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Thread: Cold air Intake CEL

  1. #1
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    Cold air Intake CEL

    Hello all,

    I have a 2006 Saab 9-7x 5.3i with the LH6 5.3 Vortec and I recently encountered the famous P0171 and p0174 codes. I installed a spectra cold air intake and JBA catback exahust a few years ago but never had these codes. About 8 months ago I discovered a few of my exhaust manifold bolts were broken resulting in a slight exhaust leak. These bolts have probably been broken for quite some time before I notice. The performance of the truck never seem questionable during this period of time, made all the right sounds but didnt really go anuy where haha. About 3 weeks ago I decide to change the exahust bolts which turned into kind of a big job but not to bad. I replaced the headgaskets, headbolts, exhaust bolts, exhaust manifolds, gaskets ect. Anyway I have had the HP Tuners software for a few years and used it to turn off DoD and change other things after reading on this forum and others. After all that work I hooked up the vcm scanner to the truck and notice the LTFT where 24.1 for bank 1 and 2. Thinking this was a vacuum leak I bought the better metal intake gaskets, cleaned the injectors with a apparatus I made, changed the upstream O2 sensors and even bought a new intake manifold (thought it had a internal crack). After doing some reading I found that a Cold air intake can cause the lean condition I am experiencing which I did not realize. I think the exhaust leak helped my situation for not having the p0171 and p0174 codes back then. I am trying to get the right advice on how to tune/calibrate the Maf for this issue the right way.

    I have attempted to change the the MAF Calibration High and low frequency ( Airflow vs Freq.) tables. I feel this is probably the wrong thing to do but after increasing the numbers about 15-20% the LTFT went to 3.1 left bank and 0 on right back. I took the truck for a drive and it seemed okay at like 15-20 mph but once I give it about 50% or above throttle it falls on its face. I believe something with the VE tables need to be changed but I am not sure. I really dont have much experience with HP tuners and it is kind of confusing, I can do the easy stuff like Dod disable and electronic throttle opening rate and such. Also I did read through the Gen 4 sticky Tuning How-To's, Trailvoy forum and a few others. But do I really need to go through the speed density tuning steps just to dial in the Maf or is there an easier option.

  2. #2
    Tuning Addict 5FDP's Avatar
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    Just adding fuel to the MAF and VVE isn't going to be the right way to fix this. All you would be doing is masking a problem and that is not right.

    Somehow now you have an issue with the MAF or a connection point between the MAF and throttle body. Maybe even the MAF is installed backwards??

    Those SAAB's and Trailblazers have there own MAF housing and so long as that is not changed you should not have to blindly add fuel to the MAF to make it read correctly on the fuel trims.
    2016 Silverado CCSB 5.3/6L80e, not as slow but still heavy.

    If you don't post your tune and logs when you have questions you aren't helping yourself.

  3. #3
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    The MAF is installed with the Flow arrow pointing towards the throttle body. The mesh side of the MAF is facing towards the air filter and I have checked the cold air tube rubber couplers and hose that goes to the pass valve cove and there are no leaks. I have read that the Gen 4 V8's are sensitive to air flow changes. The intake is the same diameter as stock but there is no built in resonator. Just out of curiousity would the clocking of the MAF cause such an issue?

  4. #4
    Tuning Addict 5FDP's Avatar
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    Any MAF is going to be sensitive to airflow changes but with the intake being the same size as the factory it's still going to pull in the same amount of air as before.

    I've put airaid intake tubes on several trucks, they remove the resonator portion of the intake and change nothing about how the MAF reads.

    The only other thing I can think of is that it may be down on fuel pressure.
    2016 Silverado CCSB 5.3/6L80e, not as slow but still heavy.

    If you don't post your tune and logs when you have questions you aren't helping yourself.

  5. #5
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    Priming fuel pressure was 58 psi, running idle pressure was fluctuating between 58-62ish psi. I cleaned the injectors with a can of cab cleaner attached to a hose apparatus to hold pressure while i pulsed the injector with my battery. The spray pattern seemed normal on 6 out of 8 injectors, one had some bugs spray out was one of the weirdest things Ive seen.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by 1313147831 View Post
    Hello all,

    I have a 2006 Saab 9-7x 5.3i with the LH6 5.3 Vortec and I recently encountered the famous P0171 and p0174 codes. I installed a spectra cold air intake and JBA catback exahust a few years ago but never had these codes. About 8 months ago I discovered a few of my exhaust manifold bolts were broken resulting in a slight exhaust leak. These bolts have probably been broken for quite some time before I notice. The performance of the truck never seem questionable during this period of time, made all the right sounds but didnt really go anuy where haha. About 3 weeks ago I decide to change the exahust bolts which turned into kind of a big job but not to bad. I replaced the headgaskets, headbolts, exhaust bolts, exhaust manifolds, gaskets ect. Anyway I have had the HP Tuners software for a few years and used it to turn off DoD and change other things after reading on this forum and others. After all that work I hooked up the vcm scanner to the truck and notice the LTFT where 24.1 for bank 1 and 2. Thinking this was a vacuum leak I bought the better metal intake gaskets, cleaned the injectors with a apparatus I made, changed the upstream O2 sensors and even bought a new intake manifold (thought it had a internal crack). After doing some reading I found that a Cold air intake can cause the lean condition I am experiencing which I did not realize. I think the exhaust leak helped my situation for not having the p0171 and p0174 codes back then. I am trying to get the right advice on how to tune/calibrate the Maf for this issue the right way.

    I have attempted to change the the MAF Calibration High and low frequency ( Airflow vs Freq.) tables. I feel this is probably the wrong thing to do but after increasing the numbers about 15-20% the LTFT went to 3.1 left bank and 0 on right back. I took the truck for a drive and it seemed okay at like 15-20 mph but once I give it about 50% or above throttle it falls on its face. I believe something with the VE tables need to be changed but I am not sure. I really dont have much experience with HP tuners and it is kind of confusing, I can do the easy stuff like Dod disable and electronic throttle opening rate and such. Also I did read through the Gen 4 sticky Tuning How-To's, Trailvoy forum and a few others. But do I really need to go through the speed density tuning steps just to dial in the Maf or is there an easier option.




    First You need to make sure there is no more exhaust leak. Number 2....need to make sure o2 bank 1 sensor 1, and bank 2 sensor 1 are both fluctuating and not dead or low near 400 range. Second Did you clean your air intake as well? what is your MAF hz reading at idle?

  7. #7
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    I have not found any exhaust leaks I torqued the manifolds and everything else to spec with new bolts besides intake bolts but I used blue thread locker on those. The O2 sensors cycle between .135 to .620 V. I am having issues with the vcm scanner channels reading, I delete the channel from the list and add them again and sometimes they give me a reading sometimes they dont? The MAF hz reading from yesterday was around 2,400 -2,500 hz.

  8. #8
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    I did not clean the air intake but the MAF sensor is new.