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Cold Air Intake for your JL – S&B Filters
Is it time for a cold air intake?
Cold air intakes are an awesome mod for any Jeep and are probably the most common under the hood mod done by enthusiasts. They’re easy to install, look cool and give a decent bang for their buck.
S&B Filters out of Fontana, CA have been building high quality air filter upgrade kits for many years now. We’ve always been impressed with the design and engineering of their kits and have installed them on many Jeeps before.
They’ve recently released their cold air intake kit for the Jeep Wrangler JL, so we grabbed one off the shelf and installed it on our 2018 project Sahara JLU. Read along, we think you’ll find it easy enough to make you want to try doing one on your JL/JLU.
What you need:
S&B Cold Air Intake – w/ Cotton Filter, PN# 75-5121
What comes in the box:
Ease of installation:
This is an easy one to do and only requires a few hand tools.
Installing the S&B Jeep JL Cold Air Intake:
The first step is to remove the negative cable on your JL. With all the computer controlled equipment in newer vehicles, removing the negative terminal from the battery will help keep any OOOPS moment from frying an electrical circuit.
Now let’s take a closer look at the OE components under the hood.
Remove the CCV (Crank Case Vent) from the OE air intake tube. Press down on the grey button and pull the CCV hose off.
Remove the AIT (Air Intake Temp) sensor from the OE intake tube. Twist it 1/4 turn and pull. Sometimes they can be stuck, you might need to used a pair of needle nose pliers to carefully grab the sensor and turn it. Be careful not to damage the sensor.
Remove the clips holding the AIT harness to the OE air intake tube. You can use a dedicated clip puller like shown, a small flat blade screwdriver or just simply cut the zip ties holding the harness to the clips. They will not be needed, so no worry about saving them in one piece.
Also remove or cut the clip from the vacuum line of the side of the air intake expansion chamber.
Leave the harness attached to the AIT sensor, wrap the sensor in a clean shop towel and set it aside.
Remove the two bolts holding the OE air intake tube to the radiator support.
Loosen the clamp holding the OE accordion hose to the throttle body.
Loosen the five screws holding the air filter lid to the air filter box.
Remove the OE air intake tube. Lift up the air filter cover and pull the rubber accordion hose from the throttle body.
Remove the bolt holding the air filter box in place.
Grab the edge of the air filter box and give it a yank up and out. Once loose from it’s seat, you can remove the factory air filter box from your JL.
Remove the grommets from the pins on the bottom of the factory air filter box.
Reinstall the air box grommets into the OE holes in the air filter box mounting bracket.
Install the intake tube sealing grommet into the end of the new air filter box.
Install the air horn grommet into the other end of the air filter box.
Install the supplied filter box bracket on the air filter box.
Before installing the S&B air filter box into place, remove the bolt on the battery box brace that is closest to the fender well.
Line up the pins on the bottom of the S&B air filter box and the OE air box grommets.
Set the S&B air filter box into place and push down until fully seated.
Bolt the air box mounting bracket to the brace.
Push the supplied rubber grommet into the elbow of the S&B intake tube.
Install some sealant tape onto the threads of the supplied CCV fitting.
Screw the fitting into the port on the new intake tube and tighten.
Install the hump hose and tighten the hose clamp onto the S&B intake tube.
Push the S&B air filter into the air filter box.
Push the S&B intake tube into the air filter box.
Push the hump hose onto the throttle body, it might take a little wiggling to get the hump hose to line up and slide onto the throttle body inlet.
Tighten the throttle body clamp.
Push the air filter onto the end of the intake tube.
Tighten the hose clamp holding the air filter onto the intake tube.
Install the CCV hose onto the S&B intake nipple.
Push the AIT sensor into place in the new S&B intake tube.
Install the cover gasket into the groove around the top opening of the air filter box. You may need to cut the length of the gasket to fit perfectly.
Peel the protective cover sheet off the clear air filter box cover and set the cover on top of the air filter box.
Insert the screws into the plastic washers.
Install the cover screws and washer and screw down tight.
Use a couple zip ties to secure the AIT sensor harness and the vacuum line that were held in place by the clips you cut/removed earlier.
Reinstall the negative battery terminal and tighten securely.
**This is the perfect time to do a little battery terminal maintenance if needed.**
The S&B filter install is done and now ready to go out for a test drive.
Is it time for a cold air intake?
Cold air intakes are an awesome mod for any Jeep and are probably the most common under the hood mod done by enthusiasts. They’re easy to install, look cool and give a decent bang for their buck.
S&B Filters out of Fontana, CA have been building high quality air filter upgrade kits for many years now. We’ve always been impressed with the design and engineering of their kits and have installed them on many Jeeps before.
They’ve recently released their cold air intake kit for the Jeep Wrangler JL, so we grabbed one off the shelf and installed it on our 2018 project Sahara JLU. Read along, we think you’ll find it easy enough to make you want to try doing one on your JL/JLU.
What you need:
S&B Cold Air Intake – w/ Cotton Filter, PN# 75-5121
What comes in the box:
Ease of installation:
This is an easy one to do and only requires a few hand tools.
Installing the S&B Jeep JL Cold Air Intake:
Now let’s take a closer look at the OE components under the hood.
Remove the AIT (Air Intake Temp) sensor from the OE intake tube. Twist it 1/4 turn and pull. Sometimes they can be stuck, you might need to used a pair of needle nose pliers to carefully grab the sensor and turn it. Be careful not to damage the sensor.
Remove the clips holding the AIT harness to the OE air intake tube. You can use a dedicated clip puller like shown, a small flat blade screwdriver or just simply cut the zip ties holding the harness to the clips. They will not be needed, so no worry about saving them in one piece.
Also remove or cut the clip from the vacuum line of the side of the air intake expansion chamber.
Leave the harness attached to the AIT sensor, wrap the sensor in a clean shop towel and set it aside.
Remove the two bolts holding the OE air intake tube to the radiator support.
Loosen the clamp holding the OE accordion hose to the throttle body.
Loosen the five screws holding the air filter lid to the air filter box.
Remove the OE air intake tube. Lift up the air filter cover and pull the rubber accordion hose from the throttle body.
Remove the bolt holding the air filter box in place.
Grab the edge of the air filter box and give it a yank up and out. Once loose from it’s seat, you can remove the factory air filter box from your JL.
Remove the grommets from the pins on the bottom of the factory air filter box.
Reinstall the air box grommets into the OE holes in the air filter box mounting bracket.
Install the intake tube sealing grommet into the end of the new air filter box.
Install the air horn grommet into the other end of the air filter box.
Install the supplied filter box bracket on the air filter box.
Before installing the S&B air filter box into place, remove the bolt on the battery box brace that is closest to the fender well.
Line up the pins on the bottom of the S&B air filter box and the OE air box grommets.
Set the S&B air filter box into place and push down until fully seated.
Bolt the air box mounting bracket to the brace.
Push the supplied rubber grommet into the elbow of the S&B intake tube.
Install some sealant tape onto the threads of the supplied CCV fitting.
Screw the fitting into the port on the new intake tube and tighten.
Install the hump hose and tighten the hose clamp onto the S&B intake tube.
Tighten the throttle body clamp.
Push the air filter onto the end of the intake tube.
Tighten the hose clamp holding the air filter onto the intake tube.
Install the CCV hose onto the S&B intake nipple.
Push the AIT sensor into place in the new S&B intake tube.
Insert the screws into the plastic washers.
Install the cover screws and washer and screw down tight.
Use a couple zip ties to secure the AIT sensor harness and the vacuum line that were held in place by the clips you cut/removed earlier.
Reinstall the negative battery terminal and tighten securely.
**This is the perfect time to do a little battery terminal maintenance if needed.**
The S&B filter install is done and now ready to go out for a test drive.
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