Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum banner

Cold Air intake worth doing?

22K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  08powerstroke6.4  
#1 ·
On my 2008 F350 tonight on the way home I got the " Check air filter " on the dash display. I know I can reset it. I will pull the filter tomorrow to check it. The truck still has DPF but does have a Hypertech tune. Is it worth to buy a cold air intake set up if my filter is dirty or should I just replace the filter. I am sure it is moving more air then stock on the tune so my thought was the CAI would be worth doing.

If so which one does everyone recommend? I looked at the K&N set up and that seems decent.
 
#2 ·
Everybody is going to tell you not to get k&n, I guess they don't filter very well. S&b, afe, or no limit are good intakes. I run a drop in afe filter in my stock airbox. I see no point in spending triple the price for something that's not going to work any better. I'll upgrade mine to a no limit when I go with bigger turbos. I've ran mine for two years on big tunes and haven't had an issue yet.

On another note, please lose the hypertech. You're just asking for problems
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the input. I will look into just a drop in filter.

I did a bunch of reading in the Hypertech, and it seemed to have a lot of good reviews. Although I will admit most of what I could find about them was older. What's wrong with using them? The truck is stock and still has the DPF. I thought this was a good option until the warranty is done ( 2 more years ). I also have a SCT is that a better option?
 
#4 ·
First thing first... Cold Air Intakes, yes they are a good idea as long as you take care of the damn filters. Its pretty common for people to dust their turbos and the motor because they don't keep the filter clean. That said, the 6.4 suffers from a unique problem... Once the stock filter starts to fill up it starves the turbos of air. If neglected its not uncommon to end up with damaged seals in the high pressure turbo due to the lack of air.

If replaced and kept clean I wouldn't worry about the stock setup for a DD... Once tuned though you want to make sure those snails can get as much clean air as they want. And now on to tuning... If you are stock you should be running stock tuning. All you really do when you tune a stock 6.4 is increase the regen frequency and stress on the motor. As for the tuning itself, there are pretty much 3 reliable options with a 6.4... H&S, Spartan, and SCT. But again, if you still have the dpf on the truck just leave the tuning stock. I can't stress this enough. The only tuning that is good for a stock 6.4 is trans tuning, anything timing or fuel related is asking for trouble.
 
#6 ·
First thing first... Cold Air Intakes, yes they are a good idea as long as you take care of the damn filters. Its pretty common for people to dust their turbos and the motor because they don't keep the filter clean. That said, the 6.4 suffers from a unique problem... Once the stock filter starts to fill up it starves the turbos of air. If neglected its not uncommon to end up with damaged seals in the high pressure turbo due to the lack of air.
I pulled the stock filter and it is dirty so I will get a new OEM filter.

If replaced and kept clean I wouldn't worry about the stock setup for a DD... Once tuned though you want to make sure those snails can get as much clean air as they want. And now on to tuning... If you are stock you should be running stock tuning. All you really do when you tune a stock 6.4 is increase the regen frequency and stress on the motor. As for the tuning itself, there are pretty much 3 reliable options with a 6.4... H&S, Spartan, and SCT. But again, if you still have the dpf on the truck just leave the tuning stock. I can't stress this enough. The only tuning that is good for a stock 6.4 is trans tuning, anything timing or fuel related is asking for trouble.
Point taken. The truck is a dog stock and throttle response is awful. But I certainly do not want to cause any issues. The Hypertech has been on for less then a week. I only paid $100 from Craiglists so no big loss there.

I really want the DPF removed but am afraid of having warranty issues. Is it conceivable to remove it and keep it and re-install if needed warranty work? I know my truck has already had one new DPF installed according to the Oasis I had pulled before I bought it. But that being said it doesn't look like something easy to remove. I have the tools and capability to swap the straight pipe but that flange worries me.
 
#5 ·
What crazy said about tuning. It's not worth the potential issues of running any tunes with the dpf on.
 
#7 ·
If the bolts aren't completely rusted its not a bad job at all... The only hard part is one of the clamps after the filter, the bolt tends to rust away. I can have a dpf out in less than 45 min. Just unhook all of the sensors from the harness and leave them in place (you will break them if you try to remove them if you are in the rust belt) and zip tie the filter pressure sensor up to the frame with plastic wrap around it to keep salt and dirt out.


A torch is always a HUGE help with any exhaust work, but its nothing to be afraid of. With nothing more than rust pen, a socket wrench, and a hack saw (Had to remove the old exhaust completely for my 5" pipe) I had mine out in about 2 hours. Had I had the truck on a lift and had access to a torch and power tools I could have been done in about 30 min........ But going back on is easy as long as the delete pipe and fittings are stainless steel. Removing the delete pipe is really really easy with a little rust pen as long as its not rusted in place.
 
#9 ·
If you do get one stick with AFE, NoLimit, or S&B. Those are the big 3 on the market right now that are very well proven in the diesel world. Avoid K&N, the vast majority of their filters are lack luster.
 
#15 ·
I like the way you think!:respekt: OP let me know if I can hook you up! We can go ahead and get rid of that pesky DPF as well!
 
#13 ·
Boo Boo, benefits of the No Limit is the filter is a massive AFE Pro Guard 7. I got mine with the pre filter so in my opinion it's been staying cleaner longer. The size difference of the filter compared to the S&B I had I believe makes a big difference because it's definitely moving more air. There is no air box and some might argue that all I'm sucking in is engine heat but I will argue that any day, because if it's hot outside, the S&B sucks hot air anyways and the plastic heats up so there's more heat. No air box = cleaner look. I've had approximately a 50 degree drop (rough number) in my EGT's with the No Limit. And a noticeable drop in EGT cool down time prior to shut down. I also did the CCV re-route and we all know the benefits there. Oh and one last minor difference, the turbos sing with the No Limit like no other.
 
#16 ·
Having a Dpf on the truck is the biggest problem. Dpf on a 6.4 is asking for problems