I've recently installed the aFe intake for my r50. First impressions of the intake were positive, the throttle was very responsive and it certainly felt like I had more power when pressing down the gas pedal. However, after a bit of driving, I've started to notice some weird noises. Whenever I press down the gas pedal, I hear weird sounds coming from the engine. It sounds like water is running and it is very very audible. The sound is similar to when you hear someone flush the toilet upstairs from you. this happens when the car is in gear as well as out of gear. I am not sure if installing the aFe intake had anything to do with this sound but I didn't notice this before installing the intake. I'm going to reinstall the stock air box to see if i still hear this but I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could shed some light as to what possible reasons I am hearing this sound. Thanks in advance!

 

hmmm. I have the AFE on an automatic R50. never had any problems. I have never heard anything about that sort of noise. sorry!

 

I'm pretty sure the noise you hear is unrelated to the CAI.

If the noise you hear sounds like a little waterfall happening behind your dashboard, especially prevalent at start-up and upon acceleration, it is almost certainly due to air in your cooling system. I have experienced this noise twice, and both times the culprit was a cooling system flush after which the tech had improperly bled the air out of the system. Both times I re-bled the system myself, after which the noise disappeared.

If you've recently had a flush or had maintenance done to the cooling system, then it is a simple matter of getting someone to properly bleed the system. Otherwise, the noise is likely a symptom of a coolant leak somewhere and you'll want to get that checked out ASAP.

BTW, I have the aFe CAI and love it.

 

hey thanks a lot for your input, I've recently had a maintenance and repaired some piping because of a leak so thats probably why i'm hearing those sounds. What scares me though is when you say theres a coolant leak somewhere (which makes sense because my coolant level has been progressively getting lower). I'm going to get it checked asap. I was also admiring the mods you've done to your car and its something i'm looking to get done myself. Where and for how much did you get the oem r53 bonnet? i've searched high and low but have not yet found one. Thanks again! :D