I recently bought a C&L intake used and a SCT X2 used then got three custom tunes from Bama. The items (CAI) look brand new so it's not a matter of that.

Installed the CAI just the same as the old came off. Uploaded the tunes to the X2 just fine. Went to install the tuner into the OBD and that went fine.

Problem is: won't start. It turns over then dies which leads me to believe the air/fuel ratio is off.

Called Bama and Matt said to uninstall the tune to see if that helps. Did that and the car turned over with an additional "puff, sputter, trying to start motor" and then dies.

Gave him all of the codes and he double checked to make sure they are the correct ones for my computer code under the hood and that checked out.

I even checked to make sure the air sensor was facing the correct "flow this way" direction.

He said that the only thing he can think of is that there's an air leak somewhere. Well, I double checked all of the possible areas to make sure the appropriate items were either tight or "clipped in". Looked fine.

So, I had to run errands and re-installed the stock intake with of course the stock tune and it's fine.

BUT, I have a tuner/CAI that as of now is money wasted.

Any thoughts?

 

Have them resend the tunes to you via e-mail and reload them into the tuner, then the car.

 

Not sure how much know how you have (not meant to be mean) but can you tell if its being flooded with gas (not enough air) or if its getting too much air and not enough gas. If its getting flooded with gas I would say that maybe there is something wrong with the air filter. If its getting too much air I would say intake leak or something. Cars run really weird if there is a leak of some type.

 

Did you give them the correct Calibration code? It is a 4 digit number under the hood on the ECU. It's a white sticker in front of the battery. If the code is incorrect the tunes won't work.

 

if the codes are incorrect it wont even let you flash your ECU.

are you getting any OBD trouble codes?

 

thats intereting.... i've never heard of this issue before... i guess all i can say is either something is done wrong... but good luck OP

 

All: Thanks for the feedback. I'm heading to Vegas today until Monday so I will work more on this next week.

Derfoo - I will for sure request this.

avengence - I have NO idea.

inyadreems - Yes.

onederful100 - That's what I thought^. I have never checked. How?

wolfpup - I would guess something is wrong too..........

 

OK, lets think about this for a moment. Car won't run after installing CAI/Tune, returned to stock tune, still won't run, put back on stock airbox with stock tune & it runs..... Sounds like its a CAI installation problem to me.

Rick

 

On the 2006 models, some ECU's were updated, if the vehicle was brought in for service, with another program. In this case, if you ordered a tune for the code on the ECU, the tune you upload will not work and the engine won't start.

In your sig it says you have a 2008, and I have no idea if something similar happened for that model year. Have you ever had the vehicle in for service at Ford? If so, it is not outside the realm of possibility that they flashed your computer to a different program, and neglected to label the ECU with the new code.

I am just throwing this out there because when I went to upload the Kenne Bell tune on mine, there was a disclaimer saying that with my ECU code, Ford sometimes flashed it to a different program, and if they didn't re-label my ECU, the program they sent would simply not work, and the engine wouldn't start. Since I had bought the car used, I was worried that the previous owner had serviced the vehicle, but thankfully that wasn't the case.

I don't have a clue how you would go about checking to make sure the computer code is correct, but since the tune doesn't work at all, I would think that would be the issue.

 

I suggest that, when you return from your trip and begin working on this again, that you start from scratch and be sure the hardware (CAI & tube) is installed properly after checking for any cracks in the tube. Although it's possible that you have a leak somewhere, you'd most likely throw a code for that. Don't give up. I'm sure it's fixable. Just need a little patience.