Air By-pass valve for cold air intakes

[pre-lewd]

Has anyone used a air by-pass for cold air intakes? Have they held up..worked? I drive in a lot of rain and really hate water in my engine need a little help thanx...

[Dragonmotorsports]

i myself do not have one but i have read that they do work... SCC did an article on it when they first came out and they custom made an intake for this test...

1) Really Nice NSX
2) fish tank full of water
3) Custom AEM intake w/ bypass valve w/ a clear section to see level of water

the intake was made one made for the NSX with a clear part so they could see the level of water when dunked in the fish tank...

and the bypass valve did work... although the pictures they show are scary... i mean you can see the water going up the tube when the filter was totally in the water...

however i have heard that there is a slight loss in power but i would take that over hydrolock, and there was a recall on the some of the bypass valves because the plastic peices would break off and get sucked into your intake maniford (Very very bad)... but to my knowledge this has been fixed

I personally would buy one just for insurance, and still drive carefully shouldn't be going fast in the rain or attempting to drive through huge puddles anyways (had a friend who did that and she lost control and totalled her car)...

idonno if this helps or even makes sense but hey, i hope that you can understand and find it useful

[pre-lewd]

Yea...that does help sorta..I like the fish tank test...I drive across the everglades in florida a lot..this is 100 miles of swamp..100 miles of almost str-8 away its kinda hard not to speed and its usually wet to monsoon...at any rate I need the by-pass for the insurance..but no one I know has one...

[super 96 accord]

I have one installed on my AEM CAI. I installed it at the same time as the actual intake so I don't know if there is any performance difference. I've had it for about 6mos now no problem. I can send you some pics of it installed if you're not sure what it looks like.

[pre-lewd]

Thanks for the reply...I saw one on a website. I would not mind some pix. Just for the visual. thanx for the help.

[Dragonmotorsports]

Here's the link to the thing SCC did its a nice read i think AEM TEST

[pre-lewd]

Great article! Thanks Dragon.

[super 96 accord]

I haven't been able to find my pics. I'll try taking some more soon. Well actually I'll be selling my whole CAI and bypass valve because I'm puttting my turbo on so no more intake needed

[NtenseLude]

i have a Aem CAI and an Aem bypass valve .......very helpful i feel a lot more confident driving in the rain .....as much as hate to .. yes they help in my opinion good investment !!!

[92PreludeSI]

how much do they cost?

[VDubb]

The first few runs of these were recalled. Motor sucked em up - Poof! No more engine!

I'd be careful and look around more. Hopefully they cleared up these issues.

[MidNiteMysT]

Originally posted by VDubb
The first few runs of these were recalled. Motor sucked em up - Poof! No more engine!

I'd be careful and look around more. Hopefully they cleared up these issues.

yep, there was a recall on it and it got fixed. so no more "Poof! No more engine!" i got the cai w/ by pass valve in my car and it feels alot more safer. i heard you get a performance loss of only 1/4 of a hp so i def think its worth it. thats nothing compared to the confidence and assurity you get while driving in the rain with a by pass valve. i think they cost around 30-40 bucks now. you should definitly get it especially if you get alot of rain. but short ram is good for low end power, cold air is good for high end due to the long piping. so think about that.

[MidNiteMysT]

question about the by-pass valve

the magazine only tested the by pass valve under 100% submerged water but what if its only 30 or 40 % or maybe even 10% under water? would it create enough vacuum to open up the by pass valve or maybe it would just suck it up into the engine?

[Veetec]

Originally posted by MidNiteMysT
question about the by-pass valve

the magazine only tested the by pass valve under 100% submerged water but what if its only 30 or 40 % or maybe even 10% under water? would it create enough vacuum to open up the by pass valve or maybe it would just suck it up into the engine?

If the filter is not COMPLETELY submerged into water neither the by-pass valve will open nor will it suck up any water into the engine. If the filter is only 10, 30 or even 70% under water nothing would happen because there wouldn´t be a vacuum which could suck up any water into the engine.

If you aren´t going to drive through deep puddles or anything like that you won´t even need a by-pass valve at all because of these reasons. A friend of mine here in germany got an AEM CAI without the bpv for his Civic sedan and he never had any problems with water! And it´s raining a lot and very hard over here in germany.