Review on 🚀 176366 Volant Air Intake: Enhancing Performance and Boosting Power by Dustin Wright

I did a lot of research and read reviews before buying this unit. Unlike most JKU owners, I tow an 18-foot Scamper Eco trailer. He weighs 3360 pounds. and with the package you can go almost anywhere with the motorhome. Last weekend we were at a mountain lake that would be difficult for cars to navigate at best. The main reason I went with the CAI setup was runaway intake manifold temps when towing in the mountains. I have an old cell phone on the dash running the Torque app connected via bluetooth to a diagnostic port dongle. (Literally a $40 version of a $500 product that does the same thing.) Climbing steep mountain slopes, I saw terrifyingly high intake temperatures of 185 degrees and transmission and coolant temperatures of 240 degrees. Something was needed. Installation was pretty easy. The MASS air sensor is tricky, you remove it from the old pipe by twisting to unlock it. He used saliva to lubricate the sensor's O-ring and GENTLY inserted it into the sleeve of the new hose. Make sure the sensor is on the side of the new hose and not in a line. Install the silicone rubber hose to the main pipe THEN to the throttle body fitting and tighten the throttle body clamp FIRST. The new tube runs at a slight angle and will need to be repositioned after tightening the throttle body. Be sure to use the existing screw on the fuse panel bracket for the airbox, there is a hole for it. This end is easy as the flexible lip silicone tubing slides easily allowing you to arrange things on this end before putting it back on the connection. The exhaust gas recirculation hose can be easily straightened and fitted onto a new fitting without cutting it off. I reused the stock P-clamp pipe bolts to attach the radiator overflow hose. The first thing I noticed: the intake temperature dropped a lot just as I was driving around town. Now the intake air temperature is about 1214 degrees above ambient instead of the usual 30+ degrees as before. I just installed it so the trailer hasn't gotten it anywhere yet. I will update in the comments once we are on our next trip to camp. The intake noise now growls nicely when I turn it on, but it's not overly unpleasant. (I was afraid it might be loud and annoying, but it's not) It's quiet when driving light. One more thing: Huge chambers hang under the standard intake pipe, which I think offer soundproofing. Oversized objects should have partially blocked the radiator air and now they are NOT. If that alone doesn't help bring the temp down, I don't know what else will. The Donaldson Powercore cleaning element can be found in heavy machinery, trailers and tractors around the world (in various shapes and forms) so it actually represents a significant filtration improvement over an OEM installation. I was surprised (disappointed and now nervous) by the amount of very fine dust that is in the OEM intake assembly that I just removed. (19k miles on my 2014 JKU) I had to clean the MASS air sensor and wipe the throttle body with a clean cloth which turned black. DO NOT GET this CAI with an oily filter element, they will let fine dust through; Read reviews on Jeep forums etc. Update July 12, 2016: Intake temp is less than 15 degrees above ambient. The ride is easy and the intake temperature is less than 8 degrees higher. The installation is worth it for that alone. Note the large air chambers at the shaft inlet. They hang in front of (behind?) the fan and of course block the air inlet into the cooler. When you step on the accelerator it moves and after all these years I don't think I feel like it. The growl matches what he's doing, and the jerky running, like approaching a red line, sounds like he's serious. Breaking rear tires and leaving streaks is almost too easy. Please refer to the photo of the inside of the OEM air filter housing. This fine dust WAS entered through the OEM filter! I still have fine dust in the OEM pipe and as mentioned above I removed it from the throttle body when I upgraded. Anyone reading this should remove the air hose and inspect for particulate matter. Do it now! If everything is clean, then cheers. Note that there is no "acoustic" coverage here. It's on the rafters of the garage. Its removal had almost no effect on the intake temperature. (It was already thrown away when I installed the CAI kit)