air filter help

Did your ECO work. I believe that the CAi will have gains, its dyno proven. Just looking for the best setup with stock exhaust to keep water out and get better (real life) mpg

 

Yeah, that's why I said you wouldn't see much from any aftermarket filter.

Dyno proven for what? Only dyno charts I've ever seen were for torque and hp. None of them showed an increase or decrease in mpg. More power almost always = less MPG. Fact of life. Power takes air and fuel. Add more air, and the engine adds more gas. More gas = less mpg.

Some people may have picked up 1mpg, but can that really be proven to come from the intake? Or is it just due to how they were driving for that tank? Not to mention most intakes cost $300-$400. If you're looking to get it to save money on gas, it's going to be a long time before it pays for itself let alone saves you money. If it would give you and extra 5-10mpg, sure! I'd go for it. But I can get the same increase I've seen mentioned by driving a little more conservatively and that doesn't cost anything.

 

I guess I'm just skeptical of anything claiming only 1 or 2 mpg increases at a cost of $200 or more for the device. My own truck fluctuates that much from tank to tank without changing anything (synthetic fluids, air filter, etc). I've gotten as low as 16mpg during the winter using 4wd several times, and as high as 21 one day on a long trip. That's a 5mpg swing on the same truck with no mods between that would affect mileage. So anything less than a 5mpg increase seems like a waste to me. If that makes sense.

 

Tiger let me put it this way, if I can get an intake that gives me gains in the HP and Torque dept and keeps my mpg the same I'd be happy. That is sorta what I meant earlier, if I can get mpg increase great.

Being new to the Taco performance intakes, what do you guys recommend for this?

 

I see what you're saying. Keeping the mpg the same (or at least not loosing any) will depend a lot on your right foot! My buddy has a K&N on his Ford, and always gets on the gas for the WHOOOOOOMP sound it makes. Then wonders why his mileage sucks.

I don't have experience with any of them myself, but I've read about a few:

• K&N
• URD
• Volant
• AFE

and a few others I can't think of now. Some people have bought a K&N and replaced the filter with an AFE (I think. Maybe it was AEM) to get a dry filter to avoid the oil fouling the MAF sensor.

I just bought an AFE filter today. More because I can wash and reuse it ($50 once instead of multiple $20 disposable filters) than for MPG gains. Should be here in a week I guess so I'll see if it does anything after it goes in. I have a scangauge so I can monitor realtime mpg readings.

Edit:
Not to depress you, but I gave up trying to improve the MPG on this truck. People say bed covers help, throttle body spacers help, intakes help, exhaust helps, blah blah blah. No one I've seen has been able to post clear before and after numbers or anything more than a 1-2mpg increase. Seems like it's almost impossible to get more out of these trucks so I stopped trying. I figured a few things here and there, doing 1mpg each and I could get from the EPA estimated 18mpg up to around 25 and be happy. Sadly, nothing I've done has gotten it above 18.5ish. Close to 19, but never 19 for a tank. Most I EVER saw was the 21.something for 1 day during a trip that was 2 hours both ways, and mostly flat. Haven't seen that again though with all the hills here.

 

Thanks for the info...I'll have to search around and get some other inputs. The drop in might be the way to go.

Did you remove or is there a piece in our wheel wells that can be removed?

 

The stock intake is routed to the wheel well which just has a thin plastic splash guard with slits cut in it to let air in. It's fairly big. The only thing I can thing of an aftermarket intake improving is just a slightly shorter, straight air flow. The stock on seems larger in diameter than most of the other ones.

 

oil it and hang it overnight, then put in truck...Learned it in motocross, works the same in tacomas...............

 

You say that but when you have a vehicle with a weak MAF to begin with, it may (will?) destroy it. My previous car, an '05 Altima 3.5SE was just such an animal. I still to this day believe the MAF failure I experienced was caused by the K&N filter I used. New MAF installed along with an AEM Dryflow, I never experienced another problem. Not scientific, I know, but oiled filters are very old technology, not to mention they don't filter very well anyway.

 

would a maf ever need cleaned with the stock filter? like maintanence.

 

My thoughts: AFE oil free to the door for $44. I figure a OEM filter is at least $20. The AFE filters down to 1 micron with a soap and water clean-up. The stock system has somewhat of a bend but large composite tube with cooler air directly to the thottle body. Beats $300 and having to swap the sensor over. I figure the AFE and removing the secondary probably added 10 HP for less than a $50 bill, super cheap gains. Feels and sounds like it anyway, who knows, I'll never have it on a dyno.

 

Exactly. And I now have an AFE Pro Dry filter on mine. Also seems to have boosted the mpg slightly, but I'm waiting until I've run a few tanks through to see if there's an overall increase.

 

I plan on getting a AFE drop in for my truck. I personaly cant see wasting upwords of $300 buck for an intake thats probably not going to do much at all. Just my .02

 

I used an oiled K&N drop in on my '99 for nine years with no problems at all. But the new oil free ones filter better, clean up with soap and water, and are cheaper as well.

 

I had a K&N on my 98 Taco and it messed up my MAF and I had to clean it out every so often. Thats why I like the idea of the high flow dry filter.

 

so where is this sensor located ?

 

I4's it's in the top of the air box, near the intake tube.

V6 is in the top of the air box as well, but not visible untill you remove the fancy engine cover.

It is held in by two screws, and has a wiring harness coming off of it.

It is visible in the first picture of the first post on this thread