Cold-air Intakes and water

[Cabbs]

This is mostly regarding intakes. There is this guy that goes to my school who used to drive a Acura Integra GS-R, which didn't look too bad. Black with a lip kit, lowered on 15's and halo headlights.

Anyway, he has a cold-air intake that goes down near the bottom of the engine block to get cold air passing beneath the car. This is a good concept, but we live in Washington. Washington means rain, which means puddles.

So on the way to school he ran over a puddle and water got sucked up into the intake. Water does not like to compress. When a piston tried to compress the water, a rod snapped and sent metal through the front of the block.

All because of this puddle and his CAI, his car is sitting in front of the auto-tech garage at school. His mom won't let him report it to insurance because that would make his rates go up.

Point is, be careful with intakes with your car. That metal tube could seal the fate of your beloved motor.

 

[pooker]

They dont give that much power anyways, waste of money for a couple horsepower. It sounds like he should of used a bypass filter before putting one of those on.

 

[Rudster8161]

haha, not all of washington gets rain though, i just happen to live here. although i live on the east side, in a desert, NO im not lying.

 

[Half Evil]

Wow.

First, it is Intake 101 in WA to face it UP in the engine bay. Cali, or Florida different story, but up here in WA that is a no-no.

Mine is actually faced down, right behind the passenger side front wheel. Difference being mine is covered, but still gets vented from the front. Its a really good concept. I drove thru Stevens Pass to bring it home, and in areas I was going thru 3 inches of water hydro-ing on the water.... Still nothin in the CAI.

Seriously though, if any water gets in your screwed.

 

[bobert1]

wow. didnt think simple things like water can blow ur motor

 

[Cabbs]

Water doesn't really compress, so yeah.

 

[pooker]

wow. didnt think simple things like water can blow ur motor

You would be surprised at how easily an engine will lock up because of it,

story time, we were putting a motor in a transam, it rained one night and we had trashbags over the cylinder heads on an lt1 so water wouldnt get in it, (intake was off). About a quart of water got in it without us knowing, we went through over 100 dollars of oil to try and get it out and nothing.

So we let it sit up (it takes about less than a doctors cop of water to change your oil to a milky looking substance and reduce its makeup) , oil and water will eventually seperate. Well I guess we let it sit up to long because, once the water separated it rusted everything over on the inside.

So end of story, computers are cheaper, no more fooling with cars for a little while for me.

 

[Half Evil]

I've turned into messing with cars, and gotten away from computers^

Although a new computer build next summer!

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Ha, CAI and water. I've personally been through it. Even in California, it can be a problem due to floods.

The filter gets wet, but ok still. In fact, it's perfect as long as the filter isn't submerged in water. It helps when it's wet because of the cooler air going through the pipes. Hopefully, the heat soak isn't too bad by the time it gets there .

I remember the El Nino rain here in California one time when I had my AEM CAI. Man, that filter was drenched!!!! I didn't bother moving it back up to a short intake.

 

[mark thorpe]

haha, what a muppet...

if you do something that stupid you deserve to have your engine blow.. thats gonna be costly..