c00lkatz

Yeah if you're staring at an inline 4 in an economy car and all the plugs are neatly placed on top and easy as pie to get to. Plugs are very simple and basic maintenance, but their location on an engine (and especially in a tight engine bay) makes them a PITA to change sometimes. Ever done a tune-up on a Chevy Astro van? If you can get that done in 10 minutes I'll bow down to you. +1 x 100000000 Those things are awesome! Easily one of the best "tools" in my garage!

Hmmmm, I'll have to take a look at my wiring again. There was already an aftermarket head unit installed. Luckily they used an adapter instead of cutting the factory harness, but it was just twist-tied together with electrical tape and the rear speakers didn't work because they didn't hook up the remote turn-on for the factory rear speaker amp. I installed a new head unit (the one they installed was from like 2002) using the adapter and solder/heatshrink, and I rewired the factory amp harness to bypass it. I was able to tidy up as much stray wiring as possible, but I may have missed something. Come to think of it, my cigarette lighter hasn't worked since I got it, but it never kept the A/C from working. I only started having this issue after I installed the radio, so I must have screwed something up digging around under the dash. Thanks for the input!

That's a good idea. I've had those spark plug sockets with the little rubber nipple in them and the nipple always pops out, so I've just used regular sockets since. I'll have to give that a shot next time.

I lost my new #6 plug trying to get it started back there with me hanging over the engine (I am short) and wound up having to go to the parts store to get another one. He was like "You only need 1 plug?" and I replied "Don't ask." lol I still don't know where that plug is lol. I searched for about 15 minutes and finally decided by the time I found it, I could have just spent the $2 for another one and be done with it.

Yeah it makes no sense to me either. It could be a short I guess, which is probably what's causing the lighter fuse to blow in the first place. I don't know, haven't felt like ripping the dash apart AGAIN to look at it. I just have a regular cigarette lighter in there, no adapters or anything. I have the lighter sitting in there now and it doesn't blow or anything, only after I've actually used it a couple times. I am in Richardson a couple miles down the road from TX-190/George Bush & Renner.

Mine didn't work either (at all). Turns out it was the door lock timer, which in my Pathfinder was located in the driver's side rear quarter panel behind the speaker/plastic panels. It had some cold solder joints that had cracked over time. Reflowed the solder on most of the joints (gotta take it apart, pretty easy to do) and the locks started working again. Seems to be a common problem.

Ok, checked this out, and it will not run without the A/C fuse OR the cigarette lighter fuse. They both have to be in/good for the A/C clutch to kick on. That's the next step. Guess I have some studying to do

I didn't think of that. Yeah, the A/C fuse is good, but I never tried removing it when the lighter fuse is good to see if it still functions. That may be a good place to start looking for a short. I'll have to check that out.

I have a strange problem on my '92 Pathfinder. My cigarette lighter fuse keeps blowing. I can use it a couple times, no problem. Then suddenly my A/C compressor stops kicking on. I went through the FSM and troubleshot everything from the A/C switch to the A/C relay and no problems except when the cigarette lighter fuse blows. I can use the cigarette lighter a few times, and then suddenly no A/C. It doesn't even happen instantly. I can use the cigarette lighter just fine for about 3-4 times, no problem, and then the fuse suddenly blows (while not even using it!). Check the fuse (15A) and it's blown. Change the fuse and no problems until I use the cigarette lighter a couple times. I'm mostly curious as to why this keeps my A/C compressor from clicking on. As far as I know, the two circuits shouldn't even be connected. I have checked for loose or frayed wires with no success. Everything looks like it should be good. Will I just have to let the cigarette lighter be just to keep my A/C going? Just posting here so maybe someone with some experience can shed some light on the problem. Anyone experienced this before?

Yeah for the money you really can't beat it. I'm still very pleased with the system overall...except for the filter...got my new K&N! The K&N filter definitely flows better. I just picked it up about an hour ago and installed it in the parking lot. Everything feels better, from the flow across the filter, to the smoothness of acceleration and throttle response, to the whooshing sound, which has gotten louder. I couldn't even hardly hear the intake sucking up air from the driver's seat before except for hard acceleration, but now I can rev it from the driver's seat and hear the whooshing clearly. It was definitely worth the extra $42! Now as for filtering, you know how that goes. If it flows better, chances are it filters worse lol. The part# I got was RE-0950, for anyone wondering. It's just a tad larger than the Insys filter, with a longer flange, closed end-cap, and a slight tilt which really helps direct the filter where you want it. I decided on the closed rubber end cap to help keep crap from getting into it from behind the headlight, as I've had bad experiences in the past with the chrome end-caps scratching and rusting up. Of course, it wasn't a K&N that happened on, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I would definitely suggest you pick up a K&N for this intake, if not now, then at least when it comes time to clean/replace the Insys.

^^^ ImageShack ... no account necessary! Here are a couple pics: The Money Shot Here you can see the plastic couplers and my attempt to seal them with some RTV silicone gasket maker...not pretty but doesn't leak! Here you can see the MAF adapter and how I had to seal it up as well...again not pretty but doesn't leak! And finally here is where I just did my own thing with fresh hose I had laying around...better than the crap they wanted you to do I did test all fittings/adapters with the old carb cleaner trick to make sure there were not intake leaks, and so far so good. The filter pictured is the original filter that came with the kit. My K&N is supposed to arrive at 4WheelParts (about 5 minutes away, lucky me!) on Thursday or Friday. The filter they give you looks to be a dry filter, no oil. It does seem to flow pretty well, but can't comment on how well it filters. Insys wants you to use the crappy blue hose they sent along with the stock brass elbow from your original intake tube to hook up their hose to the original...well that didn't work AT ALL, so I decided to cut some fresh hose I had laying around and give it a more "professional" look. Eventually I will replace the couplers as well. The couplers are the only blue in my engine bay and it is quite "loud" if you know what I mean. Also, I do plan to get some grommets and metal couplers to finish off the hose routing vs the crappy plastic they give you. I will get to that eventually but it works for now. One thing really irks me, though...they went through the trouble to weld the bottom left-hand nipple on, but give you crappy plastic couplers for the other two connections. Why not just weld a couple nipples for them as well? Hell charge a little more if cost is that important. At only $52 they have plenty of room to mark it up a few bucks instead of sacrificing quality!

I just recently installed the same intake. I posted this in the stickied thread above regarding custom intakes, so I'm just going to quote it here:

Sorry to bump an old thread, but isn't the eBay intake and your intake the same design? Why would your intake provide 15-20 more rwtq and the other intake produce no extra torque and just a little high end horsepower? Aside from your shorter tube, I do not see any other difference other than a larger diameter filter and MAF adapter inlet, which would be restricted by the stock MAF housing diameter anyway. Not trying to be an ass, I am genuinely curious. I have been wrenching for a long time but am far off from a "tuner" so to speak, so just trying to learn. Also, what made the CEL come on and what needs to be done to turn it off? I know with newer cars it is best to disconnect the battery to "reset" the ECU so that it can "re-learn" according to the mods that have been performed. I am not sure how that works on these older vehicles. I never did that on my old Z31's I used to have (nor did I hear of any other Z31 owners doing it), but on my '09 Focus, everyone on the forums recommends you do that even for a simple drop-in K&N filter swap. EDIT: Got the eBay intake installed. Fitment was what you'd expect from a $50 intake. The adapter didn't line up perfectly (the bolt holes are way off but still line up), and the couplers and blue hose are quite soft as stated above. The adapter came in with one corner bent, which I had to bend back, and the filter looks to be a cheapie. The support bracket had to be bent into the correct shape according to their picture as it was just a straight piece of aluminum stock with a couple holes drilled in it. Luckily it was soft and easy to bend/twist to get it mounted correctly. The plastic hose barbs are kind of crappy, and even though they have threads, they're just kind of pushed in. Might be prone to leaking. All in all, I had to bend up the bracket, use some silicone on the hose barbs and MAF adapter to make sure they didn't leak, and extended the vacuum lines with new hose to get around using the crappy stuff they provided. It does seem to be a noticeable gain, throttle response is better and it seems to accelerate smoother (I have a custom 2.5" exhaust with a Magnaflow and came from a fresh stock paper filter). The growl is a nice touch (as with any cone style intake). No data on MPG as I literally just installed it a couple hours ago. All-in-all you really can't beat it for $52. Now I did just order a K&N cone filter for $42 to replace the $10 crappy one they give you, so now I'm about $94 into it. Still not bad for a "K&N" short ram intake, especially considering most anything you buy bolt-on from one of the major companies is usually $200-350.