Hey I have an AEM CAI and I was wondering like the title says what are the chances to hydro lock. The intake sits not that low. Just about where the front grill is. Well you guys should know. Anyway. Is it possible to hydro lock if I take my car into a car wash and they do that underbody wash? I usually wash my car by hand. But somedays I Just feel to lazy. I don't drive my car in the rain due to the fact that water my get sucked in. Does the intake have to be completely submerge under water? Or will it still get hydro locked if some water gets on it? I have a 6MT and the intakes starts banging on the fender I believe as I let my clutch go is there any fix. I don't wanna mess up my clutch by riding the clutch from a stop just so it won't bang against the fender. Thanks for any help

 

You'd have to try and get it to hydrolock. Like driving into a river or starting the car under a flood.

Short answer, not very likely.

 

Wow you seriously go through all that just for a intake that does little to nothing at best? ie... Not driving your car in rain, changing your driving habits because it bangs on your fender. I say go back to stock and drive the car daily without worry.

To answer your question though hydrolocking is not common. You would have to basically have the car submerged higher than fog light level for that to happen. I have been driving for 14 years and never once put myself or my cars in a position where it would be in that much water. Car washes will not be a problem.

James

 

you need some kind of padding underneath the intake so it doesnt bang against the fender. a lot of people have done this including myself

 

Not very likely.

However, I am probably one of the few members on here who as hydro-locked. And let me tell you: 1. The water needs to be VERY deep. 2. It is the worst experience ever.

I had an AEM CAI, and lowered to shit.

There was a day when it rained a ridiculous amount. I was taking a ramp onto a bridge (throgs neck bridge) and there was an immense amount of traffic due to the thigh high deep water. I got close to the site of flooding and of course, there were a million cars behind me. I didn't realize how bad the flood was until the water reached a height that was half of my bumper. I was going 1mph and I already knew it was going to happen before it did. The second I got too deep and tapped the gas, the car shut off and there I was, in a river full of water, with traffic behind me. Of course, it was pouring as well.

Luckily, there was a truck off to the side whose purpose was to literally push cars out of the water in neutral, across the bridge, across the toll booths, and to the other side. I then waited 5 hours for AAA since that day was hell for them.

I did have a "de-fender" rubber mat to place on my bumper but the water was so deep that the bottom of my door just hit the water. I took one look at the water and said "yeah okay". So I told the truck to just push my bare a-spec kit.

To fix the car, my mechanic did 4 oil changes with 4 new oil filters, removed the spark plugs and shot water out of the engine. According to him, the car was like a "fountain."

 

and they did not total the car, due to the interior being flooded also?





anyways considering that the engine WAS NOT at any sort of speed/rpm, other then being off idle, you might have gotten lucky, cause it can BEND rods due to the water not compressing, and basically just had the motor shut off instead

 

Haha, the water wasn't THAT high. I should have rephrased my statement that the door reached the bottom of the door. In actuality, the water was just under the side skirts.

 

woundering if more so you just ran the engine out of air (think plastic bag over the filter, will run for a little especially at idle, but as soon as step on dies out)

and then the water just kinda seeped in through the crank seals and such (especially if they are put at water level, cause the pcv creates a vacuum in the crankcase; and with a plugged filter, even more so, let alone those seals contain oil inside of the motor well, but when enough pressure differential exists can let shit in through them though)

btw look up the humvee's crankseal design, that are like doable sealed for the purpose of keeping the water from getting through those seals when submerged

 

What kind of padding? Where can I find it? Is there a thread on this? Thanks for any help.

 

I know when I used to go to the car wash they did an underbody wash. If that water goes in the intake doesn't that hurt the car even tho it's not completely submerged? I have the underbody plastic on.

 

normally they only do from the engine bay back to minimize any sort of unhappy customers (with cracked manifolds and such from cold watering hitting a hot exhaust)


and can i ask you a question too? WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SO PARANOID ABOUT A HYDRO-LOCKED ENGINE? ( not trying to be an asshole, but as mentioned before unless you really submerge the filter and car in water, you should not have any issues, other then from stupidity)



BTW:"water mist" inside of the engine, can actually have a sort of cleansing effect on any sort of carbon buildup and such (not the most effective but given enough time/mileage, it can clean it up quite well actually [or keeping it clean to start with])

 

No. I've done it dozens of times. A little water (mist, spray, rain) won't hurt anything.

 

I'm so paranoid because it would suck if my engine got hydrolocked and I was reading some stories and there scary. I love my car and I would hate for anything to happen to it.

 

Its not a big issue...Again as people have mentioned you have to submerge the filter in water. You engine has to pull the volume and length of the pipe to hydrolock. Misting can cause it (very rare) as I have seen it once when my friend was driving around town but he got lucky as the motor just stalled out...also he had no fender liner which it does help quite a bit.

If your worried and you go through a puddle or what you think is a large puddle...try to avoid it. If you cannot just keep a light foot and you will be fine. Usually you want to run it through as close to idle as you can...Now if your trying to cross a river your just SOL.

 

You're thinking too much. Just because it happens to someone doesn't mean it will happen to you. You just have to use common sense...really not that hard.

 

then a cold-air intake might not be for you then if you are going to be this paranoid




and as said too much thinking

 

I like the CAI. And I'm here asking for advice and people's opinions. I rather be safe than sorry. Has anyone tried the bypass valve where you cut the intake and put that bypass valve incase water does get sucked in? Thanks for all the answers. The guy who installed my intake who's a really good friend of mine who works at bridge water Acura installed the intake on my car. He has an 02 civic and he went through a puddle and hydrolocked his engine. But his CAI is like 2 inches from the ground

 

Yeah do you plan on ever lowering that low though?

And was he also flooring through that puddle?

Also did he have fender liners on too because that will shield a lot of the water from the filter itself

 

Hydrolock is very hard to do. Rain can't do it. The filter has to be almost completely submerged. Brian, sounds like you got lucky. It didn't hydrolock, the fire just got put out.

 

All you need is for the filter to be outside of the engine bay. Putting it down low is retarded because there's no performance gain.

You don't even need the filter outside, just the inlet. Its much better to have the filter protected in the engine bay and the inlet outside. Imo, the manufacturers are lazy and need to step up their game instead of a $300 filter on a stick.

 

part of the reason why I do like my icebox for the 2g, with the filter in the engine bay, allows for easy service of the filter, instead having to yank the liner or bumper off


Also I took out my fog light so I do get somewhat of a RAM air effect into the scoop for what's it's worth

 

I did get lucky, since there was absolutely no internal damage according to my mechanic, but I sure did hydrolock.

After the car shut off, I attempted to turn it on again to no avail.

After I was pushed across the bridge, I then tried one last time (tried to avoid starting the engine as much as I could) to turn it on and again, to no avail.

 

So did it not even turn over then? Or just would not start due to wet plugs and such?


Let alone HOW MUCH potential damage you could have done possibly if you did start it with said water in the oil, with a lack of lubrication to the bearings and such

 

I think your setup if far superior to 99.9% of the CAIs sold. I have no idea why others don't use your setup other than it might cut into sales since most believe the filter has to be outside for desired results. I think a lot of mods in this category are designed around looks and myths than performance. Yours would likely be quieter which might explain some of it.

 

I understand that but the water just put out the spark plugs and basically made the fuel non flammable. It got water inside of it but hydrolock involves major mechanical damage. Yours had enough water to make it shut off but the water did not physically stop the engine from spinning via hydrolock. If it did and you did not have to replace the engine, you better go buy a lottery ticket lol.

A little off topic, but did you ever run into any issues with the Rotoras wearing out only one pad with the other 3 being perfect? I think I'm going to have to rebuild one of the calipers. These things have been lots of fun at the track and on the street. Maybe I should PM you instead.

 

OP...just use your head and you'll be good. The fender liners on the 3G TL are very effective at keeping water out of that part of the bumper area. There are some small openings, but combining that with the angle of the filter (bottom plastic/rubber part of the filter deflects water droplets too), it is very hard to get a lot of water in there unless you direct it in (or drive through the equivalent of a river). To tell you the truth, I was kinda worried about the same thing you are now, but after having my AEM V2 on my car for a LONG time now, all has been good and I've just enjoyed the slight breathing increase & nice sound too! Another thing or 2 that you may want to look into if it really bothers you is the bypass valve if you have the standard AEM intake, and/or the hydrophobic filter wrap. I'm not sure how effective the latter item is at keeping the filter dry while still allowing adequate airflow, but it's a thought. Bottom line, drive smart & don't worry about it!

 

every body says it is so quiet compared to others out there lol

but then again being made out of injection molded plastic does help it stay quieter (harder for it to resonate inside plastic then a metal tube)
but also it has a resonator designed into the intake tube to really keep it quieter




only thind i might like though is a bigger filter for less pressure drop across it , since it kinda has to fit inside of that box

 

I attempted to PM but your inbox is full so I have no choice but to reply here:

No uneven wear on my end. Which corner pad?
I miss the BBK; you know, when I first put on the BBK, I didn't notice a single difference. After time, the brakes wore in VERY slowly and gradually that I didn't notice a difference from start to end. The REAL difference was when I removed it to ship it out to you. Wow, the moment I pressed the stock brakes at a stop sign, I actually passed the sign by a bit since my foot wasn't used to the performance (or lack of) of the stock brakes. That's when I really began to miss it.

I'm thinking of saving up and purchasing another one. Did you decide what to do about the whole 1-piece rotor situation not being produced anymore?

 

You gotta really TRY to hydrolock a car with an AEM CAI on it.

As far as the rattling...its installed at the wrong angle. Needs adjusted. Shouldnt do that. Hell...I raced mine and never had issues like that. Its just a matter of getting the optimum position before you tighten everything down.

 

On my Injen the bracket goes on one way and that clocks the lower tube to the proper angle. As I recall AEM does the same.

 

On My AEM intake I had to bend the bracket so it could reach the hole that it goes in.

 

Yea then you clocked the lower tube wrong most likely. There is no "bending" involved.

 

Hydrolock happened to me just last month. 07 TLS 6mt with Injen CAI.
Crazy storm created a flash flood, I drove through a street puddle not realizing how deep it was until it was too late. I couldn't see it, was following vehicle in front of me. Water was approx 10" deep, filter was submerged.

Here's my story :
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ight=hydrolock

So far, no engine damage, so I will get a lottery ticket

I second an earlier comment, worse experience ever. I was stuck there in 10" of water, crazy pouring rain and hail, 29 degree temp, windows fogging and every idiot in a truck driving past me trying to hide my car in a wall of water. Had to walk home barefoot, pants rolled up holding my work shoes once it stopped. Tow truck came by 6 hours later.

Believe me, it CAN happen. Go CAI!! :s

 

AEM bypass valve works, pick one up and save your engine...tested it out on a old civic and bucket of water..i think youtube has a nsx using the valve in water as well..

 

Do the injen hydro shield make a difference?

 

Its called...dont drive through stuff like this....flash food out back of my house....people drive through this all the time and end up hyrolocked.

I will start from flood and run down about three hours time...

 

is't that fence SUPPOSE to be white

 

Nope.


Fence isnt worth painting....I want to replace it with a tall privacy fence due to dobies....so I have been letting it go to hell for several years. House actually just got painted inside and out...lol. Left fence alone as I plan to tear it down and replace it.

 

Time for a canoe homie.

 

Jon boat lol