aight, i jus recently got an AEM cold air for my car...its rained twice since i got it. and after i got home, i looked inside the filter and saw it was wet around the filter and the plastic near it...im wonder if its a BIG deal about this? like should i really worry about it? any advice will be greatly appreciated

 

"no worry my friend,,, water just make ur engine run eratic a lil bit,,' but over all it's not a big dea
i had the same problem, it's wat u have to pay to gain more hp"
ever heard of HYDROLOCK?
Bam! you going go a new engine if your cai suck up enuff water.
solution-->get a bypass value
or get a shortram for rainy seasons.

 

im certainly aware of the "hydrolocking" but i was jus tryin to see if lil tiny splashes will significantly HURTT the car

 

a little water may enter and be fine , but know that to much water can cause hydrolock. like " iam7head " seid .........................just get a short ram , or bypass valve for the rain.

 

ok, i was thinking about this. the bypass valve opens up when there is lowered pressure, meaning the filter has been dipped in water or so saturated that it's not sucking enough air though it. so it takes quite a bit of pressure drop to get the bypass to open. with just small ammounts of water i wouldn't worry about it, the bypass woudln't even open so it's not like it's doing anything. and about the water splashing up when you hit small puddles. on my car, there is the innerfenderwell that comes down below the intake, and generally if you are going forward and you hit a puddle the water splashes back, not forwards, i've checked on my car nad hitting puddles doesn't splash up on the front part of my car so that wouldn't get water into my intake if it did happen to get past the plastic block. i really would'nt worry too much about it. WS6 trans am's have the ram air which runs filter right there into the intake and when it's raining water goes strait into it (or at least it does on my friends) and there is no bypass. that's like that from factory so i guess if they don't see it a problem i wouldn't. i'd think ram air would get more than my concealed cold air. i do worry about when it floods here though.

 

Cyrixvsp2 hit it. The end of the metal tube of your CAI would have to be submerged to hydrolock. If your car is stock height this shouldn't be a problem. If your car is lowered quite a ways you have better chance of hydrolock. The way I look at it is if you are driving in water deep enough to hydrolock, you shouldn't be on the road and you will end up on TV one day like the idiots you see on the news being rescued out of their car by a helicopter. Just a few drops of water is basically free water injection, which basically raises your effective octane rating.