Cold Air intake problems

[2micro4u]

I was wondering if anyone else had an issue of having the check engine light come on because of an cold air intake?
The intake is the ONLY perfomance mod that I have on my smart and since the install of my intake I had a check engine light come on 3 times.

THE CODE according to the dealer is: Air Temp Sensor (I don't have the actual # of the code but thats what they telling me)

They tell me my intake is causing the car to throw a CEL. PLEASE can any one else tell me if this is really possible and or if they have experience the same issue.
If so how can I fix it?
I had many cars with Cold Air intakes and never had a check engine light come on because of it.
I have hear that installing headers will cause the smart to throw a CEL but never a cold air intake.

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!!

[VinceLA]

Is there a Pepboys, Autozone like shop nearby? They usually scan for free. See if you can grab a PXXXX code from them.

[babybenz]

Did you plug the sensor back on

[brian r]

First make sure all of your connections, clamps, vacuum lines are secure.

You didn't mention what intake you installed-that may be the problem. Some cars are extremely sensitive to CEL activation due to non-oem intakes. So many people I know in the Lotus community had lights flashing all over the place that I didn't bother on my Elise. On that car, it turns out that only one aftermarket intake will work-and it costs about $650, plus requires reusing a piece of the original coupler to avoid a light. And my neighbor's kid says his 5 cylinder VW is the same way. He bought three different intakes before the light went out for good.

If you bought a kit from a forum vendor, give them a call and it should work out. But if you bought some generic thing on ebay, or made up your own system, I'd suggest that you not waste any more time or money on making it work, because you might never get the light to stay off.

Or just get a cheap scanner and keep it plugged in so you can erase codes on the fly.

[2micro4u]

Originally Posted by babybenz

Did you plug the sensor back on

Where is the sensor located on the air box?

[SmartMadness]

Sorry to hear about your challenge. If it is an intake you bought from us please PM me directly with your phone number and I will call you directly and help out. Most likely the filter has become dirty.

If it is another system that someone else made or sold you give me a PM with your contact info anyway and we will do our best to assist you regardless.

Thanks!
Boris

[2micro4u]

Originally Posted by brian r

First make sure all of your connections, clamps, vacuum lines are secure.

You didn't mention what intake you installed-that may be the problem. Some cars are extremely sensitive to CEL activation due to non-oem intakes. So many people I know in the Lotus community had lights flashing all over the place that I didn't bother on my Elise. On that car, it turns out that only one aftermarket intake will work-and it costs about $650, plus requires reusing a piece of the original coupler to avoid a light. And my neighbor's kid says his 5 cylinder VW is the same way. He bought three different intakes before the light went out for good.

If you bought a kit from a forum vendor, give them a call and it should work out. But if you bought some generic thing on ebay, or made up your own system, I'd suggest that you not waste any more time or money on making it work, because you might never get the light to stay off.

Or just get a cheap scanner and keep it plugged in so you can erase codes on the fly.

Trust me its not a home made intake..I spoke with the vendor which was very supportive and helpful. They have not had any issues either but gave me ideas I can check for and do.
Im going to try and put on the factory air box have the code reset and see if the CEL comes on again. If it does come on with the factory box I know then the issue is not the intake and is something else.
I trully think its not the intake because im sure more people would have posted about it if it was causing an issue. Im not sure if it makes a difference but I currently have 23,800 miles on my SMART. I put about 3,000 -8,000 miles on it with the intake.

*Another question is how frequent does the cone air filter need to be cleaned or changed??

[mendo]

Originally Posted by 2micro4u

*Another question is how frequent does the cone air filter need to be cleaned or changed??

When it is dirty, please look at it.

even my replacement in the stock airbox gets pretty dirty between oil changes, due to yours being lower it may take some more care to keep it clean.

it may require 2 cleanings per oil change.

[2micro4u]

Thanks for the tips guys..

**Good news is today somehow the Check engine light went out.**

I still will check and clean the filter.

[jefferios]

The one nice thing of living in the midwest right now is that we don't need these cold air intakes. Its -22 degrees this evening.