Air filters and ECU

[bitemarx]

I am planning to change the air filter in my car, but wondering whether I would need to make any changes to my ECU afterwards. As far as I understand, changing the air filter would affect the air/fuel mixture.

Before anyone shoots me down for asking such a basic question, I'd like to declare that I do not work on cars, I merely enjoy driving them.

[bitemarx]

GreenV8S said:

bitemarx said:

I am planning to change the air filter in my car

Do you mean you plan to replace the replaceable filter element with another similar one, or are you planning to change the air intake in some way?

Not changing the induction unit in anyway, merely swapping OEM filter element for a K&N one.

[bitemarx]

So it won't Mess up the fuel+air mixture? 🤨

[bitemarx]

PeterBurgess said:

Nobody should ever shoot someone down for asking questions on here. I suppose, if someone keeps changing what they ask and maybe not seeming to 'listen' to what is given to them exasperation can creep in, which may not be surprising.
My info for you is old and probably well out of date with clever ECUs. When I was playing with Rover SD1 Vitesse efi in the early 90s (flap and hot wire air flow meters) the guy who did the original work at AR told me the system will cope with 25% more demand in terms of airflow but bugg*r about with cam profiles at your own peril!
Karl next door quite often shows us how remapping modern systems and aftermarket ecus can tame wild cams in terms of careful fuelling and timing. Most impressive when compared with the dinosaur distributors and carbs we play with. mind you we did play with a Kugelfischer mechanical sequential injection system recently, took me back to my Dad's Peugeot 504s of the 70s!
Sorry for being long winded....maybe I should just have said, I am sure the system will cope. Changing just the filter in the case for a freeflow one should have no effect on the power curve. Change the intake and filter setup upstream of the flowmeter and you may well alter the power curve and not necessarily to the good.

"No effect on the power curve"?? The only reason I'm changing it is in the hope that it will let my engine breathe better and improve power delivery. 😕

[bitemarx]

Thanks for your replies 🙂

[bitemarx]

227bhp said:

Hang on to that hope as you get forced back into your seat with all those extra horses.

I have enough horses, just hoping to get smoother delivery. Guess I'll just try it and see if there's any change.
Just being cautious because its a low mileage car and I don't want to cause any damage to the engine in any way, as far as I can help it.

[bitemarx]

Just wanted to say thank you for your replies. I've purchased an air filter; will be having in installed this weekend. Fingers crossed, it will make some difference to the power delivery; if not, well, I would have learned something.

[bitemarx]

Mignon said:

WTF does "smoother power delivery even mean? Does your car kangaroo up the road? Does it lurch from pub to off license like a drunken Irishman?

You're using terms that don't even have any meaning in physics in the hope that something intangible might happen if you change this air filter. It won't. Waste of time and money.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.
Maybe I mean the lag before the turbo kicks in; I'm really not sure.
It feels like the throttle response in the power band is not linear. Hope that explains it better?

Like I said in my first post, I'm not well versed in car talk. I simply enjoy driving them!

Oh, and although I don't have a degree in physics, I do happen to have some money and time to spend on my car.

[bitemarx]

Thanks mainly to Mignon's comments, I did some digging via Google, which I feel I ought to have done before posting here. The weight of evidence seems to indicate that changing the OEM air filter for an aftermarket one would only make a difference if the existing one has reached saturation.