# Turbo seems to surge now with CAI



## smorey78 (Apr 8, 2012)

i drove it again with a guy i work with that has 3 turbo cars. He thinks its always done it but i can now hear it better with the new intake. he said its seems like the pcm is just trying to regulate the auto trans and engine for best performance and its just more noticeable with the injen on! anyone else notice anything once they switched to the injen CAI?


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## 70x7 (Apr 24, 2011)

its probably always been there, just the sounds got so much greter with the CAI that you hear it now.
My wife tells me the same thing sometimes when i got the windows down and driving along sections where a wall or barrier is right next to the car.
she says it sounds like a boosted vacuum cleaner is following us...


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## Swampassjr (Mar 25, 2012)

I have this same problem and it's annoying as ****. It feels as if the engine is pulling, then giving boost to the engine and making it "pulse".


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Run higher octane gas.


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## 20126spdRS (Dec 27, 2011)

do you have a boost guage? mine shows under medium throttle to boost to about 10-12psi then drop offf unless more throttle is applied. might want to consider the tune since your running the CAI


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## Swampassjr (Mar 25, 2012)

jblackburn said:


> Run higher octane gas.


On 91 octane for awhile now.


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## smorey78 (Apr 8, 2012)

running 89 right now and will switch to 93. yes have boost gauge and it boost just like 20126sprs said. and saving the money right now for a tune. anyone know if the tune will make it any better?


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## smorey78 (Apr 8, 2012)

drove the car another 25 miles after work just to get a better feeling of what was going on. Again have no SES light on and car seems to run 100%. In fact a lil late 90's civic pulled up on me like i was a punk! We pulled out at the light and i smoked him! It was kinda funny...the look on his face. was not sure i could pull on him cause some of them honda's are impressive! Anyway the car seems to just want more throttle when just driving around. I guess i just need to know that this is how a 2012 turbo car acts with an injen intake. btw it is a 6sp auto! i often thought that that had some thing to do with the way the boost acts??


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## smorey78 (Apr 8, 2012)

ok so its been about 3 days with the injen in cai mode! so far no check engine lights! double checked all the connections. is it possible to put the MAF sensor in wrong. It don't look like it??? but i dont know. i have noticed my mpg go down. was at 34.3 city and now at 31.7 to 31.2...like i said same roads, same amount of miles to work and same time of the day! Under medium throttle the boost rises and falls from 12 to 6psi unless i give it more gas. than it takes off like a bat out of ****. i do see and fell this. You can see the rpms go up to 2200 and drop to 2000 as well as hearing the boost blow off! Anyone tyhink that a tune will fix this????


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

Have you ever owned a turbo car before? You may not realize, but when you have the throttle in and your building boost, even the slightest release of your foot and the computer immediately drops the pressure(Even if throttle position falls by 1%). It does that so your turbo doesnt blow to a million pieces.

Regardless, yes get the tune. You think the car is quick with just an intake?? Boy, you're sure in for a surprise..


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

I felt that same surging after just doing the resonator bypass mod. I also noticed it seemed even worse with the air on off the throttle coasting with the intake tube removed. With the air on coasting down a slight grade in town car seemed fine above 2,000rpm but if I let the tach dip to 1,500 the RPM the RPM would jump up every few seconds to almost 2,000rpm again. 

I suspect this is caused by a change in the airflow past the mass air flow sensor. a tune might help with this.


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## smorey78 (Apr 8, 2012)

onlyTaurus: yes i have had many boosted cars just none this new or advanced or 6sp auto. every car till now was stick. 91' 11 second awd talon tsi 29psi w/125 shot od n2o, 98 supra 42psi, 91 grand prix turbo 16psi and 99 civic si 20psi. now the civic was a full custom job and that car was the only car that felt like the cruze when it comes to boost under light throttle! all them cars are sold and long gone! i have been out of the race world for almost 10 years now. so like onlyTaurus said it just might be me! the si was hard to drive. it took a year to get it build it, but i do remember driving it as a daily driver to work and once the turbo was on it was balls to the wall or don't drive it. btw what tune to u have right now?


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

Nice history of turbos!


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## albow77 (Feb 18, 2012)

Try to regap the plugs to .035". There are reports of the plugs gapped wrong or chevy changed the spec later on. My car would surge alot and after the regap it seems to have gone away. Better lower power also! Check other threads here about the regapping issue!!!


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## smorey78 (Apr 8, 2012)

ok gave it about 2 weeks with the Injen CAI and the car just would not run any better. i did regap the plugs to .033. they were ate .025, .026, .026 and .024. After the regap things did seem to get better but not really. MPG went from 34.2 to 28.3. so today i removed the CAI and made it back into the SRI. Intake temps did go up about 10* but the car is running much better. There seem to be no surging or pulsing, boost is more steady and on my way home (left work at 28.3mpg) went from 28.3 to 29.6mpg. So for now i think i am going to stay with the SRI till i get a tune. Maybe Trifecta can tune that problem out so i can go back to the CAI!


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## WMPthree (Apr 27, 2012)

jblackburn said:


> Run higher octane gas.


Smorey: I run 93 octane along with the sri and I have no idea what you are talking about when you refer to surging lol. Perhaps the higher octane and sri are key.


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## cecaa850 (Apr 9, 2012)

Mileage may have dropped because you're in the throttle more now??


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