Cold air feed???

[DickosS3]

Just a quick question for you guys in the know. Had the s3 for about 3 months now. Bought it with a full miltek exhaust and have just had a stage 2 shark remap. Currently getting about 23 mpg which is nearly all motorway miles. I was thinking of getting a cold air feed for it and was wondering what advantages I would see from it?? Better mpg maybe??

 

[S.]

do you mean cold air intake, or just feed to the intake?
doubt you'll see more mpg..

 

[mjr901]

If you mean the feed....I've done it, just keeps engine compartment temps lower, less heat soak etc. £8 total cost. Easy.

Oh an no....MPG is still poo......cant expect power and anything significant on the mpg side of things...really its only gonna get worse with extra power as more fuel is being requested....

 

[mookster]

If anything a cold air feed will make the mpg worse as you'll have a bit more power you'll want to play with

That said, cold air feed doesn't make as much difference as most people think. Given how hot the turbo makes the air that it's firing in, the biggest gains would be from improvements in the intercooler and the airflow over that

 

[Boydie]

23mpg with motorway driving??

That is frankly quite crap!

My car is revo 2+ with FMIC (350bhp) and regularly see 28-30mpg on my 9 mile trip to work on the motorway. Being honest though my miles per tank lately has been quite bad but I guess this is due to the colder weather and installation of the FMIC.

 

[DickosS3]

Yeah it is rubbish but don't know what is causing it. It's a Wierd one.

 

[Mark300zx]

That said, cold air feed doesn't make as much difference as most people think. Given how hot the turbo makes the air that it's firing in, the biggest gains would be from improvements in the intercooler and the airflow over that

How hot do you think the turbo makes the air, if it decreases intake air temp it will help protect the engine?

 

[Boydie]

Have you a HPFP installed? What are the fueling ratios set on the map?

23mpg really is quite bad. On long trips I will confortably see above 30/32mpg with cruise on at 65-70mph with the odd roundabout blast off!

 

[S3 syc]

I'm running stage 2 and I also only get mid 20's motorway driving and as little as 18mpg around town? I just gathered it was normal???

 

[monopole]

Got my p-flo kit coming on tuesday and already have one of these in the glovebox ready to go on.

If you mean the feed....I've done it, just keeps engine compartment temps lower, less heat soak etc. £8 total cost. Easy.

Oh an no....MPG is still poo......cant expect power and anything significant on the mpg side of things...really its only gonna get worse with extra power as more fuel is being requested....

 

[deanshaw24]

I'm stage 2 and I regularly see 33-34mpg on the motorway and 24-26mpg in town

 

[S3 syc]

Is there anything common I should be looking at to see why I'm using so much fuel then as that's quite a difference?

 

[Boydie]

Get some logging done on vagcom and see what the results are (don't ask me what parameters as I haven't a clue)

Speak to Shark or your map provider and see if there are any abnormalities.

Your car should be high 20's low 30's if doing motorway miles at national speed with stage 2/+ software and mods.

 

[GNJ_Motorsport]

Get some logging done on vagcom and see what the results are (don't ask me what parameters as I haven't a clue)

Speak to Shark or your map provider and see if there are any abnormalities.

Your car should be high 20's low 30's if doing motorway miles at national speed with stage 2/+ software and mods.

It is something we are going to look into as it should be returning better mpg really.

The problem is, the OP's car had a map on when he brought it us that the previous owner had on it and it was really poor, I think John (The OP) has seen a slight improvement in mpg since we mapped it but only just if anything at all. Definitely an improvement in power but the MPG remains an issue

 

[Acheron]

Personally I've come to live with the crappy fuel effeciency of my S3 and have determined that the combination of the S-tronic gearbox, Quattro and the stop-start traffic I usually drive in are all a recipe for poor mileage.

 

[S3 syc]

To be honest the cost doesn't bother me if it did I would've bought a diesel I'm just more concerned if m using more than others is there a problem somewhere thats Gunna cause me some serious expense in the long run?

 

[S3Alex]

Just for the record,I don't have any bits of pipe feeding air from the bumper region into the engine bay,and it works just fine......still returns 29mpg.

 

[DickosS3]

It is something we are going to look into as it should be returning better mpg really.

The problem is, the OP's car had a map on when he brought it us that the previous owner had on it and it was really poor, I think John (The OP) has seen a slight improvement in mpg since we mapped it but only just if anything at all. Definitely an improvement in power but the MPG remains an issue

Yeah be interesting to get it logged Graeme. Should c more than 23, 24 mpg when sitting on a motorway at a steady 70mph.

 

[GNJ_Motorsport]

Yeah be interesting to get it logged Graeme. Should c more than 23, 24 mpg when sitting on a motorway at a steady 70mph.

I know mate

Some S3's seem to be crap on fuel and some not so, its a bit like what we were saying with the VXR's though. I got 23/24mpg from mine and you got 30+!

 

[DickosS3]

I know mate

Some S3's seem to be crap on fuel and some not so, its a bit like what we were saying with the VXR's though. I got 23/24mpg from mine and you got 30+!

I suppose so. I tried some Redex injector cleaner thinking if its been run on normal unleaded then the Redex might clean the system a little.

 

[monopole]

Well I was impressed with my mpg going to manchester (from wycombe) last month, but, boy, just got back from there today (business unfortunately, not awesome pleasure ) and well... see for yourself...

 

[mookster]

How hot do you think the turbo makes the air, if it decreases intake air temp it will help protect the engine?

I'm not sure of specific figures but have seen various threads on various forums with data taken plus a few vids on Youtube with details aswell. It is a marked increase though as you get both heat soak from the turbo (the hotside of which can get very hot and well into the 800 degrees c range) as well as the compression of the air itself. At the end of the day it's down to the temperature of the air/fuel mix going into the cylinders - the colder that is, the denser it is and so the more oxygen it has to burn thus increased power. When people feel their turbo car is quicker in cold weather, it's not because the temperature of the air being sucked in is colder, but it makes the cooling efficiency of the intercooler better. The result is the same, just need to understand where in the chain it happens.

Any cold air intake mods on a turbo car should be taken with a pinch of salt. Plonk in a larger FMIC and you're on the right track

On an n/a vehicle though, cold air intakes are more important as that pretty much is going to be the temp of the air hitting the cylinders (barring heat soak in the intake system and so on).

 

[S3Alex]

I'm not sure of specific figures but have seen various threads on various forums with data taken plus a few vids on Youtube with details aswell. It is a marked increase though as you get both heat soak from the turbo (the hotside of which can get very hot and well into the 800 degrees c range) as well as the compression of the air itself. At the end of the day it's down to the temperature of the air/fuel mix going into the cylinders - the colder that is, the denser it is and so the more oxygen it has to burn thus increased power. When people feel their turbo car is quicker in cold weather, it's not because the temperature of the air being sucked in is colder, but it makes the cooling efficiency of the intercooler better. The result is the same, just need to understand where in the chain it happens.Any cold air intake mods on a turbo car should be taken with a pinch of salt. Plonk in a larger FMIC and you're on the right track On an n/a vehicle though, cold air intakes are more important as that pretty much is going to be the temp of the air hitting the cylinders (barring heat soak in the intake system and so on).

Good advice.....a really good big intercooler(a ProAlloy) made a big difference to intake temps,as did adding water/meth,but i wouldn't recommend the altter on anything less than a BT car.

 

[Mark300zx]

I'm not sure of specific figures but have seen various threads on various forums with data taken plus a few vids on Youtube with details aswell. It is a marked increase though as you get both heat soak from the turbo (the hotside of which can get very hot and well into the 800 degrees c range) as well as the compression of the air itself. At the end of the day it's down to the temperature of the air/fuel mix going into the cylinders - the colder that is, the denser it is and so the more oxygen it has to burn thus increased power. When people feel their turbo car is quicker in cold weather, it's not because the temperature of the air being sucked in is colder, but it makes the cooling efficiency of the intercooler better. The result is the same, just need to understand where in the chain it happens.

Any cold air intake mods on a turbo car should be taken with a pinch of salt. Plonk in a larger FMIC and you're on the right track

On an n/a vehicle though, cold air intakes are more important as that pretty much is going to be the temp of the air hitting the cylinders (barring heat soak in the intake system and so on).

Sorry bud you are severely mistaken, cai are a lot more important on a turbo car than an NA, as the temp of the intake air reduces your chance of det, also even if the difference is half a degree it still means more o2 is reaching the cylinder. Sure a turbo still warms the air, but you are vastly overestimating it, it differs with each application, but the only thing connecting the turbine and compressor is a shaft which is oil and water cooled!

 

[S3Alex]

Sorry bud you are severely mistaken, cai are a lot more important on a turbo car than an NA, as the temp of the intake air reduces your chance of det, also even if the difference is half a degree it still means more o2 is reaching the cylinder. Sure a turbo still warms the air, but you are vastly overestimating it, it differs with each application, but the only thing connecting the turbine and compressor is a shaft which is oil and water cooled!

Don't also underestimate the impact of a good intercooler,as all of the cold air in the world entering the system will be undone by the heating due to compression by the turbo,and from ambient,may easily reach 50-70C in some situations,and then a good intercooler makes a huge difference.

 

[Mark300zx]

I didn't say anything about intercoolers

 

[S3Alex]

I didn't say anything about intercoolers

LOL....I did.
Seriously though,what I was trying to get across is that whilst a good CAI does make a difference,by the time the air has been compressed(even leaving aside any heating in the turbo itself) it can get surprisingly warm,and the stock intercooler doesn't cope to well at Stg2+ or above.
Your point about a good CAI being very important(and more so on a turbo than non-turbo engine) is spot on as well......BTW,Happy Xmas!