CAI, SRI..aftermarket camry intakes a waste of time?

[dchriste]

ive heard many times here and there that intakes for camrys make almost no difference in power, make lots of power, and decrease fuel efficiency... ive noticed that since i put mine on my camry just eats up the gas... is there a significant difference in gas mileage with an aftermarket intake vs. the stock intake.. and if so.. where would i go to look for a stock intake? junkyard maybe? (i happen to have thrown out mine) thanks

[95WhiteCamry]

This is something that as been discussed before numerous times.. However, there is always the debate of whether or not the intakes are useful.
pro - clean air filter provides cleaner air for engine
con - maybe more hot air than with the stock airbox
I could go on with the pros and cons for a while.

In regards to fuel milage, you have to watch your driving habits. Most intakes give the feelings as if you're going faster, a louder, deeper noise. That induces the driver to want to go faster, hence wasting more gas and stressing the engine by going into the higher rpms when not needed. In order to restore your gas milage to whatever you had before, just watch your right foot and your tach. keep the rpms at 2500 max in the street. you ain't a race car driver, so accelerate normally.
I won't go far into this debate because threads have gone forever about this topic. However, I hope this tiny bit of information helped you. And if you need a stock air-box, junkyards are your friends.

-alex

[astro73]

I love my CAI, works much better than stock with my s/c.

[leasaunce]

i dont think they're waste of time. waste of money MAYBe. but then again if you got some BLINK BLINK $$$ then why not

[ptsmith]

i have actually had an increase in my gas mileage...i haven't changed my driving habits from before, either..but when i installed the short ram, i also changed the plugs and ran fuel injector cleaner, so i'm sure that all contributed.

[hclee25]

^^^ Agree with that, i have a SRI on my 98 4 Cyl. with 185.000 miles, getting over 30 mpg, 60% hwy 40% city. An I think I push her quiet hard!
More air=less gas

[terrastrife]

and are you comparing vs a dirty paper filter?

because thats where the gains are coming from.

[hclee25]

used to have a K&N drop in filter and... 30+ mpg is still very good for a 185.000+ miles auto trans

[Hamsterman]

somebody who has acess to a dyno should just make a few runs for the camry community and kill this debate - my guess is that you are not going to be really winning or losing much of anything adding a sri, perhaps a couple hp on a true cold air, but all in all, sri's are really for the sound - which is hard to knock, it does sound nice

if i am running the camry to the dyno - maybe i will try and hit the turbo open and with an sri... see if i get any real diffrence, which could hopefully show more on the larger numbers, but i am not gonna be at the dyno for a bit

[hclee25]

I don't belive it gains anything at all... I have it just for the sound.... and maybe... just maybe better mpg

[JComerford]

I have dropped in a K&N filter, and changed to synthetic blend oil on my '03 2.4L and think it runs a little smoother. No better fuel mileage-in fact slightly worse when I travel 65mph+. K&N makes SRI, CAI's but I think they are as much a waste of $, and time. The only thing you save with K&N is filter replacement $ over 60K mi. vs stock filters. That oiled gauze they use may let in more dirt to the F.I., so you may spend more in F.I. cleaning? flip a coin if it's better or worse.

[dirtdiggler]

All my cars run the drop in K&N. that's because cia and sri are costly for no gains. On my 2K camry i plan on modifying/enlarging the inlet to the stock airbox.
murray's auto parts store had a sale on K&N airfilters, 10 percent off the selling price. i paid 32 bucks for my 05 camry filter.

dirt diggler