2003 4.0 5spd Dyno run Before/After K&N

[Frank The Tank]

I've always rallied against KnN
I love it!!!!

Frank

the ads take from key words in a thread..............
gun threads have gun ads...... it's all very clever advertising.

 

[kcm1582]

While I wasn't surprised that the K&N didn't give the power gains they claim, I gotta say I was really surprised that it lost power with it.

And right after my last post, I returned to the top of the page to find this:

Haha, the same thing happened when I opened this page.

 

[Nhaz]

That's a LOL for sure.

But no surprise to me. I consider the K&N right up there with those cyclone things you stick in the intake to "spin"the air. thats a serious lol.

 

[macd7919]

Did you reset the computer before making the run with the stock intake and then again before the run with the k&n? If you are bringing in more air with the k&n the ecu needs to relearn for additional fuel etc.... if you don't reset the ecu then you aren't altering the fuel map and you won't see much for gains. If you still have the intake try to hit the dyno again and disconnect the battery for a few minutes, then warm the truck up to operating temperature and make a pull. I've seen 30whp gains (not on a ranger but same principles) on back to back dyno runs after resetting the ecu.

 

[Ozwynn]

I have been in a debate with 2 Cummins guy over this issue. I have a friend that bought an 06 Suburban and she was complaining about her mileage .... 17 on the hwy @70 mph .... Her brother and her dad (both have 12v cummins powered rams) told her to buy the K&N CAI and filter, she would get better mileage and have more power ...... worse mileage and it does not accelerate as well as it did before ...... I seen the CAI (with no heat shield btw) and told her that was her problem .... she argued with me for 20 min before getting her brother on the phone and he argued it with me ...... going to e-mail her the link right now....

 

[daniel3507]

Since we have now seen a test challenging the "power gains" of K&N, here is some visual evidence of the filtering ability
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest3.htm

 

[LearjetMinako]

I vote on a re-do. Reset the PCM (ECU) and pull a stock version run. Then reset the PCM (ECU) again and pull a K&N intake run. And make sure when you do both runs, the engine is up to operating temps and running for about 5mins.

This almost makes me want to pull the K&N intake from my attic and do a few dyno runs with the good old 2.3L.

 

[eric17mx]

So rangers can tune itself?

 

[mjonesjr]

So rangers can tune itself?

No, but the PCM does "learn" after each reset. That is why it is good to reset the PCM after each engine/transmission mod by unhooking the negative battery cable for about 5-10 minutes.

 

[caser876]

I understand what your saying about resetting the computer, but part of the software sniffs the exhaust and reads air intake temp through its own sensors you place on the vehicle(you can see the wires/sniffer in the pic). For all of the runs the rich-lean ratio was bout the same, no more than a tenth or two off. If it was getting more air and not realizing this it would show lean on the computer. And yeah the truck was fully up to temp-20 mile ride there. And just for fun cause we had it right there we cleaned the maf with some BS in a can that is supposed to not only clean it but "improve rwhp"-and SURPRISE-absolutely no difference. The poor truck got at least 10 runs that morning.

 

[mjonesjr]

I do agree that you need to do the runs by resetting the PCM. The newer PCM's take into account ALL parameters coming from the MAF and the O2 sensors.

 

[TheBeast]

Paper filters actual flow considerably better then cloth. It's a proven fact. The only advantage to running a K&N versus paper, is the fact you only have to buy it once. However, the clotch filters clog up very easily. On a truck its worse, considering you'll be hitting alot of dust and dirt in the air. The tiniest gains do not justify the means to me. If it DOES in fact make any more power at all, it will be so small that I'll feel a hole in my pocket long before and differences in the truck. The intake is engineered to the truck from the factory. The last thing ford wanted to do was put duct tape over the throttle body to starve the motor, then market it. The idea of opening up the exhaust and the intake is virtually useless unless you have some serious restriction. I build race cars/mustangs/chevys as my main hobby. Putting headers, let alone a piece of tubing is useless aside from asthetics. K&N just makes money off of the assumption, not cold hard numbers. I've run stock tubing intakes more so then anything. The truck to K&N's cold airs, are that they clock the maf so that they make the MAF go lean, creating more power.

 

[eric17mx]

I hope he dynos it again and resets it, its not gonna make a bit of difference, probably lose more, engines can only suck in so much air at a time, its already tuned for that from the factory. You could put a 6 inch tube and the biggest baddest cone filter they make on it but its gonna gonna cram anymore air in there whatsoever, i bet theres more of a hp difference in summer/winter driving then a filter will make anyday, and thats only because it can use more air when its cold and more dense.

 

[RobbieD]

When you ran the dyno test, was the sticker on the truck? The intake parts themselves are just for looks; it's the sticker that adds the HP.

 

[Mac]

Did the test also chart the A/F ratio? K & N is going to tell you of course you have to have it "adjusted" for all the increased air flow. A lot of true CAI's do require some added tune, not at all sure about the 3.0 or 4.0. Always beware of any ad that says "up to ...........increase in this or that" or better one yet is "Garrentied for the life of the Product". Glad you at least took the time to have it dyno's and pass on the info. Their drop in filters are good but by how much and are they worth it?
Dave