Beware of Cold Air Intakes

KARNUT · March 10, 2025

1 hour ago, Dan H 2023 HC said:

Yeah, the old air cleaner lid flip. Really made Quadrajets sound great when those giant secondaries started opening up.

Mine did too. Still doesn't understand it, cars aren't much more than an appliance to her, but she still lets me indulge.

My wife joined in. She has the performance cars now I drive an Avalanche.

Jay P · March 10, 2025

49 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

My wife joined in. She has the performance cars now I drive an Avalanche.

LOL... My wife drives our 23 Tahoe and I drive an 08 Avalanche with 240k on it. I do still have a Harley she can't drive.

66ss3964spd · March 11, 2025

14 hours ago, KARNUT said:

She has the performance cars now

As does mine, though not because it's a performance car, but just because it has all the "stuff" she wants.

14 hours ago, Jay P said:

I do still have a Harley she can't drive.

Same here, she won't go near that thing.

KARNUT · March 11, 2025

2 hours ago, Dan H 2023 HC said:

As does mine, though not because it's a performance car, but just because it has all the "stuff" she wants.

Same here, she won't go near that thing.

My wife used be into small cars. She bought a 2001 Acura Intagra Type R. Actually she wanted a regular Intagra. I suggested the Type R. We still have it. I drive it once a month. Her daily is a Genesis sedan. I tried to get her to buy a Chevy SS. She wouldn’t part with the Genesis. It’s wearing well and still looks new. I somehow managed to get something different every two years. The only difference I can’t seem to get rid of anything. My kids usually benefit from my vehicle games. I have five at home and 4 spread throughout the family. I find a deal I snag it.

Edited March 11, 2025 by KARNUT

Transient · March 19, 2025

On 3/10/2025 at 8:39 AM, Dan H 2023 HC said:

Is that not your opinion?

Regardless, your opinion about offering unrequested opinions is noted and appreciated.

No. It's a fact regarding usable power. Think about it. What happens when you press on the accelerator? The transmission downshifts and jumps out of that RPM range for somewhere higher.

DenaliSS · June 28, 2025

On 2/15/2025 at 12:41 AM, Red6.2 said:

I put an S and B cold air air intake on my 2024 Silverado 6.2 when it had about 1,000 miles on it and have always maintained it. I had been noticing that the truck seemed down on power and just wasn’t running right. I never thought it really did. I was thinking more about the s and b design with the air scoop just pulling hot air and all of the weird intake noises I got from it. The placement of the maf sensor by the pcv hose also made me question it. I have about 13,400 miles on the truck and today I was driving around and decided I was going to put the stock airbox back in it. I just thought that the s and b was not helping the truck. Right before I was going home to put the stock airbox in and got a check engine light for the first time and the truck really wasn’t running good. Pulled the s and b out and put the stock airbox in and all the codes for the maf sensor and map sensor went away. It was like driving a whole new truck. My fuel mileage went up to about 18mpg (was getting 9) and the power and smoothness of the truck was amazing. I realized that the truck already came with a cold air intake and that all aftermarket ones do is provide sound which makes you think they help when really all they do is cause problems and make the engine perform worse. One thing I did notice on the s and b was the pcv inlet tube was leaking a bit which could have contributed to some of the problem. I also think I got the s and b put in the truck before it was fully broke in so I thought it made more power but really didn’t since the truck was not even broke in yet. I was surprised because s and b was supposed to be a higher end air intake. The only performance air intake I would consider is the one made by GM. Sorry for the long thread, just thought I would put my experience in here to warn others about these so called aftermarket cold air intakes that do absolutely nothing for your truck but make sounds.

FYI - When I had that S&B CAI installed, which I had for 3 years, that extension harness supplied in the S&B kit was identified by my tuner as faulty and causing issues with the MAF. I decided to revert back to the OE airbox and later moved to a system utilizing the OE location of that MAF. If I had further problems, it would be much easier to replace OE harness than trying to source aftermarket pieces to replace, that may not be available separately from a kit.

I just wanted a cleaner look and smoother flow than what was provided by the OE unit, leading from the airbox to the throttle body. That and a better filter media than the OE paper filter, that I ever was impressed with. I'll have to look into the Stillen and Bison products that have caught my interest.

Red6.2 · June 28, 2025

1 hour ago, DenaliSS said:

FYI - When I had that S&B CAI installed, which I had for 3 years, that extension harness supplied in the S&B kit was identified by my tuner as faulty and causing issues with the MAF. I decided to revert back to the OE airbox and later moved to a system utilizing the OE location of that MAF. If I had further problems, it would be much easier to replace OE harness than trying to source aftermarket pieces to replace, that may not be available separately from a kit.

I just wanted a cleaner look and smoother flow than what was provided by the OE unit, leading from the airbox to the throttle body. That and a better filter media than the OE paper filter, that I ever was impressed with. I'll have to look into the Stillen and Bison products that have caught my interest.

What I ended up doing was getting a GM performance intake elbow and keeping the stock airbox in for a smoother airflow curve. Worked good and then when the parts became available for the GM performance intake off the 2025 6.2s I got one of those airboxs. My dealer told me the refresh trucks didn’t need the calibration to put them in. Just disconnect the battery cable. So far have had no issues and can tell a difference in having the GM performance intake in. Truck seems to shift better and feels more responsive.

Ryan Tierney · July 3, 2025

added a k&n black hawk on both my 23 silverado and 23 suburban. Improved both throttle response and gas milage by 2.5MPG. How again is this a bad?

BIGDOGx · July 3, 2025

I learned my lesson long ago with engine modding, not for me...

BIGDOGx · July 3, 2025

double post, please delete.

Edited July 3, 2025 by BIGDOGx

davester · July 4, 2025

19 hours ago, Ryan Tierney said:

added a k&n black hawk on both my 23 silverado and 23 suburban. Improved both throttle response and gas milage by 2.5MPG. How again is this a bad?

If a bigger plastic tube between the air filter and the intake manifold, or even a different air filter,could give the truck 2.5mpg better, GM would have it slapped onto the truck so fast.

And most likely, your "improved throttle response" is just the extra noise the intake makes.

Silverado4x4 · July 4, 2025

2 hours ago, davester said:

If a bigger plastic tube between the air filter and the intake manifold, or even a different air filter,could give the truck 2.5mpg better, GM would have it slapped onto the truck so fast.

And most likely, your "improved throttle response" is just the extra noise the intake makes.

Exactly. Alot of people hear the intake noise and swear up and down they have more HP and throttle response, they don't. 2.5 mpg increase that's funny. If I put on 2 CAI's does that mean I get 5 mpg increase.

Edited July 4, 2025 by Silverado4x4

KARNUT · July 4, 2025

The last performance vehicle I bought from GM had a factory cold intake. The reason they don’t open them up is most people don’t like the noise. My 94 Impala and Z-28 had baffles for noise. Factory intakes and exhaust are more open now, free flowing. And an open exhaust and intake usually help more in the upper RPM range. The engine is saying give me more. I’ve seen multiple studies saying fuel mileage improves over time. I can safely say it didn’t for me. I wanted to hear the noise.

Ryan Tierney · July 5, 2025

On 7/4/2025 at 12:36 AM, davester said:

If a bigger plastic tube between the air filter and the intake manifold, or even a different air filter,could give the truck 2.5mpg better, GM would have it slapped onto the truck so fast.

And most likely, your "improved throttle response" is just the extra noise the intake makes.

Has nothing to do with noise. Its been proven on Dyno's CAI make a difference. Just changing your stock constricted air filter will make a difference. Theres enough data available to prove the claims since the 70's.

You also need to understand these auto manufactures are also in bed with the oil companies. If they weren't, vapor carburetors would be the standard pushing our heaviest vehicles on the road over 80+ MPG

Edited July 5, 2025 by Ryan Tierney

davester · July 5, 2025

Sure, GM has been paying HUNDREDS of millions of dollars in fines to the US gov't for exceeding CAFE standards because they get what from the oil companies? And that's just for slightly exceeding them. If a bigger plastic tube would give them even 0.1 mpg more, it would have been put on all their vehicles years and years ago.

Yes, the CAI can give you a couple more HP, at WOT. Where you spend basically 0% of the time.