Normal intake temperature?
 

Today I noticed that my intake temperature is reading a lot hotter than the outside ambient temperature. It's about 25 degrees hotter at freeway speeds and up to 40 degrees hotter when idling in a parking lot. Here's what I saw:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/28/dybydyga.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/28/apetaten.jpg

From what I understand, the maf sensor reads the intake temperature. Dies his mean my maf is on the way out or is there some leak in my air intake that's letting in engine bay air? Maybe I'm just crazy and this is normal, by I would imagine the intake system would be a bit better at insulating air from engine heat, especially on the highway?

I'm thinking that the intake tube might be getting hot and as the air rushes past, it is absorbing enough to drive the temp up 20 degrees?

Isn't that the outside temp on the cluster?

Yeah. The outside is reading 53 but my intake says it's hitting 90. Is it normal to have 40 degree difference? I mean, the intake is on the side of the car so I thought the air it pulls in will be closer to the exterior temp

Do you have a stock aribox? Yes, temps get much hight than ambient while sitting still.

Normal intake temperature?
 

Yep. Using the stock air box and stock filter. But highway speeds for a half hour still have my temperatures exceeding 20 degree difference.

Since the maf is right after the air filter, I'm considering getting a wireless thermistor and sticking it in the air box and driving for a bit. If the air box is reading low temps then maybe something is up with the maf. Otherwise, I'll try and add some insulating foil.

I'm more interested in the difference than worried. It's kinda turned into a challenge to get the exterior and intake temperatures to approach each other :)

I would be much interested if the reflective foil works. I would love to see my intake air temps to be at ambient. That would be amazing.

I know good foil is widely used as an infrared radiation reflector.... The odd thing is, gold is an excellent thermal conductor.
Fiberglass is about 8000 times less thermally conductive than glass and about 4 times less conductive than plastic and rubber. I'll probably try a fiberglass wrap of the intake system and a gold foil wrapping on top of it to see if I get anything notable.

I think that air is moving through there so fast that heat soak can't be a 40 degree issue. the only place you could impart that much heat would be as the air travels through the filter element itself. the filter could heat soak as it has a large perimeter in contact with the periphery of the airbox - this is why I like the 987 airbox so much better - increased filter area with less opportunity for heat transfer into the filter element (as well as improved airflow).

I am running a 987 airbox. I think it is the top mod to do to the car in my opinion.

What app is that and how does it work?

That's dash command for the ipad. I think it's on android too... And free for android.

To use it you need a Bluetooth obd2 reader that it supports. Plx makes some for android devices and gopoint makes them for apple devices.

I believe thats true for a 3.2 or bigger after 2nd cat delete pipes & 4" crank pulley.

I also believe the gold foil wrap is worth the effort & cost. That's the only remaining performance mod I want to do but can't in CA. :dance:

I think someone with a 2.7l would still benefit from the 987 intake... After all, the 987 base is a 2.7l so it's capable of making use of it. Not sure how large the plenum is in the 987, but I'm sure the plenum in a 2.7l won't restrict any extra air flow.

Why can't you do the gold foil in CA?