I've had an Injen CAI on my car for the past year or so, but I was getting kinda sick of the loud roar in the 4-6K range so I decided to give the Stillen Intake a try since I've heard that it's a little bit quieter. It got here last weekend I took out the Injen (it's for sale, PM me if interested) and installed the Stillen without a problem. I'm very happy with the way it sounds and performs, BUT I seem to be having a bit of a problem with it at startup. When I start my car, the RPM's jump up as normal to about 1,500 RPM's, but then they drop down to about 200 RPM's and the engine sputters a little and then it goes back up to regular idle speed at about 1,000 RPM. And sometimes the tach dips down so low (to about 100 RPM) that the car actually dies on me. Does anyone have ANY idea what could be causing this? I have already checked to make sure that everything is hooked up correctly, and even I unplugged the battery during the install and they recommended and I was very carful when handling the MAF Sensor. Has anyone else had a similar problem like this with the Stillen Intake? Or does anyone know what might be causing that? I never had the problem at all with my Injen, but ever since I installed the Stillen it has been doing this. Any ideas???

 

did u tighten down the bolts that connect the velocity stack to the maf well???

 

hey that happens to me too when i first installed the k&n filter and now i have the stillen intake with ztube. i never got it fixed because i dont really know whats wrong with it. does it feel kind of sluggish when you drive the car right after you start it? like the throttle response is reallly bad? and my rpm needle falls below the first line sometimes too and shuts off my car (6mt) well if you find out how to fix it please let me know too :]

 

Yes, I did tighten down everything very well. I have even loosened and realigned everything and then tightened it down again just to make sure that everything was properly in place. I actually called Stillen about this problem, and they said that maybe my air filter had too much oil on it when I got it from them. I didn't oil it up at all when I got it, I just used it as it came because it said it was pre-oiled. I asked them if I could just wash it off and re-oil it and then re-install it, but he said that wouldn't work. He told me that I would actually need to send it back and have them send me a new one. And get this - he wants me to send the WHOLE kit back, not just the filter! He said they can't do an exchange of just the filter because the whole thing comes as a kit, so he expects me to take the whole thing off and re-install my original intake and then ship it back and wait to get a replacement and then re-install the whole thing. What kind of bull-sh*t is that!?

Does that sound to anyone like it may actually be the problem? Has anyone else had a problem with an over-oiled filter causing the car the die when you start it? It seems to drive fine, it only has trouble right when I start the car up. I also have the Crawford plenum, so I didn't know if maybe the Stillen & Crawford aren't compatible for some reason?

 

I've had mine on for about 8k, cleaned it once and
haven't had any problems. Stillens products are
very good, maybe you should follow their instrutions.

 

did you try resetting the ECU to see if it goes away?

 

I'm sure there are a ton of people who have no problems at all with the Stillen, and I've never had problems with their products in the past either. I'm really just looking for people who may have had this same (or similar) problem with their intake (or any other intake for that matter), and how they were able to fix it. I guess if all else fails I can just take the whole thing out and send it back to Stillen for an exchange, but that just seem like a pain in the a$$ when I should just be able to get a new filter if that's really the problem. I'll try and swap it with the K&N filter from my Injen intake and see if that gets rid of the problem. I'll let you know.

And yes, I have done an ECU reset as well. No luck.

 

Also, if it was just an over-oiled filter which was restricting the air intake, wouldn't that affect the performance as I drive as well? The only problem I have is at startup, and I usually need to give it a little gas to keep it from dying. Other than that it works great all the way through the entire RPM range. I'll post tomorrow after I swap it out with the K&N from my Injen and we'll see if that fixes the problem.

 

I had the same problem after installing a K&N filter, Z-tube and a motordyne 1/2" spacer. Wouldn't idle worth crap and wound up washing and re-oiling the air filter and cleaning the MAF sensor. (not my first oiled filter) That didn't help. I installed a high idle kit and it solved the idle problem.

I now have installed a Stillen air intake system with a 5/16" spacer and MREV-2 lower plenum and verified, I still have a idle problem without the high idle kit. What causes it? .... no idea.

For curiosity's sake, so you have a grounding kit installed?

 

reset the engine with the reset procedure or diconnect the battery for a day. ur problem exists because different A/F ratio from the two intakes.

 

I got one installed, bought it from a guy who had the same problem as you did. Stillen told him it was the MAF over sensitivity from the factory, 1 in a thousand or something like that.

I almost forgot to put in the rubber ring that attaches to the MAF sectional tube. This could cause leaks and pressure irregularities. Just a thought.

 

you try this reset?

Idle Air Volume Learning (Throttle Position Learning)
It is better to count the time accurately with a clock.

Operation Procedures
1. Perform “Accelerator Pedal Released Position Learning”.
2. Perform “Throttle Valve Closed Position Learning”.
3. Start engine and warm it up to normal operating temperature.
4. Turn ignition switch “OFF” and wait at least 10 seconds.
with M/T, fully depress clutch, and hold in
5. Confirm that accelerator pedal is fully released, turn ignition switch “ON” and wait 3 seconds.
6. Repeat the following (steps 7a, 7b) procedures quickly five times within 5 seconds.
7a. Fully depress the accelerator pedal (HARD)
7b. Fully release the accelerator pedal.
8. Wait 7 seconds, fully depress the accelerator pedal and keep it for approx. 20 seconds until the Check Engine Light (CEL) stops blinking and turned ON.
9. Fully release the accelerator pedal within 3 seconds after the CEL is ON.
10. Start engine and let it idle.
11. Wait 20 seconds.
12. Rev up the engine two or three times and make sure the idle speed and ignition timing are within the specifications.

 

put the injen back on

 

^ +1