winter is coming up here in nyc, just wondering if anyone has had any problems with AEM CAI in the snow. If it matters I've got a gsr.

 

Snow can't get sucked up, just watch out for um, deep melted snow.

 

take out the cai right now.

 

Blown DB8 : Is that hydrolock related?

 

would switching over to a short ram intake be safe enough during the winter? i just dont feel like going back to stock, thx for the help.

 

Short ram is fine, there are actually CAI owners that switch over to short ram for good. It has better throttle response and low end power.

 

I plowed my friends driveway that had at least 10" of snow on it with no problems. His driveway is 100' long and I made 4 passes. You will not suck snow up into the intake. I have a 98 GSR sitting on Comptech springs with a CAI.

Don't sweat the snow, nothing to worry about. 15" of slush flooding an intersection from a backed up drain will however, make you sad so certainly pay attention in the winter.

Cheers,
Sean

 

id get a bypass valve to just be safe. better safe than sorry. btw, can a two piece intake be made into a short ram? mine doesnt have a mounting piece on the pipe to manifold section.

 

I switched to short ram for the winter, better safe than sorry.

 

I ran my AEM CAI through 2 winters in my 97 EX Civic and never had 1 problem! All you have to watch out for is still water like puddles.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTECorona &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Blown DB8 : Is that hydrolock related?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes. Its like playing with fire.

 

why is a cai so dangerous in the winter? if anything it is safer, if you drive through a blizzard of snow ur not hydrolocking ur motor. if you drive through a storm in the spring\summer\fall then you are driving through water, which will own ur motor.

 

think about it. you can have the extra 1-2hp (in the snow) or you can lose that and make your engine safer than before. better off buying a cheap short ram intake than having to buy a new engine because you could not cough up the 40 bux for the intake.

 

Can someone fill me in on the danger of winter CAI use?

 

I don't know what most are speaking of.

The one thing that you do need to look out for is submerging your intake into a puddle of water(more or less a small pond). Keep in mind you have to submerge the entire filter to hydrolock your motor.

If you feel as if you are the type of person, who may drive through a puddle of water that would be turn signal deep, get a short ram or buy a bypass valve.

If you are cautious, more than likely you will not have this happen. But even bad things happen to cautious people.

 

what if snow gets caught around your filter and freezes to it. then you have a frozen filter that is not letting in the correct amount of air. think about it. jsut be safe and change for the winter is it really worth your car for the intake.

 

leave ur splasg guard on and you'll be in good shape

 

The filter gets wet in there regardless. Water still finds its way behind the blinker or whatever. Drive around for long enough in the rain and the filter is soaked. Then what? hit vtec and let it ingest H20? Not smart. I've had a few close calls (and NO i was not in the middle of a puddle or a river or an ocean) where the car started to bog at high rpm because it was ingesting water. I stopped right away.

 

get the bypass vlave, i've had it for a while and i never noticed any decrease in power. There is also a video of them testing thvalve, they took an nsx CAI and dunked it in a fish tank, then floored it. You could see the water pove up the intake tube, but it stopped when it got close to the bypass valve.

 

A wet filter will not cause you to hydrolock, it may make your car difficult to breathe air. But air will follow the path of least resistance. Air will not be completley blocked off unless the filter is submerged.

Bottom Line: If your scared, change it.

 

It all depends whether or not you have a bypass valve. Last winter i ran a CAI without a bypass valve, and it was snowing real hard, snow clogged my filter, and snow turns into water when it sticks to the filter, so yes, snow does matter. anyway, my car locked up 3 or 4 times, and the motor finally just blew up the next day. i put another motor in it and left the CAI but with a bypass valve this time and i never had any problems again.

 

melted snow=water..... and there's lots of it in the winter..... so if your running your car with a cai.. u could possibly hydrolock your motor... and having a short ram doesnt nessessarily make it safer. my cousinn hydrolocked his rs motor witha short ram in a puddle.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vteGraGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">melted snow=water..... and there's lots of it in the winter..... so if your running your car with a cai.. u could possibly hydrolock your motor... and having a short ram doesnt nessessarily make it safer. my cousinn hydrolocked his rs motor witha short ram in a puddle.....</TD></TR></TABLE>
well a short ram intake is less severe then a stock box. so for that your cousin is an idiot

 

Ive drove my car last winter w/ CAI and no bypass valve and everything was just fine. You just have to be careful and watch out for big puddles of melted snow. But that isnt any different than watching out for puddles in the summer. If you want to be really safe, then get a bypass valve.

 

*shakes head in disbelief*

OK .. lotta bullshit flying around here

To hydrolock an engine takes a LOT more water than is going to come through a wet filter. You'd practically have to submerge the filter such that there was no way for the engine vacuum to pull up anything but water. Or you'd have to jam a garden hose up there or something equally retarded. There's no way you're going to pull enough water through the filter, through all that pipe, and up to the height of the manifold by running through puddles or snow.

In fact, it's not that uncommon for heavily boosted (e.g. rally) cars to have water injection setups to stave off detonation.