23wt

After driver in the rain today, I went and check on the filter and found some red oily liquid when i touched the filter... just wondering what is this stuff? It ain't rain water or anything off the road. Please help me out and fill me in on what this substance in please. Thanks.

EricL

That red color is probably the filter oil that comes on the factory K&N filter (or in the K&N Filtercharger cleaning/recharging kit).


Hopefully, the red you're seeing is the K&N filter oil and not blood... (You don't drive that fast in the rain, do you?)

23wt

Speed depends on where i drive, i always keep my rpm under 2500. Rpm is more important than speed right? Higher rpm means more air going in therefore more sucking is being done. I can keep my rpm low and reach speeds of 100-120 km/h which is around 60 -72 mph i think. When i see puddles, i let go of the gas and let my car coast over it, and give gas when i cleared the puddles totally.

How often should i clean it and add some of the oil stuff back onto the filter?

4pumpedCL

That is probably just the oil that comes on the filter, as Mr Erik had stated. If you're concerned with water being sucked into your engine you ought to invest in the AEM bypass valve.

Zapata

The red oil is from the CAI not to worry. You should periodically check your filter to make sure there aren't any dry spots. If there are dry spots you shuold recharge the filter.

Shawn S

Here is my filter after cleaning and “Recharging” with the K&N kit.
Looks kind of RED I guess.

Shawn S

Shawn S

Interesting theory, but your engine is still drawing in air even though you aren’t accelerating.
LESS air, yes, but still could be trouble.

Bypass Valve is a “must have” in my opinion.

Shawn S

23wt

i guess i am getting a bit paranoid from this.... i've been thinking, are you able to suck up water with a straw from a glass of water if the straw wasn't submerged (1-2 cm above the water level)?

My friend has a civic with Injen CAI (no valve) and has been through heavy rain, normal rain, snow etc. Not only that, he still revs in those conditions.

EricL

RE: Bypass valve being a "must" have...


Depends on area, rainfall, and if someone cares about the small loss in power that comes from adding it on. If I were in "flood city", I would put it on. (I would also keep a section of 3" rubber hose around to replace the valve in the summer and/or non-rainy months.)

I wish it were as clear-cut as just getting full safety with no drawbacks. However, even the updated bypass valves can "come apart" and let foam get ingested into the engine (I'm not going to argue about the harm or lack thereof of such an event).

The existing Weapon-R and upcoming Comptech intakes might be better solutions for "rainy"/"flooded" areas with deep standing water.

23wt

what kind of area would you consider Toronto as?

Nashua_Night_Hawk

Shawn, From the pic of your AEM filter, the injen is shorter ... it looks much bigger than injen filters...

EricL

Toronto is not at the top of the world’s rain spots. However, it does get a good dose of spring rain. I haven't been there (chart search only), so I don't have a clue as to how "good" the street drainage is *and* that accounts for a lot of street and intersection flooding that determines if you REALLY need a bypass valve.

If the water climbs up to the bumper of the car at times -- get the bypass and just be safe...

However, most people wouldn't consider Southern California (a coastal desert) as a "wet spot." So Cal has grown so much, and the water drainage is so bad (in relation to the amount of "lost" green area), that some areas of town can get some rather high standing water in flood conditions! (The storm drains are “swamped”.)

My AEM Bypass Valve is still sitting in my shipping box – so, I will be driving very carefully through intersections in a rainy winter.

I’ve been dragging my feet on what to do (and this depends on the Comptech specs and some other issues)…

23wt

Thanks for the info Eric, and no i havn't seen rain for even to flood streets for even 2 inchs.... As for winter, we are getting snow littlier each year. Occassional big storms, but i ain't stupid enough to go out during those days.

As we all know our stock air box consist of 3 pieces:
1) the air box itself connecting to the throttle body
2) the 'y' shape tube thingie that connects the air box and the resonator box below.
3) the resonator box at the bottem.

Say for just 2-3 months during the winter season. Is it alright for me just to install the airbox back without piece #2 and #3, or do i need the resonator box? It really a pain to get the res box in since my car is lowered...

If that all fails i still have a custom shortram for backup...