BartSS is correct. I had the same exact problem (read it in the post K&N Air Filter) changed back to paper (NAPA Gold) problem solved. I have a 2008 SS with auto trans and I really didn't have to read past K&N in your first post. It's nice that most cars don't have this problem but the constant chime ins of "had mine in for a gazillion miles and no problems" is really not helpful. Let us know if paper "fixes" your problem and hopefully some people will understand that not all cars respond the same. Good luck! :)

 

People that havent had problems should check their LTFT and STFT and their eyes would open up real quick. I sit on css.net a lot and do a lot of reading there. Theres a reason i still have the stock intake with the stock filter even though ive basically changed everything else out.

 

Yes, I do appreciate everyone giving their input, but it isn't that helpful to say that theirs never had a problem and that it has to be something else. I'm specifically looking for those who have had my issue such as yourself and BartSS. That is a lot more useful to me. I'll be changing back over to paper this weekend most likely Sat. I'll post here on my results. I'm expecting it to go right back to how it was running before I swapped the filter. Though it sucks because I was getting a nice 2-3 mpg increase with an aftermarket filter.

 

Ok, yesterday I went to the autozone closer to me that had a fully functional reader and it gave me code:

P0101 mass. air flow or volume air flow /circuit range performance problem

After that I rigged up my intake tube to accept the paper filter just as a test. Lets just say there is duct tape involved, lol

It is only a temporary test to see if I got an immediate change with the paper element versus the high performance element. And low and behold, I did.

I never lost boost with the paper element installed. As I stated in the original post, I lost boost EVERY time I drove the SS after a few minutes of drive time. I drove it to a friends house an hour away and back last night and never lost boost pressure. CEL is still on, but I didn't bother having it cleared. I wanted to see if it would go away by itself with the paper element on. As BartSS stated, it seems that ECU doesn't like the increase in airflow through the MAF. It is obviously not an oil issue as there was an immediate change in performance with the filter swap. All the evidence is pointing to BartSS being correct about the ECU on some models not liking the change.

As for people saying in other forums along with dealerships that oil is getting on the MAF and causing the error. I have yet to see actual data showing that there is oil causing the issue. I hear people claim that over and over and my dealer tried to say that was my issue as well. But I need to see evidence not guessing. Until I see a MAF with oil on it or some sort of analysis by a reputable company that oil from a filter is an issue, then I'm simply not going to accept that as an answer. At least in my situation we know it is not oil on the MAF. On top of that the S&B filter I bought guarantees no oil by-pass, tests all their filters for that, and is ISO certified for dust/dirt filtration as good or better than an OEM paper filter.

All that being said, it is an absolute shame that the ECU's are so sensitive that a simple air filter swap causes performance issues. Which I'm sure is all part of a manufacturer's plan to not support aftermarket parts. But when you have a manufacturer like GM come out with their own stage 1 kit and then half the people who get it installed have issues due to poor installation or other issues, then why wouldn't someone go with a reputable aftermarket supplier. Makes common sense to me, also made me decide not to get the stage 1, especially after my dealer turner out to be completely inexperienced with turbo applications. I wouldn't trust them to change my oil, which is why I do as much as possible myself.

Anyway, thanks for all the help everyone. All the input was appreciated!

 

CEL will clear by itself man no worries. It takes 3 full cycles

 

Yes, started the SS up this morning for my daily commute and CEL was off. I don't see how the dealership couldn't do what we just did to figure out the issue. I figured out what it was in a few days compared to the dealership spending a month on it doing nothing but guessing.

 

Dealerships are nothing but a bunch of booksmart technicians. A good tech is hard to find nowadays.

I do a lot of reasearch and spend a lot of time on the cobalt forums as well and i try to help when i can.

im glad it all worked out for you man

 

Agreed, I have less and less faith in repair techs. It is getting harder and harder to find someone who actually knows something about autos that a computer didn't tell them. Luckily the WWW allows people like us to brainstorm together and find a solution. You would think that major manufacturers would have gotten together and made forums for their techs to share information on and even allow their engineers to get into the mix. It would vastly improve quality and allow the engineers to make future improvements quickly.

Normally I take my autos over to a guy on the west side of Indy, but I live all the way on the far east side, about an hour away. Now if I can get some sleep tonight I can get in early tomorrow and have my front tires rebalanced. They didn't get something right as I get vibrations in the steering wheel at highway speeds.

 

I had the same problem with the K&N. Went back to the paper filter and that seemed to solve some of the problem. However for some reason about a month ago it started happening again, total loss of boost and intermittent boost but no codes. I have an 08 auto with GM upgrade, no other mods besides a hahn cat-back. I still see a lot of surging when at half throttle in D, it's all over the place. It's back at the dealer right now with a blown tranny @ 90k. I had them solder the connections a while ago but will have to have them revisit that again cause I don't think they did it properly, or they may not have done it at all. At any rate looks like I'll be in a loaner for a while.

 

Yea, I'm staying as far away from the GM stage 1 as possible. Techs seem to be screwing up a large percentage of installs. I've actually just purchased a full kit from Hahn. PPC tuner, cat back exhaust, cat-less down pipe, IC, charged air piping kit. They gave me a nice discount for purchasing in a bundle. I'm still waiting on it to arrive. I also purchased the official GM repair manual for the HHR, it is en-route. That way I have the "how to" on taking almost anything on the vehicle off. I had one for my GMC pickup, very good source of info.