will an Intake impact MPG signifigantly

[kevos2k]

Ok i know everyone here pretty much hates the ARC intake(so im ready for the ARC bashing), but I have it love it and don't notice any real power difference in my car especially negatively.

But...
My question is will an intake cause a difference in gas mileage... when i first got the car i was getting about 29-33 mpg fairly consistently... I put the intake on at the start of this season after letting the car sit for the winter and this year i have been getting mileage in the 20-24 range is there a possibility this is solely due to the intake or is it more likely that there may be another issue in the car that could be causing the decreased gas mileage.

any help would be appreciated I hate to lose the intake but if i get a 10 mpg difference because of it I may have to look into it.

[JonBoy]

29 to 33 mpg consistently, at higher altitude? That sounds.....very optimistic, even with highway cruising.

Honestly, if you're seeing a real 10 mpg difference, you have a bigger issue with your car than the intake. I'd check tire pressures, oil levels, change out your diff and/or tranny fluid (they may be getting worn out/dirty), and alignment.

[kevos2k]

29 to 33 mpg consistently, at higher altitude? That sounds.....very optimistic, even with highway cruising.

Honestly, if you're seeing a real 10 mpg difference, you have a bigger issue with your car than the intake. I'd check tire pressures, oil levels, change out your diff and/or tranny fluid (they may be getting worn out/dirty), and alignment.

i was as surprised as u are about the mileage but we have a couple cars running very good mileage up here... just did all my fluids in the past couple months and check tire pressure every other week.

how would alignment affect it?

[JonBoy]

If your alignment is off, you'll have significantly higher rolling resistance. A bad alignment can chew up tires and hurt fuel efficiency in a major way.

Make sure you're checking your tire pressures cold, not hot. Mine were down a few psi and that made a significant difference in my highway mileage this past weekend (once I pumped them up a bit).

[kevos2k]

If your alignment is off, you'll have significantly higher rolling resistance. A bad alignment can chew up tires and hurt fuel efficiency in a major way.

Make sure you're checking your tire pressures cold, not hot. Mine were down a few psi and that made a significant difference in my highway mileage this past weekend (once I pumped them up a bit).

I am running UK spec alignment and always check my tire pressure after the car has sat overnight... maybe its my driving style after being more comfortable with the car

[hankooks2k]

could it be the neg camber?

[kevos2k]

could it be the neg camber?

i wouldnt this so i mean in effect its less contact patch most the time

[repiv]

Initially, I would have said that no intake will affect gas mileage by as much as 10 mpg, however, if you're sucking in hot air all the time, not only will the engine compensate by adjusting timing and injector function, but the driver will compensate by giving more throttle (to make the car go the way it used to). You may not feel any negative affects of the intake since performance is usually based upon vigorous driving or at least, more than just average cruising around. Any HOT air intake can have the temperature affect negated to a large extent by heavy throttle, which in effect, clears the intake of the really hot air once flow increases due to the demand for higher volume.
Of course, an additional element to fuel mileage would be time. Time will see things like sparkplugs getting older and less efficient, air filters getting more clogged, fuel injectors getting less efficient, etc. All these have a contribution in the way the engine runs in general.

If you look at the worst case scenario, your biggest difference is as much as 13 mpg, while your smallest difference is as little as 5 mpg. Unless you can get a solid record of what the mileage is with a well defined monitoring of a specific type of driving (city, highway, winter, summer), any correlation of fuel economy is futile. A range of 29 - 33 and 20 - 24 is not considered consistent. When I do my highway mileage, I do it over the same route from one time to the next and I can be within 1 mpg or less between samplings. The same can be said when I do calculations on only city mileage. Whenever I do a combination of the two, or if the proportions are vastly different from one time to the next, I discount that calculation. "Full" tank fill-ups are more accurate than driving for a couple of gallons, then filling up and doing the calculation. Variations as you have recorded can only mean that your sampling is not done with any accuracy or consistency. While a difference of 13 mpg is alarming, a difference of 5 mpg is not and can easily be attributed to common factors.

[kevos2k]

thanks... i guess i need to go out and actually keep track... i have been getting a consistent 24 mixed driving and had 20.5 on my last fill up which is why i brought up the question. I appreciate the response and am not thinking it may be due to a heavy foot compensating for hot air :(