2009 Ford Expedition Cold Air Intake

Hi Guys

So I am planning to install the Cold Air Intake, Surfed ebay and got confused with all the brands and prices available there.
I would like to receive your input here, prices range from 69$ up to 350+$. So what is the difference between the 69$ unbranded intake and the 350$+ branded intake? Does the brand make any difference?

What do you recommend?

Thanks
H

Start with a tuner. Ask said tuner what they suggest and or power goals.

Example.
5star suggested I use Airaid intake. They said it was more tuner friendly.

With random or not used intakes, a tuner will have to tune more generic. The tuning might be a longer process. Or simply you won't be a happy customer.

JMHO

CJ

I just installed the K&N cold air intake on my 2008 Expy. I got it for less than $240 from AutoAnything.com with a 20% off coupon.

I cleaned the MAF sensor when I swapped it into the new cold air intake. I also disconnected the battery and attached a jumper from the battery ground to the hot wire to clear all memory.

The trucks seems to have more power. It launches much harder now from a dead stop. You will notice more engine noise while under full throttle but sound is quiet when driving normal. It's too early to see if there are any MPG gains.

It was well worth it IMHO.

Next up is a tuner and hopefully 3.73 gears to swap out the 3.31 gears. This should really be a noticeable change.

I tried a cold air intake on my 2010. It was much too loud for my liking.

The kit got rid of the stock air tube with all the weird chambers in it and replaced it with a straight tube. It also left the filter more open to the outside world. It made quite a racket. I usually do cold air intakes and free flow exhaust on all my vehicles. I like the sound but this time I returned it.


It's certainly a matter of personal preference, but I figured you should know before you buy.

Andy Bajorinas said:

I tried a cold air intake on my 2010. It was much too loud for my liking.

Click to expand...

I tried a cold air intake on my 2013 Mustang GT and I removed it. It was way too loud. It appeared to be louder that the GT500 Mufflers I have on my car. I think because my 5.0 engine revs to over 7,000 rpm is why it was so loud.

I dont think the 5.4 gets over 5800RPM during shifts so the noise is acceptable to me. Again, personal preference.

Just installed a K&N on my '08 this evening. Not much noise.....til I mash the gas, then it moans and I can feel a difference. Im keeping it.

I just ordered a K & N for my 08 Espy today...can't wait to try it...it's deathly quiet in-cab and I want to hear and feel the muscle... I have a stroker Dodge Ram hemi with lt's, no cats with true duals so I don't believe this will come close to what my Ram Cai sounds like under throttle

Just got mine yesterday and installed it at work today (wife went to bed late so I couldn't sneak outside to do it..hehe)...I like it, I'm surprised how loud it is when you get on it, I kinda like that. But I can see how it could get on nerves if I floored it every time..but that's rare for me. But when driving normal, it's barely louder then the stock intake and virtually not noticeable when radio or movies playing. One thing I noticed right away was the better gas mileage. Went from 16.3 mpg to 20+. That's just today though and we'll see after a week where it sits. Time will tell when the pcm resets itself and adjusts to the new airflow to see all the performance (before a tuner purchase). This was a very easy install...

I don't understand the entire K&N air intake thing. It looks sort of like my stock air filter in that its a paper air filter. What does this do that is so good? If they result in more hp and better gas mileage than OEM design, why would FORD not build those design features into the original product? Ford goes to a lot of design trouble to design engines that are the most efficient they can be ... and then they kneecap the product with a restrictive air intake?

I'm not saying people who install these are wrong because I know nothing, just asking.

for one...it has more "breathing" in the cone vs the flat area of stock, 2-it's a smooth bore to the intake. Look at the paper ribs on a stock filter, they are so tight compared to an aftermarket performance filter, stock filter restricts flow. The stock tube has ribs and also an air resonator in it to breakup the air flow before it hits the intake (to keep it quiet).... and you have to understand one thing, a manufacturer will not put the best functional part into any vehicle (except the top performance vehicles, but even then, they can be improved by custom work.) They are worried about mass producing parts for the cheap as well as emissions..... a good example is my 2005 Hemi Ram, if you go by your thought process it should be plenty fast..I took it to the drag strip and ran high 15's or low 16's (it was so long ago, I can't remember). Well, I can't leave well enough alone and tinkered and modified and did alot of aftermarket stuff...enough that I took almost 4 seconds off my e.t.'s.... a friend of mine told me this years ago, the stock air intake is like breathing through a straw...bigger or more efficient cai's is like normal breathing. Now, the pcm will only adjust so far before you need custom tuning to take advantage of the extra airflow. I'm no engineer but I did alot of r&d to get where I am today...