[DakotaRigs]

So I have barely had my cruze for maybe a week and I decided to put a short ram intake on it. Well now I'm not making full boost. I'm only getting 13-15 psi now every now and then it'll hit 16-18 for a second but then goes back down. Is there anyways to fix this without spending a lot of money on a tune? I just need it to work until I make the money for the trifecta elite tune.

 

[Blasirl]

It might be for the best to go back to stock until you tune. I do not know enough about them to be sure, but if you chose the wrong filter it may be restricting flow.

 

[DakotaRigs]

I don't think it's the filter I have a high flow spectra filter

 

[EricSmit]

It's not that you have restriction in your filter, it's that you have a larger intake tube and less restriction; your engine is commanding a certain power level, which requires a certain amount of air, and it takes less boost to get there. Completely normal.

 

[Steelmesh]

The stock box has flow straighteners and the MAF sensor is characterized for the stock tube. When I installed the ZZP HFI, my fuel trims went to -30, this is my empirical evidence to support this.

I installed aftermarket flow straightener, but the purpose of the flow straightener is to improve consistency of the air flow hitting the MAF sensor, especially at low air flow rates.

 

[obermd]

How's your car drive? The ECU may not be commanding as much boost because it doesn't need to. The Cruze is a torque controlled throttle and boost system. What this means is that the ECU uses throttle input to determine the amount of torque it needs to apply to the drive axle to respond to the throttle. If this torque doesn't require boost then no boost will be requested. If it means the full 20 lbs of boost is needed then the ECU will attempt to have the engine and turbo provide 20 lbs of boost.

Also, there is quite a bit of headroom in the stock boost system. Those of us who drive at high altitude know this car doesn't suffer from power losses until you approach 11,000 ft, and even then there's more than enough power to shoot up the side of the mountain if you down shift to 3rd.

 

[DakotaRigs]

Well I do live in Denver lol but sweet I didn't know that. Anything I can do though to add little power for cheaper?

 

[ChevyGuy]

Since the Cruze is throttle by wire, you're not going to get much more power without getting your ECM in on the deal - meaning, you'll need a tune.

 

[EricSmit]

Well I do live in Denver lol but sweet I didn't know that. Anything I can do though to add little power for cheaper?

Nothing without a tune. Luckily, a tune from Bad News Racing is pretty inexpensive and the gains are significantly more than you'd get from an intake.