Will I need it, how important is it? Planning to get a cold air intake from AEM, and getting mixed thoughts on both sides of the bypass argument

 

When i was purchasing my CAI, I was in the same situation you are in. All my friends were telling me that the by-pass valve was useless, since I live in SF and we almost-never experience flooding. I decided that for the $45 the bypass valve costs, i would at least have a little extra peace of mind, and went ahead and got one.

As you well know, SF/Bay Area has been experiencing HEAVY rain the past couple of months. About 3 weeks ago, I was driving at night through Golden Gate park and didn't notice a huge puddle of water, and unavoidably drove right through it. The water was almost to the top of my bumper, and my car floated through it. Since I removed my foglights a while ago, my intake filter was directly exposed to the water. All of the sudden, my rpm's start dropping as though the car is about to stall from lack of air. Just as I think its about to stall, the rpm's jump back up to about 2K, and then back to normal. What happened you ask? Pretty much the filter got completely submerged and started pulling water, when the bypass valve open up and let the engine breathe.

As soon as i got home, I took apart the intake and put the filter where the bypass valve used to be located, and made it into a short-ram intake, so water can't reach the filter.

To make a long story short, a $45 piece of plastic saved my engine from severe damage from hydo-locking. I would recommend the bypass valve to anybody buying a cold air intake. It also gives you the option of changing from cold air setep to a short-ram setup. So, good luck with the cold air intake......just be careful and consider all your options!!!

Hope that helped............

 

Im going to move up to SF in the summer. So If I get a cai I think I will get the bypass value also, quicksilver, your store really helped.

 

Quicksilver, I think Ive seen you around before. One it was the toll area for the bay bridge and around the city, like stonestown.

 

Please research into this matter a little more...or at the very least do a search...don't just "jump in"...you really need to decide for yourself.

An alternative to the AEM bypass valve

AEM Bypass Valve Broke......

bypass valve saved my engine

scared.

Here's a couple of threads to start out with...should provide some very good reading.

 

I hang around stonestoen alot......as well as all over the city. If you see a dropped silver CL w/ tint and rims, its probably me. The other way you can tell if its me or not......I am usually driving pretty fast!! Next time, you should pull up and say "sup".......if you can catch me!!!

 

LOL...I've seen you around before than. If you not busy, You want to meet up when Im in the area? I got the white CL-P with stock everything except for tint and DIY debadging, also a girl with be with me if im in the area, driving fast....

 

i live near golden gate park, i drive through it frequently, i musta drove over numerous puddles, there was one time that i was taking a turn off park presidio to geary, and there was a huge one, water splashed up into the my passenger side window, sounds like i should get the bypass valve, thing is, do i have to cut the intake myself? then put it on? is it hard to install?

btw, i've seen your car before too, haha, i've also seen a slammed black CL type s in the richmond district near cabrillo elementary school, anyone's on here?

 

Did the black slammed CL have axis rims? If so, the guy is from the boards also.

 

can't remember, got a pic of those rims? it was dark when i drove by and just noticed it

 

Did his car look like this...http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...threadid=87843

 

yea looks familiar

well i think i'm deciding to get the CAI without the bypass

 

nice...your not worried about the water puddles and hydrolock?

 

i don't have one either.....driven through countless large puddles and heavy rain.

would be too hard to add one in now, right?

 

u dont need a bypass

 

as most people have showed, and the numerous posts i've read, the bypass will only be sucking in engine air when bypassing air, making it a "weaker" short ram? so I've just decided to just stick with a solid cold air without the bypass, since the bypass is supposedly open most of the dam time, and made of plastic