just wanted to see if there were alot of incidents hydrolocking wit anyones CAI (prefereably AEM). Just put mine on a few days ago and deciding if i really need the bypass...my friend had his CAI on his teg and never had any problems in the rain..

ive had mine for a year and i never had a problem with water the salesmen always try to sell u stuff u dont need. if u are concerned put your splash gaurd back on the car for the rainy season. but its not really necessary and it robs u of precious horsepower. o well good luck

water splashing in the filter shouldn't be a problem. the only way your car would hydrolock would be if you drove through a DEEP puddle and got the filter completely submersed.

Never have had a problem with mine. I have the AEM CAI. And I don't have the bypass valve and my fender well isn't even blocking it either. And I live in NY and have gone through rain storms. If you read the AEM instructions it does say must be submerged in 15inches(I know its close to that) of water.

I've been running w/out the air bypass valve for about a year now with no problem and, yes, lots of rain.

read this and tell me the need for it
http://www.aempower.com/by_pass.htm

The only reason to get one is if your car is lowered so much that it no longer has wheel wells and the filter is constantly exposed to moisture. If you installed it yourself, you'd see the position that it is in and it is a very safe place.

When in doubt, shut the motor off and pull off the road. If its raining that hard, you shouldn't be driving.

you will lose 3-4hp with the bypass valve installed.

There's another thread called "how much hp loss" in the forum that talks about this too

the only car that really needs that bypass thing is the accord...it works fine in my civic...had it for 2yrs and still h2o free

Originally posted by clatescivicr
Never have had a problem with mine. I have the AEM CAI. And I don't have the bypass valve and my fender well isn't even blocking it either. And I live in NY and have gone through rain storms. If you read the AEM instructions it does say must be submerged in 15inches(I know its close to that) of water.


same here...that bypass thing is BS..AEM is just trying to cash in

Kool..thanks alot guys..you saved me $40 =)

n/p thats what we're here for :D :) :cool:

it's actually a matter of preference..If you are scared f hydro loack and that it might suck up Water then buy it....

On the other hand if you aren't goin to be having your ride in 1 1/2-2 1/2 ft of water then it's needed.

General splashing into the filter won't hurt it at all as a little moisture into the piping will help cool a little more....thuse more HP....:frog:

Since I saved you 40 you can send me 1/4 of it for my time :D ;) :D
My address is....J/k, Glad I/we could help out. And to the person that said it was BS, its not BS its a way for them to protect themselves for the strange cases and to make people feel safrer buying it.
Originally posted by SPEEDY
Kool..thanks alot guys..you saved me $40 =) :D ;) :D

The bypass valve is more for the peace of mind, unless you like to drive through big puddles and lakes! :)

Originally posted by changedagame108
The bypass valve is more for the peace of mind, unless you like to drive through big puddles and lakes! :) is there something wrong with driving through big puddles and lakes?

I've heard my bypass working when I went through some water, it didn't look really deep, but I think I heard it working, cause it sounded totally different. Just get it to be safe, even if you somehow lost 1 hp, it's not like that's going to make a difference, and not like you're going to be beating anything with real power under the hood anyhow.

The only reason I got rid of my CAI is because its gets dirty real quick, and I hate having to clean my filter every 1000 miles.

A local kid here with a 00' Civic Si blew his engine while sucking in a good amount of water through his CAI. It wasn't even raining, just pulled into a parking lot and went through a dip that was filled with water. He hit it fast and shot water everywhere, and his engine was gone :( Stupid thing is he got a new engine, but again not bypass valve. Oh well.

Well my friend went over a flood by accident and his car shut off.He couldn't start it. So i tried to start it with throttle wide open and all you see is black smoke coming out of his exhaust. So his rods are fucked up and he ended up replacing the engine. Oh its a 94 accord ex just so if you're wondering.