Can a cold air intake damage your engine?

 Cold air intake is designed to bring cool air into the engine of your car, it uses short piping with an air filter to ensure that cooling takes place. A cold air intake is dense and will increase combustion in your car, an increased combustion means a higher performance of your car. But before purchasing or installing a cold air intake you should ask “can a cold air intake damage your engine”

While it may post the performance of your car and give it that loudness you love, a faulty cold air intake may also cause problems for other parts of your car and your engine is not excluded. We will discuss how a cold air intake can damage your engine and what to do if this ever happens.

Symptoms of a Bad Or Failing Cold Air Intake

Your cold air intake begins to malfunction when it’s faulty, it is important to know the symptoms associated with a faulty cold air intake so that you can fix it on time and prevent it from affecting other parts of your vehicle. The symptoms of a faulty cold air intake include

1. Stalling that may be as a result of vacuum leak from the cold air intake
2. There may be noises coming from the inlet manifold pipes, whistles, or from your engine
3. Your cold air intake will consume more fuel to make up for the low power
4. Your exhaust bring out black smoke because of incomplete combustion in your engine
5. There will be a serious reduction in the performance of your vehicle, this may be because your cold air intake filter is clogged and dirty.
6. The sensors set up in your cold air intake system may turn on the check engine light if a problem is detected, the check engine light immediately informs the driver that there is a problem.

Can A Cold Air Intake Damage Your Engine

If it is designed to improve your vehicle’s performance can a cold air intake damage your engine? Yes, it can. This damage can be caused by hydrolocking or a dirty air filter.

When your cold air intake air filter is exposed, it sucks in water instead of air, the water gets to the engine and causes it to malfunction, this is called hydrolocking. When your air filter is dirty and clogged up with dust the airflow to the engine is cut off, this leads to soot building up on your engine spark plug. This prevents the spark plug from delivering sparks necessary for combustion.

How To Fix Damage To Engine Caused By A Cold Air Intake.

To prevent your cold air intake from getting to your engine, install a bypass valve this should solve the problem right away. You should wash your air filter after some time and this should be done using the appropriate solutions. Not all air filters can be washed, so you may need to replace your dirty cold air intake filter, here is a video showing how to clean an air filter

You should also replace the spark plug that has earlier been covered in soot. Any trace of soot on your spark plug may lead to the engine malfunctioning.

What Is Bad About Cold Air Intakes?

Cold intakes can be a disadvantage when not properly installed and maintained. Dust and debris can get to your engine, it’s all because of poor maintenance. Your cold air intake should be cleaned periodically, or maybe after every 30,000 miles to 50,000 miles. You should replace some parts of your cold air intake if it’s necessary.

Best Kit To Fix Engine Damage Caused By Cold Air Intake

We will list out the best bypass valve to fix hydrolocking and the best spark plug to fix engine problems caused by a clogged air filter

AEM Air Bypass Valve

Key features

1. Installation instructions included
2. Prevents hydrolocking even if the air filter is submerged
3. Comes with minor modifications

NGK V-Power Spark Plug

Key features

1. High performance v-power electrodes
2. Lasts long
3. Reduces strain on the ignition system

Conclusion

When considering a cold air intake, there are a lot of advantages. The loud revving sound, the high performance and more power it all there. But a cold air intake is a high maintenance upgrade, and when it gets faulty it can be disastrous for your vehicle.

Can a cold air intake damage your engine? Yes, it can, and regular and periodic maintenance is needed to keep both your CAI and your engine in good condition.