2 Quick Questions -

1) How often should I clean my CAI filter and what's the process of cleaning it? This is the first time I've done this so I'm pretty much a noob!

2) Is it worth it to put a Hydrolock in? I mean, how practical is it and how often does one come across situations where that would save the engine?

Me love you long time!

 

LOL, Sorry I have the laugh man, Hydrolock is the condition when the engine ingests water!!

Your thinking of a bypass valve, I'd say its a great investment if it rains a lot where you live, if your car is lowered or if you want peace of mind.

I clean my air filter once every 8 months+ , depends on how dirty it looks or if there has been a lot of everglade fires down the street on US-27, I have a Comptech Icebox so I can take a look at it very easily and most of the time it has very little dirt.

BTW if you have a Comptech Icebox you don't have to worry about getting a bypass valve.

 

a good rule is to clean it every oil change. for me that about every 5 thousand miles (6 to 8 months). here is a video on how to clean the filter:

http://aempower.com/files/dryflow/filtercleaning.html

and a bypass valve is very unnecessary if you a smart and cautious driver. avoid large puddles and pullover if it gets bad or the streets are flooding. rainwater will never hydrolock your engine, so no worries there. in order for your bypassvalve to work, the ENTIRE filter must be submerged into water(for me, that would be about 4 inches below the headlight). this causes a vacuum in the intake and opens the valve of the bypass valve. if you ever think you have hydrolocked, DONT TRY AND RESTART THE ENGINE. tow it, put your stock airbox on and take it to a dealership to see what they say.

hope this helps.

 

actually, k&n recommends 30k to 50k.

20. How do I know when to clean the filter?

The general rule of thumb is that the filter needs to be cleaned when the dirt build up gets as thick as the wire mesh. The usual interval is 30,000 - 50,000 miles depending on driving conditions. We recommend that you check your filter about once a year in normal usage.

these are not paper elements and thus should NOT be changed as frequently.

 

Funny you ask about hydrolocking. . .I never thought I would ever come across a situation where I would need to be worried about it until today. I was on the parkway headed down the shore for the week and it was downpouring horribly, like i mean i couldnt see 2 feet in front of me. . .so anyway i get to the seaside exit and get across the bridge in one piece and whatnot when i look ahead and see nothing but water. I mean this shit was up past my headlights. I was surrounded completely along with every other car nearby and the only way to get out of it was to make a U turn and go back through the water another 25 feet or so. . so I turned around and started driving when my car started smoking and bogging outt and the check engine light went on. I immediately shut the car off and popped the hood to see what happend. . .There was even f*ckin water in my exhaust pipes. . . . So sure enough my entire engine was SOAKEDD. It was still smoking and smelled horrible. I had no other choice but to push my car in the torrential rain and get out of the 3ft of water without seizing my engine. After about a half hour i started her back up and the check engine light went off. I waited another 5 minutes and headed back on the parkway to LBI where I put the car in the garage and began drying the shit out of the engine. I hope to god nothing severe happened and i can get some sleep tonight without constantly worrying if my cars gunna start tomorrow. So yeah, that was my day. . .I hate rain, I hate seaside, and I hate when shitty things like this happen and ruin my day!!!!!

 

im sorry but you have bigger problems than hydrolock if you are driving through that much water. the key is to just not drive through flooded streets.