It raining right now in CA. I have the AEM CAI in my TL and my car is lowered. Everywhere i go there is puddle of water. Can i get hydro lock if i just drive through the puddle without hitting the gas.

 

if the puddle is deep enough, you're screwed.

 

not good for me then. I just went through a deep puddle of water.

 

if you locked your engine, trust me.. you would know...

even if you arent hitting the gas, the engine will probably be between 1 - 3k RPM, which means air is being sucked into.. obviously, goign WOT will make your chances higher... but my opinion. avoid the water.

plus, it needs to be several inchs deep to really affect the car

 

It needs to be much deeper than several inches. Don't worry about it.

 

The AEM is high on the wheel well.

Unless the water is a foot deep or higher you don't have to be concerned.

However if you're running fast and splashed through it, and there's a significant amount of water, your chances of getting the cone filter wet is high. However this might not be significant enough to cause your engine to lock up.

As I understand it, the cone has to be immersed in water for your engine to ingest the water or if the cone gets wet significantly.

 

so the CAI filter have to be a couple of inches in the puddle of water to hydro locked.

 

not necessarily. i meant "deep enough" meaning that once you go through, you'll know because you'll stall. water doesnt compress. when "enough" water gets ingested (doesnt necessarily have to be a deep puddle) and makes its way inside, that's it.

 

unless the filter element is completely submerged in water and you WOT (which is pointless in the rain anyways) you have no chance in hydrolocking your engine. if you see a deep puddle coming, just coast right through it. to many people worry about this when the rainy season hits.

 

hey sean, I hit the gas when I see alot of water =) hehe

 

Check this out.

I just took the car to a great car wash by my house. I normally do the cleaning myself but it's 30 degrees out today.

As soon as I got out of the car bay I parked at a spot outside. I popped the hood just curious what the CAI looks like

It was wet but not completely soaked. I drove around trying to see what will happen. I got home without any issues.

Now something to think about. During a downpour if the water is creeping on the sides of the hood and is making its way down to the CAI and eventually to the cone .... I wonder how much or how long will it take to get the filter completely soaked for the engine to suck a little water.

This is something completely different from ingesting water through the wheel well or through the inlet from the from left side bumper.

 

Been through three years of hard rains and never had a problem with any water creeping in from anywhere. And even if some did make it through the filter, I don't think it would be enough to actually cause any problems.

 

Thanks subinf. That's really comforting to know.

 

think of it this way. your filter acts like a straw. if you dont have submersion of the filter, there is no vacuum. water is heavier and thicker then air, so you will suck in air and not water.

that is how a safety/bypass valve works on a CAI if you have one. (i dont) if the filter is completely submerged, there is less restriction at the top closer to the engine and the air will get sucked in from there. if air is sucked in from that point, a loss of vacuum pressure will make the water not get sucked in. think.... hole in a straw.

 

I wouldnt worry one bit. You'll never enjoy it...

 

Hah, I was just driving down the 405 by Westminster and 3 lanes of the freeway were flooded! Drive safe on those rainy days.

 

I HOPE this post is a joke, right?

You have to SUBMERGE the filter of your CAI in order to have ANY chance at having this problem. Now, I didn't say that you had to COMPLETELY submerge your filter but simply "getting water on it from either a puddle or a car wash AIN'T gonna be enough to come ANYWHERE near causing this problem. Shesh!

 

No it wasn't a joke. It wasn't a statement either. It was an observation of a fact right after an event (which in this case was a car wash). I was merely asking a question - "what could have".

Actually if you looked a few posts from what you quoted I actually re-affirmed that the AEM CAI is high on the wheel well.

Anyway, the question you quoted was already aptly answered with another post from subinf and a sign of appreciation and gratitude from me right after it.

Thanks.

 

Actually no. A guy that I worked with locked the engine in his RSX while driving the freeway - didn't submerge the filter but had it low enough to the ground where a shit ton of water got into the engine. Not likely to happen on most cars though because he did some weird shit to his intake which put the filter a few inches above the road.

 

You need to submerge the filter in water to suck up water. Therefore you need to submerge the bumper in water. You aren't going to suck up water driving in the rain or puddles. The filter needs to be submerged. Filter's can get wet without sucking up water.