Hi guys

I am new to the forum and only recently started dabbling in DIY stuff with my car. So please bare with me as I am still learning.

I removed and inspected my throttle body recently and found that some lose dirt made it into there. Not sure how this is possible as I had the car serviced recently and the air filter replaced.

I've been looking into performance cone air filters and now I'm itching to install one in my car, but I am quite hesitant as I'm scared I might screw things up by doing so.
I noticed with the stock air filter compartment a few things:

• The housing clips are missing and cable ties are currently used for sealing it.
• Underneath the housing there is a small plug with a cable (Note this for my question later)
• There is a pipe coming from the radiator's side, on which the air filter housing clips into place.

So here are my questions:

1. Can the missing clips possibly be the issue on how dirt is entering the throttle body?
2. If I were to get a performance cone air filter:
   1. Should I consider K&N filters?
   2. Will it damage my engine?
   3. Where should I put the small plug as the cone filter won't have place for this? Not sure if this will mess with the air intake with the ECU.
   4. The intake pipe coming from the radiator - Can I leave this as is to just blow air into the whole hood compartment? Or is it something I need to remove or replace with some sort of kit?

I am very eager to start maintaining my car myself and also sort out the current issues I'm noticing with it (There is quite a few lol)
But I would really appreciate any help from you guys.

 

The aftermarket "cold air intake" (basically a cone-shaped filter laying somewhere in your engine compartment) is one of the biggest oxymorons out there. They nearly always reduce the engine's power and efficiency (despite the grand claims of the manufacturer). That only makes sense since they're breathing only hot engine compartment air (as opposed to the cool, outside air the stock air box - designed by some smart folks who understood your car perfectly). The K&N filters reportedly have a tiny (!) bit less restriction when they're perfectly clean, but are notorious for depositing a thin film of the oil from the filter element on your MAF sensor, and there's no doubt they let a whole lot more particulate matter into your engine (not a good thing).

True story - I had an Acura that wasn't getting quite the mileage it should. I chased down all the usual suspects with no results, then finally tossed the K&N air filter element (in the stock box) and replaced it with a "cheap" paper one, and found the extra 5-10% I was missing.

Speaking of which - if you're getting "dirt" into your intake system, it's just a matter of a gap somewhere in your filter box / hoses. If there's anything other than a perfect seal "behind" the filter, the engine's gonna use it to suck down as much crud as it can. Fix that (even if it means locating and buying a boneyard airbox).

 

Thanks for the response. I agree - the creators of the car probably knows best and hence the air intake is as it is

Gonna take the filter box apart and check for any holes/cracks

 

personally i am suspect of using any "wet" filter on a car with a MAF. Volvo's air boxes are generally pretty good in terms of airflow (you'd need to be in the 400+ hp range before an intake redesign would start to make a difference). In terms of mods, changing the airbox is probably the last thing I'd touch. Things to consider: 1) if you have an NA engine, invest in the suspension (or sound system LOL).or sell the car and buy a T5 model. 2) if you have a turbo model, ECU tunes offer the most bang for the buck, but need to be done with a blueprint. If you raise the boost you add heat so at some point you need other bits like a bigger intercooler, free flow exhaust/bigger down pipe. If you want even more boost then you may need an upgraded turbo (more pumping capacity), bigger injectors etc and only run 93 Octane (US R+M). You can get a quick 30-40 HP with a stage 1 tune and enjoy that. When it comes to suspension, wheels/tires are a given, next I'd do an after market sway bar set, then consider premium shocks like Bilstein B6s or Koni. mild lowering springs can be done but should be matched to the shock. The top end would be to do coil-overs which combine the shock/spring in a single unit. Benefit is they have adjustable perches so you can dial in the ride height and even corner balance the car. After dropping a few $K this way, stuff starts to get expensive with diminishing returns. I did IPD sway bars and Bilsteins on my 850 wagon and left the engine stock and it transformed the car to a fun driver. I never missed having the extra 40 HP...

 

Extra horsepower was a lot more fun when gas was $2 a gallon! ;-)

Seriously though, I think the mods that increase horsepower but also improve MPG are the ones that make the most sense. I love horsepower as much (or more) than the next guy, but I've fallen back to buying only normally aspirated engines just to avoid a) the extra maintenance, b) the hassle of working around all that extra plumbing, and c) the need to run premium fuel. It's not too much of a sacrifice though, as the Mercedes GLK I recently bought makes 268 horsepower without a turbo (3.5 liter V6), which is more than my V70 T5 made (247 horsepower) and about 10x what my V50 2.4i made (I named her "Slow White"). ;-)

 

My wife's Highlander's V6 makes 230 HP has 220K miles, never had a major engine repair (needed some seals replaced but not unexpected on an 18 year old car and the thing still consumes less than half a quart between oil changes. To bad it took Toyota a number of years to figure out what a sport sedan was. That said, the most fun car I've owned was an 84 Audi 4000 Quattro which made a whopping 130 HP, with a 0-60 right at 10 seconds but a blast to drive on the back roads, and even more fun on snowy days!

 

Yep... I had a G1 VW GTI (1983 IIRC), and that thing was a revelation. Also not a pavement melter, but rewarded you every time you drove it with a really great driving experience. Probably one of the best cars you could buy for a first time driver (not enough power to get you into trouble too fast, but enough handling and brakes to get you out of trouble). ;-)