s. And mine is a 4x4 as well.

Its just strange that an intake did that single handedly. How many tanks of gas did you go through? Maybe you had some bad fuel??

 

Has you mpgs gone back up since removing it?

 

As for gas quality...I always fill up at the same two gas stations; one in the town I attend college in, and the other in my hometown. The station in my hometown is a Cenex station, and I'm not sure what the other one is but never have the numbers been that low. To go even further, I always keep a big bottle of Lucas fuel treatment in my truckbox and give the gas tank an ounce or so when I fill up. I went through about 7 or 8 tanks of gas, so I'm for certain its not gas quality, which leads me to the next topic....

Yes, my mileage has gone back up to where it was before. It was like night and day almost. Its screwy, I'm telling you...

It may be a little off topic, but do I dare ask if the spark plugs need attention?

 

FWIW, you're not the only one who saw a good mileage drop with the install of a S&B CAI. Mine dropped 2 - 3 mpg and stayed that way for a few thousand miles. I put the stock set up back on and my mileage returned to normal.

 

I would check the mass air meter it may have got oil on it from the new filter
clean it see if that help also disconnect the battery let it sit for 15mins hope that helps.

 

If you have the 5.4L, and your getting your gas mileage back now, you need to get a custom tune after intake modification. You probably had something wrong around the MAF after installing the S&B intake as well. Do you have a custom exhaust? Never get an intake without a free flowing exhaust to match it. Did you reset the battery after installing? Your supposed to disconnect the negative terminal when you change the intake anyways. My truck does 16.2mpg with Magnaflow true duals and 255/70/17s at 40psi. Gonna go down soon when I get new bigger tires but i'm expecting to see mpg numbers like that again after my tune.

 

Ya I do have a cat back SIDO exhaust job. And, yes, I did reset the battery like the instructions said. I did look at the MAF sensor when I was putting the factory intake back on and it wasn't oily or anything.

About a custom tune...how much would a good one cost me? I'm just a college kid, dropping 270 bucks for that intake was about all I could handle for a while...luckily the manufacturer was cool enough to refund the money. I'm not looking for gobs of power or anything...just a few extra mpg's, thats all. But if its possible, could a guy get one with a few different user changeable settings with different parameters to adjust for fuel mileage, power, etc...? It would be kinda neat if I could just push a button and go from getting 23 mpg to shredding my tires off the wheels (just to blow the cobwebs out, of course )

I appreciate all of your feedback! Thanks...

 

Check out a local sports shop or check out companies on the net like SCT tuners and Gryphons and Edge products... its all out there