Just installed my SR intake and pulleys and was not very pleased with the initial results. I think the pulleys are fine, but it appears that the intake may be choking the engine a bit. First of all, the CEL flashes constantly, but I'm not too troubled by that, since it sounds like that's a common occurrence when the pulleys are first installed. But, I'm also getting a DSC light that stays on and I can't figure out what might be causing that (not the "DSC off" light but the actual DSC fault light). I tried the trick of pumping the brakes to reset the ECU and I'm leaving my battery disconnected over night, but I'm not sure either of these methods will work with my ECU flash. As far as the drive, I took it slow at first and noticed some sputtering. When I got onto the freeway and took it to WOT it seemed a little lacking in power. A couple of times it even stalled out.

Has anyone had similar experiences? Anybody have any suggestions? I plan on making a few minor adjustments, but if that fails I guess I'll just put the stock air box back on. Thanks for your input.

 

are you sure you go the MAFS back in correctly?

 

Hmmm, dont know what to tell you. Had all my SR parts on for nearly a year now with no problems. Did the initial CPU reset and never had any lights since.

 

Could be coincidence but I had just taken my SR intake off and went back to the stock intake. I also have every other SR bolt on, but once I had intake installed, the car constantly began backfiring at about 3500 RPM to the point I could not take the car in any gear over 3500 RPM without sputtering, an obvious lack of power and serious backfiring. I brought the car into my local Mazda that did all the work and could not find the problem. Once I told them to change the intake back, the tech found that each of the 4 resistor packs were shorted. I did have Nology wires in addition that I also had replaced with stock wires. The car runs great now.

 

I have seen many problems with the Nology wires. Were you the one that basically melted all his wires/2 plugs RX8FORREAL ?

rpf301,

Not only disconnect your battery overnight, but when you reconnect it. Turn on the car (don't start it, just one turn of the ignition to where all the dials work) and stomp 20X, turn off the car. Wait 30 sec. turn on the car again, stomp 20X. Wait another 30 sec., stomp 20X for the 3rd time. turn off, wait 30 sec. then go out for a nice drive. All these happened when I installed my SR Motorsports pullies. My CEL light went on, after this it went off, but my DSC light went on. After driving it for about 40 miles, stopping at Subway for lunch, I went out and re-started the engine and the lights were off.

Good luck. I remember reading of another poster who had a similar problem because the grey foam donut/sealer around the filter was rolled. You may want to check that.

 

Bought the SR Intake and had it installed only 2 days. My car hesitate to accelerate when I go to power and would not run well. I wen to the stock intake and now runs very good. I have the intake in my closet, first because I have not even tried returning it (since they won't return my money for sure) and second because I wouldn't screw anybody up by selling it saying that I needed the money.
Hpe you don't feel bad after spending $400 and getting **** in return. Pulleys are good and Flywheel is good too.

 

10-4, Thanks for all the good feedback guys.

 

RX8FORREAL posted this a while back.

"I had same problem when the SR intake was installed. When I explained to Gregg at SR, he told me to check the installation because the regtangular tab on the inner tube must be resting against the outside edge of the outer tube (MAF sensor issue). Once I made the correct adjustment, the speeds over 80 were smooth. I have still had some hesitation, but agian as Gregg expained, the ECU must relearn with the new intake. Although I seemed hesitant in this explanation, within the last 2 weeks of hard driving, the hesitation has been reduced almost completely"

There is a post on this forum with pictures showing how to install the unit without rolling the grey foam donut. You need to get double sided tape, and install it at the base of the filter, then put the grey foam ring around it. Try that. Good luck.

 

Thanks again for all the info. I just put the stock air box back on and all of the sputtering/stalling went away. I guess I'm just impatient and nervous about waiting for the ECU to adjust to this new intake. It seems like everyone has had bad experiences with most aftermarket intakes, not just SR. Anyway, once the stock air box was back on, the DSC light went out the second time I started the car. However, the CEL still remains lit except at idle. Leaving the battery unplugged last night and doing the brake pumping trick this morning seems to have done little to help. The instruction sheet that came with the SR pulleys says that this should clear up with time. Anyone have any suggestions for speeding this up? Thanks.

 

Did you do the 20X stomps 3X (with 30 sec. in between ? It helped me, and I had very similar problems.

 

Yeah, I did try that (actually I think I did 25 stomps) with no result. I'll give it a try again with 20 stomps in the morning though. Incidentally, do those of you for whom the brake tapping trick did work know which ECU flash you have? I've heard it works for some, but not so well for the M flash.

 

Did you disconnect your battery when you did the install? If so, you need to reset the steering angle sensor.
The procedure is in the owners manual.

 

i have been doing a bit of research on all these intake setups and they forget one thing. where does the car beathe from? if you follow the intake out to the front of the car you will find a piece, i cannot recall its name, it has a vacuum controlled flapper valve and a braided hose piece hidden under the plastic below the hood latch. i had to remove the front bumper to get to it but i took it off and the plastic tray below it allowing air to run directly into the intake without all that restriction! Mazsport in florida told me they were working on a piece to replace the one i removed! the car sounds better and has a little bit more power and i retained the stock filter box. i replaced the filter with K&N. i have not dynoed the car with this modification so i don't know if it actually gained or not.

 

you're talking about the VFAD. and no you will not have any increase for removing it because the air that it lets in is only used when it is at a certain rpm or higher which coincidentally is when the little flapper opens. but by leaving it open all the time you might actually decrease your gas mileage since the mafs will notice the early extra air and the pcm will add fuel to compensate.

 

I'd like to flow test the SR intake on my flowbench and compare it with stock. I'd also like to compared K&N and others. Brillo is going to let me use his stock box and his K&N panel filter. If there is a SR intake just sitting around somewhere unused, I'd like to test it. I'll gladly pay shipping charges. Don't worry, enough people here know me. I'd get it sent back when the test is over. Any volunteers with an SR, RE, or K&N system?

 

zoom, i am hoping i will be installing a ram air in the place of the vfad. yes the gas mileage does seem to suffer ever slightly, the feeling of increased power comes at speeds where the air is forced into the empty space (thus my wanting a ram air setup). the funny thing is i need to plug the vacuum line because when i hit a certain strain on the engine it starts to whistle lol.

 

bigblockbeater, i wouldn't plug the hose - just tie the hose into a knot.

also, if you're getting rid of your vfad, any chance you can sell me yours? I accidently cut the cloth tube part on mine

So right now I'm running with my VFAD removed.

 

Yes, I did disconnect the battery during the install of the pulleys for easier access, but would the steering angle sensor cause the CEL to come on? I'd be willing to try resetting it, but I couldn't seem to find the instructions for it in the owner's manual. Can anyone tell me what page it's on or how to reset the sensor? Thanks.

 

Page 5-22 in the owners manual. Ironically, it's the section that talks about the DSC/TCS lights:

 

Thanks downshift. The problem isn't the DSC light, but the CEL. Would the steering angle sensor cause the CEL to light? I found some instructions on resetting the sensor in another thread, but it called for turning the wheel counter-clockwise, then clockwise. Interestingly, when I tried it this way the CEL did not go out, but it did stop blinking. Anyway, I'll go give it a try according to the instructions you provided. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out.

 

rotarygod, I have my K&N Typhoon just "sittting" around if you would like it. I f*cking hate it and would gladly give it to you.

 

I'd love to test it.

 

let me know where to send it

 

Check your PM.