First off let me say, I am the LUCKIEST person there is right now. Second, let me say I will NEVER use a CAI on my car ever again. I was on my way to work, wilmington got nothing but some of the coldest rain I have been in a long, long time. My windows were fogging up like crazy, amongst trying to wipe em clean, run the def, and crack my windows I misjudged a puddle, couldn't swerve, so I tried to push the clutch in trick I had heard of in the past, car shuts off, I put in second pop the clutch cranks back up, wont go past 2K......go another 2 blocks......pull into work car almost dies push the clutch in to give it some gas car dies, won't crank back up. As luck would have it, I was able to pull the plugs out, spin the motor over several times, buy some new plugs (old plugs were soaked!) and it cranked up. Ran like **** for a good 2-3 min and has been running normally ever since then. Took me a good 3 hrs to get the feeling back into my fingers after working on it in the rain, but I am a lucky person!

Just an FYI, if you ever thought it couldn't happen to you, it almost did to me!


<--------------believer against a CAI now! at least on a daily......

 

Or you could just buy a $40 Bypass Valve like the rest of us.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by riceburner247 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Or you could just buy a $40 Bypass Valve like the rest of us.</TD></TR></TABLE>

HAHA. Excellent point. But i dont run CAI for the simple fact that the air filter gets super dirty real quick.

 

i'v seen several of those in this area after about a year, year and a half and the foam has deteriorated into nothing.................leaving them to have to buy another one again, or just not use a cai.

 

1) Get decent parts
2) Stop whining

 

who said I was whining.........and anyone that wastes lots of money on an intake is stupid................I just thought I would share why I think CAI's are not worth the risk.

bypass valve you say...........all the examples I have seen have the filter completely submerged in water, how would the vacuum properties change if the filter was just splashed with a generous amount? I have always been skeptical of the physics involved with that valve.............call me a skeptic if you wish

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by riceburner247 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Or you could just buy a $40 Bypass Valve like the rest of us.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Or you could take two $20 bills and light them on fire. Produces the same result either way.

 

You dont need a CAI anyways. OEM airbox w/ K&N Filter, same ****.

 

or you can just get a 2 peice intake and switch it to short ram when it looks like rain.

 

i hope you've changed your oil a few times.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by riceburner247 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Or you could just buy a $40 Bypass Valve like the rest of us.</TD></TR></TABLE>

won't work unless completely submerged in water.. only takes a few drops to fubar your motor

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MonkeyMagic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">won't work unless completely submerged in water.. only takes a few drops to fubar your motor</TD></TR></TABLE>

Right, because they only designed it to work if you drove into a kiddie pool.

 

I've pulled some NASTY air filters off of cars with CAIs, I'll never run one of those.

 

cai = bad at the beach

i not only need a snorkel on the crx, i think i'm gonna need one for my jeep too. i've almost locked it up twice now.

and as for the bypass valve.... gimme you're $40.... it would be better spent getting me drunk since they don't do anythingt o prevent hydrolock in 99.99999% of cases. (that's a proven statistic... i made it up and verified it all on my own)

-Erik &lt;---- loved the AEM CAI back home in high point... but wouldn't have one here

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MonkeyMagic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">won't work unless completely submerged in water.. only takes a few drops to fubar your motor</TD></TR></TABLE>

No it doesn't.
And have you ever heard of hydro injection by any chance?

Water won't do any real harm in low amounts. I saw this guy in auto-tech demonstrate that by simply pouring water into an intake.
Plus it takes a whooooooole lotta water to make an intake physically suck up water.
Have you ever ever tried that?

Too much internet BS floating around.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SETI20 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

No it doesn't.
And have you ever heard of hydro injection by any chance?

Water won't do any real harm in low amounts. I saw this guy in auto-tech demonstrate that by simply pouring water into an intake.
Plus it takes a whooooooole lotta water to make an intake physically suck up water.
Have you ever ever tried that?

Too much internet BS floating around. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Correct. Spraying water w/ a spray bottle into the intake manifold while the engine is running is actually a good way to de-carbonize the combustion chambers.

 

I've driven through a puddle a few times w/ my old car that had a CAI w/ bypass valve, and at least 1 of those times I know for sure that the intake was fully submerged. I went home after checked it, the whole intake up to the bypass valve was wet, but dry above that. The bypass valve worked. There is also a test somewhere on the net where they tested it on a NSX, and it worked. A lil' water won't hurt your motor, as described previously, it has to be a significant amount, not just a drip or two. And it takes alot for just a lil' bit of water to be sucked up a pipe. If you're that skeptical about a regular CAI, just use an OEM airbox w/ an aftermarket filter, or go and buy a Comptech Airbox.

 

ive just made it into a short ram till I can afford the icebox. I too have personally seen misting water to decarbonize a motor, and it does work well. Personally this was a bit of shock factor cause I didn't think it could happen to me.

thanks for the input guys!

 

Let's make it simple:

Scared to use CAI? Then don't

The rest of us not scared, go for it.


NOTE: As said before, little water is not bad. I had alcohol/water injection and that stuff was great.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by senpai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> had alcohol/water injection and that stuff was great.</TD></TR></TABLE>

big difference between a liquid being atomized (or whatever the technical mumbo jumbo word is) and being "splashed" into the engine....

regardless, it doesn't matter. bottom line is if you suck up a lot of water your **** is going to break.

 

ihave a cold on my hatch on my RSX on al my old cars NEVER NEVER NOT ONCE have I had a problem.

 

i have a k&n filter in my stock box and I gotta say it's just as good if you "modify" the box opening as not to restrict the flow

"good" as compared to stock fram-cheap-o filter. I was cleaning the k&n the other day and put a fram in the box for the time being while the k&n was drying and I drove to Jersey... and holy ****... what a difference the k&n makes over the stock one

As for serious differences between k&n stock box and a CAI (inside engine bay) there are none. If you, however, run the piping for the CAI outside the engine bay to a colder area (out the resonator hole like i've seen) or out the front light in drag situations... you'll see a difference (obviously).

If you're careful to keep your splashguards, and make sure there's no way that the CAI can get submurged (short of driving into a lake) you should always be fine. I've seen people hydrolock because they run the CAI out the stock intake resonator box hole and don't have a splashguard underneath it. It's like running a vaccuum hose right into any puddles you hit. Very bad idea.

Best idea I saw for good CAI placement without the risk of hydrolock was putting the cai into a modified resanator box (with a drain hole put in the bottom and a large hole in the back). I plan on doing this with my A6 when I get it.