AEM CAI Problem 1.6L

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Well Just finished installing my cai in a local auto hobby shop on the base I'm at. Finished everything got it hooked up turned on the car and it starting idling horribly. It would almost die then shoot up with 1500 rpms. I guess it's the maf. There are no leaks and I followed everything correctly. A technician there said it's a common problem with cai's and that theres pretty much nothing I can do about it. I unhooked my battery for 30 mins to see if it would reset but that did nothing. I drove it around the shop once and the service engine light came on. Anyone have any idea what it could be? I'm pretty sure I didn't touch the maf or mess it up in any way that it could be doing this.

[Shad0wXCalibur]

If the breather hose and MAF sensor are both installed correctly, then all I can think of is that the sensor somehow got damaged. You can try putting the stock intake back on to see if it goes back to normal or not.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

The breather hose goes from the stock intake hose to the engine right? The AEM one uses the stock hose so I didn't really touch it. I drove it around and its not liking the new intake. Idk if the maf is broken or if it just doesn't like the new intake. Wish I could borrow someone's around the honolulu area =p

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Is there a shop that can test MAF's? Like o'reillys or something.

[blindsnyper]

i would first try some maf cleaner (aerosol can). my V (and my moms dodge charger) did the same thing when my maf got something on it, cleaner fixed the problem.

i have also HEARD that if you ground the battery to the intake tube you can fry the maf, i dont know how possible that is though.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Alright so spray some air up in that piece? Got it. Hopefully it works thank you for the response

[blindsnyper]

no, maf cleaner, its in an aerosol can.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Well I tried the maf cleaner and it didn't seem to work. I sprayed a lot of it but idk if I was supposed to spray directly into it so I refrained. When the revs go past 1800 or so and I put the clutch in or whatever they drop to 1500 for like 5 seconds if I'm driving before going down to 900-1k. Gonna try the CEL fault thing and see what I come up with tomorrow.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Well my car performed like a 95 year old smoker running a 400 meter dash. I was headed to the beach and was climbing a semi-steep hill for a couple miles and as soon as I hit the top the revs dropped all the way from 3k to 1k and it shook horribly and the throttle was not responding whatsoever and I almost crashed into a barricade at the beginning of a tunnel and got about 6 inches away from being rear ended as I struggled to find my hazards.

I coasted through the tunnel in the breakdown lane and as soon as i hit the exit I stopped and had to call a tow truck. So yeah this piece of s*** is coming off and I'm going to put the stock one back on and see if that works.

[led hed]

maf sensor should be cleaned with a soft toothbrush. not much is needed at all. spraying a heap load in there won't help it any more, maybe just made it worse.

sounds like a hose loose somewhere. or the maf

i'd be interested to hear what she runs like with the stock intake back on.

edit: you didn't blow compressed air in there? that's alot of pressure on the sensor if you did.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

It ran the same after I used the air which I didn't use the red straw because I lost it just enough pressure like blowing on it lightly. It also ran the same after the maf cleaner which I only sprayed on the metal part not really inside it. I'm going to put the stock intake back on wednesday when I get some time. If that doesn't work I'll just take it to the dealer and say I have no idea if I did anything with the intake.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

I put on the stock intake and the idling problem was still there. When the car is in gear (5 spd) and the clutch is all the way out and I'm not pressing the accelerator the rpm's will pause at 1500 and stay there and SLOWLY drop so it's like I have cruise control or something. The CEL was still on after 15 mins of driving and stuff with the stock one on so I'm going to go get it read at checker's or something.


Edit: When I did the extract engine code trick I got 0 0 0 7. But the blinks went Long blink - 0 short blink -0 long blink -0 short blink -7

2nd Edit: Thinking back to when it broke down could that have been caused by not enough fuel? It was at a little under a quarter tank but driving at that much of an incline for like 3 miles could that have caused it?

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

This thread is turning into a blog. I got the codes read. There was like 4 or 5 of them which is why the self test thing was confusing as hell. 2 of them were

P0102 Mass or Volume Air Flow Circuit Low Input
and
P0171 System too Lean (Bank 1)

The technician said that the wires are probably messed up and that I should check them or my maf may have gotten damaged or something which didn't really help me at all but maybe it makes sense to someone else here? I'm hesitant to bring it to a dealer because I'm not a big fan of lying and also not a big fan of paying for expensive repairs I could probably do myself. Any advice?

[blindsnyper]

in the at case^^^^^^buy a new maf sensor and go from there. otherwise i (if it were me) would head to the dealership.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

I found one for 216 dollars

http://www.discountairintake.com/store/ ... af+sensors

/sigh. Guess I'll just take it to a dealer although the one near me has pretty bad reviews..

[led hed]

so the MAF got damaged during install?

expensive intake!

[biggie]

Search http://car-part.com for local junkyards that may have one. Even if not local most will ship to you.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Found one for 55 dollars on that website that came off a 1.6L. I sent him an email about it. I hope that's what is causing this problem =\.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Scheduled an appointment with the dealership tomorrow morning. Wish me luck

[#1Tango]

ur car is a 1.6, its made for 1.8 of course its going to do weird stuff

[blindsnyper]

the only thing that would keep it from working would be the mount for the maf sensor, othwise there should be no problem.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

I only bought it after I heard of 2 other people putting on their 1.6 and Bob telling me it should fit because he did a test fit on one in california without any problems. It's at the shop dealership now. Took it in at 630 in the morning they said I should get a call back at 330 =\

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Hmm got a call from the dealership. They asked if I unplugged the maf or the battery and I said I didn't but someone might have. They said it was idling weird because it had been unplugged and it wasn't sending the right signal to the maf. Sooo I guess when I was putting on the cai I unplugged it prior to taking it out of the intake I think which cause it to malfunction? They said they did some test I forgot what he said and it's running fine now.

Edit: I'll get more info when i go to pick it up

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Also on an unrelated note the guy asked me about my blinking air bag light thing and I said it came one when I installed my stereo because I unplugged it and he said that since I unplugged it the air bag will not go off if there was an accident because it won't sense anyone being in the seat and that they charge 60$ to reset it?? Is he being serious? I heard of a way to turn off the light but I forgot where I saw it.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

FINALLY the closure everyone has been waiting for.....?

And I quote "Found idle is a little higher than spec. Perform idle air vol learn and perform system check, system is ok. Idle is at around 700."

Covered under warranty. They told me that if you unplug the battery for a certain amount of time it resets the blah blah blah or if you mess with the maf blah blah didn't really understand. So this means I keep battery plugged in and maf sensor connected while I'm changing intake right? =P

:edit Found a write up on the internet for it in under 10 seconds -_- won't post link because it's to another nissan forum and I assume thats blasphemy.

[Promise Land]

Lessons learned:

1. AEM will fit on the 1.6L.
2. Don't unplug the MAF when you add the CAI
3. Don't unplug the airbag light when you change the radio

And yes, don't link to competing forums. But you can give us a summary of what they say over there.

[biggie]

Should be that if you unhook the battery while doing the CAI install that then if you unplug the MAF it won't hurt. You usually want to unplug it any way to reset the ECU/MAF so that it reads the new amount of air coming in after the install.

[They Call Me Whatshisname]

Straight out of the Engine Control System section of the service manual page E-78 through E-80

Idle Air Volume Learning UBS00QOA
DESCRIPTION
Idle Air Volume Learning is an operation to learn the idle air volume that keeps each engine within the specific
range. It must be performed under any of the following conditions:
Each time electric throttle control actuator or ECM is replaced.
Idle speed or ignition timing is out of specification.
PREPARATION
Before performing Idle Air Volume Learning, make sure that all of the following conditions are satisfied.
Learning will be cancelled if any of the following conditions are missed for even a moment.
Battery voltage: More than 12.9V (At idle)
Engine coolant temperature: 70 - 95°C (158 - 203°F)
Park/neutral position (PNP) switch: ON
Electric load switch: OFF
[Air conditioner, headlamp, rear window defogger]
On vehicles equipped with daytime light systems, if the parking brake is applied before the engine
is started the headlamp will not be illuminated.
Steering wheel: Neutral (Straight-ahead position)
Vehicle speed: Stopped
Transmission: Warmed-up
– Models with CONSULT-II (A/T and CVT models)
Drive vehicle until “FLUID TEMP SE” in “DATA MONITOR” mode of “A/T” or “CVT” system indicates less
than 0.9V.
Models without CONSULT-II (A/T and CVT models) and M/T models
Drive vehicle for 10 minutes.

Without CONSULT-II
NOTE:
It is better to count the time accurately with a clock.
It is impossible to switch the diagnostic mode when an accelerator pedal position sensor circuit
has a malfunction.
1. Perform EC-77, "Accelerator Pedal Released Position Learning" .
2. Perform EC-78, "Throttle Valve Closed Position Learning" .
3. Start engine and warm it up to normal operating temperature.
4. Check that all items listed under the topic PREPARATION (previously mentioned) are in good order.
5. Turn ignition switch OFF and wait at least 10 seconds.
6. Confirm that accelerator pedal is fully released, turn ignition switch ON and wait 3 seconds.
7. Repeat the following procedure quickly five times within 5 seconds.
a. Fully depress the accelerator pedal.
b. Fully release the accelerator pedal.
8. Wait 7 seconds, fully depress the accelerator pedal and keep it for approx. 20 seconds until the MIL stops
blinking and turned ON.
9. Fully release the accelerator pedal within 3 seconds after the MIL turned ON.
10. Start engine and let it idle.
11. Wait 20 seconds.



12. Rev up the engine two or three times and make sure that idle speed and ignition timing are within the
specifications.

ITEM SPECIFICATION
Idle speed M/T: 700 ± 50 rpm (in Neutral position)
A/T: 700 ± 50 rpm (in P or N position)
CVT: 700 ± 50 rpm (in P or N position)
Ignition timing M/T: 13 ± 5° BTDC (in Neutral position)
A/T: 13 ± 5° BTDC (in P or N position)
CVT: 13 ± 5° BTDC (in P or N position)

13. If idle speed and ignition timing are not within the specification, Idle Air Volume Learning will not be carried
out successfully.




UPDATE: Well once you go cold it never gets old. I put the cai back on and drove it around for 20 miles normally then the SES light came back on and the idle problem came back. Tried this but it didn't work I'm not sure if its just for stock parts or what. It's possible I did it wrong but oh well.

[TiidaCR1]

Hi guys, I need assistance please, this is what is going on, last week I purchased an AEM CAI (21-550C)(I am out of US, so the problem is even bigger) and I installed it on a Nissan Tiida 1.6L (HR16DE) sedan 2011.

The sound is amazing, it fitted perfect except under this: around 4500 rpm i feel like a delay-drop-loss of power for around 1 seconds and then it start responding not straight again until 6500rpms. what can cause this? and other thing that i noticed is that at idle, the car is around 1000-1100rpm, previously it was on 700rpms.

The day that I installed the CAI, i made this: Installed AEM intake without battery, MAF sensor unplugged and reinstalled. Throttle body unplugged, cleaned and installed. Spark plugs changed(all intake manifold removed )

Is it needed to scan the car at the dealer and reflash the computer? Can they deny the deny the service and void the warranty per installing the CAI? WHAT CAN I DOOOO?

This afternoon I reinstalled the original nissan intake and the car is working perfect, I really want to use my $350 intake, please help me someone...