My Exciting Weekend.

[glanga]

I am driving down I287 in northern New Jersey during rush hour traffic yesterday morning heading towards the turnpike when I decided to get in the left lane, give it a little gas, and nothing happens. The rpm's just drop, I try switching into D4 and SST and nothing all while getting honked at and getting the finger. Put the hazards on and pull over as far as I can into the median which was about half on the grass. Then car shuts off, and everytime thereafter when I start it with both the cel and battery light on. Still had power everything though. Thank god for the NJDOT patrol, amazing tax dollars at work. He shows up and destroys my back bumper pushing me further off the road though. He waits with me while I call Lincoln roadside.

Luckily I still had 2 months left on the original warranty of 4 year 50,000mi. I had it towed to my dealership in Philadelphia where I have a good family freind who is head mechanic there.

They were busy with about 80cars in front of me with the holiday weekend coming up so I didn't feel like waiting around to find out the problem.

He later reams me out for having the intake on there saying it does nothing for this car except sound good, unless you get a larger throttle body and removes the cats off of the exhaust. Especially since its almost out of warranty the large cone filters let in larger particles which could damage the MAF which isn't cheap to replace. I do trust him since he is a great mechanic, diesel certified, etc.

Any thoughts? I still don't know the problem.

 

[Quik LS]

is the question:

is this a true statement?

He later reams me out for having the intake on there saying it does nothing for this car except sound good, unless you get a larger throttle body and removes the cats off of the exhaust. Especially since its almost out of warranty the large cone filters let in larger particles which could damage the MAF which isn't cheap to replace.

or what is wrong with your car?

 

[Eliot_Ness_Ls]

The whole intake thing is biased, I know alot of mechanics that know what they are talking about but just say things like that cause they don't feel to go to extremes( if thats what you would call it). There is no way unless the filter is damaged and has holes in it..IMO.

It sounds like a safety switch or something, when my coils went it did this some times. It just shut down.

And if you think about it, it will improve mild performance cause you are opening it up to more air flow by ditching that box.

 

[glanga]

I'll find out exactly what is wrong with the car soon enough.

Firstly, I had to take it to the closest Lincoln dealer to where I was broken down and the mechanic there also said it does nothing for the car and that oil coated filters can damage an engine.

Then I had towed down to my home dealership with my family freind mechanic.

I was asking more about the intake. I'll be out of warranty soon(not that it matters if the kkm intake damages the engine) but is this thing really good for anything other than sound and and maybe .3 more mpg. I do trust him, he knows his stuff. He said an engine will only suck in as much air as it can expel and the exhaust system on this car doesn't expel fast enough to have the conical air filter make a difference. It'd damage the engine in the long run letting larger particles in.

So I have 2 ford mechanics saying it's not good. One who I trust, who is diesel certified and knows about engines sucking air in (since a diesel could suck in a phonebook)

 

[HerbieTheMisfit]

If it starts, runs rough for about 2 seconds, then dies my guess is the Rear Electronic Module (REM). That controls the fuel pump.

 

[Eliot_Ness_Ls]

Yes Glanga but...the air filter helps get to that maximum point, not?

The box is just a restriction that does not allow its maximum abillity. You remove that restriction then it can perform to its max.

 

[glanga]

It can be a number of things. What it did is just a failsafe shutoff.

Not according to the two mechs. They said the rate at which this car expels exhaust doesnt warrant having a conical filter and that the stock airbox is more than enough airflow into the engine.

 

[Eliot_Ness_Ls]

Well if the battery didnt die then what do the engine codes say?

Not according to the two mechs. They said the rate at which this car expels exhaust doesnt warrant having a conical filter and that the stock airbox is more than enough airflow into the engine.

Nothing is telling it to suck in more air, its just allowing it to perform to its peek, the difference is little but I know enough guys here will back up that it does do something.

Now this can be argued all day but its one of the first things to do and everyone mods it some how be it the open filter or moding the box when you are looking for performance with a vehicle along with what ever other restrictions that can be removed.

 

[glanga]

Well I'm just saying what they said.

I didn't feel like waiting for them to pull the codes since they had a lot of cars in for the weekend coming up.

 

[Quik LS]

This is obviously wrong - but you are asking to cause a debate on who you trust or believe then it doesn't matter what is said in this thread...

Several of us have before and after dyno runs with intake, exhaust and tuning - each makes a difference in the performance - period.

K&N, Green, Fram, ...etc all reputable companies, this is one of the most common aftermarket changes done, and if done properly will not mess up the MAF.

It's more likely that they question the value of messing around with a highly engineered car - and why people would risk or bother with it...

 

[Eliot_Ness_Ls]

Well I'm just saying what they said.

I understand.

I didn't feel like waiting for them to pull the codes since they had a lot of cars in for the weekend coming up.

Wait for the codes, it can be fixed I guarantee you it can. Like one said its probably something with the fuel since you have no other symptoms of the COP curse.

 

[beaups]

As for intakes, the least resistance and the colder the air...the better. Does it make a huge difference? no...but it does make a difference. As for the stock exhaust system being "maxed out" or not allowing an intake to help doesn't make sense. Think of the amount of air being run through boosted applications....if the exhaust theory was correct then a boosted motor could not be able to produce even 1 extra HP without an exhaust upgrade because the motor would have no way to expel all the extra exhaust...

 

[gcwimmer]

My K&N High-Flow Intake Kit came with a Dynamometer test print out that show an 15.69 hp @6000rpm increase on a stock 2003 T-Bird 3.9L V8.