CAI and airbox heater element

[Tallpaul]

Righto,

My '98 A3 1.8T has what appears to be a heater element in the airbox. Presumably this is used to warm the air on cold starts until the engine warms up a bit?

It's situated in the top half of the airbox and has two electrical connections.

Can anyone confirm that this is what it's for?

I'd like to stick some sort of CAI under the hood, not for any particular performance reasons, simply because the BMC CDA looks bling and Carbonio gives you a nice whooshy sound (i'm a chav at heart).

Has anyone else done this and what did you do about the electrical connections to the heater thingy?

Can they just be unpluged, taped up and put out of the way or are they gonna cause any problems if not connected to something?

 

[Paul-RS6]

in the exit of the airbox lid?


thats the MAF, air flow sensor.

 

[Tallpaul]

in the exit of the airbox lid?


thats the MAF, air flow sensor.

ROFLMFAO!

No, not the MAF

 

[god_thats_quick]

Think that's the ignition coil controller that rich had fail on his car not too long ago!

 

[Tallpaul]

Think that's the ignition coil controller that rich had fail on his car not too long ago!

care to elaborate, a quick search didn't throw up any posts about a 'ignition coil controller'? Who's Rich?

Can't see how a sensor in this position could control anything? Certainly nothing as complex as ignition timing.

I'm 99% conviced this is some sort of air pre-heater. Later model 1.8T's have a secondary air pump that feeds warm air in to the airbox on cold starts. My 1.8T doesn't have one and i presume this is what they used to warm the air on cold starts, but later ditched in favour of an electric pump (guess it doesn't work very well or had a high failure rate).

 

[Tallpaul]

D'oh!

Looks like it is related to the ignition, it's not any kind of sensor either:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=20368&page=3&highlight=ignition+control

What a dumb place to put it!

I wander if this little box of tricks could be responsible for my crappy idle...

It goes on the list of things to check!

Do you reckon i could relocate it and still fit a CAI?

The later spec 1.8T's really are simpler beasts to tune.