Got a lil problem
 

Hey guys

My mate asked me if i could post his lil problem with hope to get some answers since he isnt a member on here. I got a simota cold air intake on my 01 wrx so he decided to get a same thing on his 03 wrx. The problem is he turned the air flow meter other way around and car wouldnt start for 30min as he was gettin all pissed of tryin to start it. I came couple hours later and swaped it other way around and car started immidately but his engine check light kept commin up. Now i keep telling him that its not a big deal as the computer noticed somethin was wrong so light kept comin on and all he had to do was disconnect the batery and leave it for 15min and connect it back and it will reset it self and notice that everythin is fine. So all he really wants to know did this cause eny damage to his car since it wouldnt start while the airflow meter was other way around. Coz car started runnin very rough and shutin it self of (but and idiot kept tryin again and again).

Cheers

the way i see it is the AFM couldnt read the air properly so it kept putting more fuel in, hence the running rich. i cannot see any reason why there would be any damage to the car at all. if anything the plugs might be a bit fouled, but that should clear fairly soon. Or you could take them out and clean them

He was stressin over the fact that Check Engine light came on. Coz car was strugling to idle and motor was kickin bad lol.

Tell him to join p-diddy!... more the merrier! :)

It shouldnt have caused any damage to the engine while he was trying to start the car with the AFM the other way around.
The engine light will be coming on and off regularly because his car isnt tuned for the different intake. Exact same thing happened when i put on my AEM intake regarding the engine light, but my car never ran/idled rough or shut itself off. Also, i put the AFM on the right way around :P

If your mates car is gonna be running like that with the intake on, i suggest to change his intake back to the stock airbox and add the cold air when he gets a tune. Much more likely to cause engine damage by running that intake on the car without a tune (as it would be running more lean) than trying to start the car with the AFM backwards.