bsampson

Hey guys i was considerering switching from my short raim to a CAI...I live in oregon where it rains pretty good some of the time and somewhat frequently Plus my car is going to be lowered soon.... And i want to know what are my REAL chances of hydrolocking? and have u ever known anyone that has hydrolocked?

TunerN00b

Daily driven lowered DC2 with an AEM CAI. Never even thought about having to worry about hydrolocking the engine.

Essentially, you would have to submerge the filter before it could become an issue. This essentially means your entire front bumper would need to be underwater, and you're an idiot for even considering driving a FWD car in such conditions. You shouldn't be fording a river in a FWD passenger car.

j_bizach

short ram u shouldnt have to problems with a cold air is where u really need to worry about hydolocking ur motor

CARMA_626

iTrader: (1)

The power gains vs. the risks don't warrant a CAI, in my opinion.

The possibility of hydrolocking is very real, even more so if it's in Oregon.

Let's assume you have a 25% risk of hydrolocking. That means you have a 25% chance of blowing your motor, being stuck on the side of the road, having to tow your car home, then buy or rebuild your motor. And for what? A negliable increase of h.p in the midrange? It's just not worth it.

A short ram is the way to go. On a properly built motor, a short ram will continue to make power way the way to redline. Whereas a CAI is only a small portion of the midrange.

mrdeadman

You should be fine as long as you're not a dumbass.

K i l l a B e e.

iTrader: (3)

i hate cai's. save the money. hydrolocking is real.

bsampson

i feel like i just dont pull very hard top end like i used to maybe...or maybye its all in my head..i currently have the PWJDM whale ***** intake...any reccomendation to switch to something else?

NemesisCBR

If you live somewhere that floods and theres good odds you'll find yourself near one, stick with short ram. Hydrolocking is always a concern, you just have to decide if your risk is worth it to you.

And clean your air filter. Maybe reset your ecu if it was fairly dirty. Maybe not.

Promart

Hydrolocking is very real.... a couple of years ago in SoCal I was driving home from work in the rain... had a CAI with a bypass on it. Getting off the 5 fwy I came around a bend on the offramp and found myself headed for deep water. Tried to stop in time and even shut the car off.... let's just say the poor B20 did not make it... bent rods and torn up cylinders are not worth the cost of a CAI...

you may say I was stoopid for letting it happen, but I did not expect to see that deep water on a lifted offramp... sh*t happens

MF

NemesisCBR

yeah some people say 'dont be a dumbass' but there are some situations you cannot avoid. Most of the time when it rains a road can see mild flooding but u never know if it is or isnt on that seciton of road and often you cant turn around when u find out. Last time i went through one, i was lucky. And ill always consider it luck if i go through water and nothing happens.

NOWTHATSJDM

just dont go puddle splashing and ull b fine

96 GSR-T

Dude, if you dont drive in 1' of water there is absolutely no risk involved, especially if you retain the lower plastic flap shielding the filter, you would physically have to submerge to suck up water. I drove around in Hurricanes and Tropical Storms with my old CAI in my ITR back in 2000 and never sucked up any water, if you hydrolock your engine you deserve it IMO, a lowered import is not a swamp buggy.

jhammond_82

iTrader: (1)

get one of those aem air bybass valves.

Topdawgg

IMO, you really have to submerse a filter to suck enough up to hydrolock

96 GSR-T

^^^^ that is what I am saying, and typically the neck of the Int Pipe is 10"-1' off the ground, thats alot of freaking water to be driving in!! I would imagine at that depth the water would be splashing into your interior in places.

slammedexv

You already have an aftermarket intake, why even risk it? The performance gain will be very small and probably not even noticable.

I had a bad experience with a low filter and heavy rain earlier this year. I had a vortech supercharger on my mustang and it requires you to run the MAF sensor and the filter down in the front bumper behind the foglight. I had a small, K&N type filter on there that hadn't been oiled in a while and it sat maybe 6-8" off the ground, but protected on 3 sides and the bottom by the bumper plastic. Only side that was exposed was the inside towards the engine. I drove home on the highway in a bad downpour where there was probably a half inch of water standing on the roads. Everyone was going 40mph because it was coming down so hard. After about 20 minutes of that, my car started stuttering and bucking really bad, like I was losing all power for a second, then it would come back on. It did it every time I hit the gas and went over 50mph. The filter had gotten so wet, it wasn't sucking up any air and killing the power. I would have been fine with the filter under the hood, but it was the only way I could run it with the blower.

l2Y4N

I just hydrolocked my engine. My cars not even that low and I'm in sunny San Diego, never thought it'd be a problem. Trust me, its not worth the benefit of a CAI.

But on the bright side insurance is buying me a new GSR motor! :p

chatman_55

I too live in oregon, i drive my lowered teg through everything, i was out driving through all the snow and through all the rain, i have an aem cai with a bypass valve and have zero problems with it. Just make sure you get the bypass valve put on and you'll be good.

keepinitrehaal

hydrolockin is a def. a possibility. i stayed at a friends house about 30 mi. away from my house and it started raining while i was there and on the way home i hydrolocked afted 1 mile of driving. rebuilding a motor is not fun if you dont have the funds to do so.