How safe are CAI's ur opinion.

FuLL BLown STD · #1 03-02-2005, 09:01 AM

I had a 93 prelude SI (2yrs ago) with a Injen CAI and the oneday driving on a wet n rainy day i sucked up a lake into my intake and cracked the whole block, hydrolock sucks! Most devastating day for me man. Now i bought a AEM short ram a few months ago and sumhow the mother fu$%$% sucked up some moisture and almost vapor locked the motor, had to pull it to the side and rev it for awhile to get as much moisture out as i could. Neways i run open throttle body now

Dont you guys have problems with ur CAI and do the bypass valves work? just bored here at work wondering what u think.

turtlecrxsi · #2 03-02-2005, 09:27 AM

By-pass valves do work. They're just cheaply made pieces of plastic layers with small opening spots which allows the water to seap out into the foam that covers it. I have small sheet metal screws in mine holding it together (if you bend it too far it'll just come apart). Anyway, I've run through some deep puddles with my CAI and no problems...

amy@af · #3 03-02-2005, 10:26 AM

when in was flooding in cali a month or so back my friend hydrolocked her crx...she had a CAI

she had the smoothest d16a6 i had ever driven.

turtlecrxsi · #4 03-02-2005, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyNRedSi

when in was flooding in cali a month or so back my friend hydrolocked her crx...she had a CAI

she had the smoothest d16a6 i had ever driven.

Obviously you've never drove mine... LOL (mine's tempermental though)

Word of advice... if it floods where you live on a regular basis, by a jeep with a snorkel...

honda_luvr_2000 · #5 03-02-2005, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turtlecrxsi

By-pass valves do work. They're just cheaply made pieces of plastic layers with small opening spots which allows the water to seap out into the foam that covers it...

No, the bypass valve is a bypass for the air, not the water. when vacuum gets high in the intake tube, it's opens the valves and allows air to bypass the main intake filter and come in there instead.

CAI's are as safe as the driver. u drive thru a deep puddle u'r sucking up water. u can even hydrolock a completely stock car with stock intake. if it's u'r only car, and u get rain a lot and have to drive in it, stick with a short ram or put in the bypass valve on u'r CAI.

mrceej · #6 03-02-2005, 12:10 PM

I have a one piece Injen CAI on my 91 hatch. I've driven it in the rain with no problems. My bumper has an opening which completely exposes the front of the filter and the plastic/rubber fender lining is gone so the back side is exposed as well. I've never had a problem with mine, but I do drive extremely slow when it's raining. My buddy told me that the bypass is only effective when the entire filter is submerged. I don't agree with him but if I had a two piece CAI, I'd get one. Better safe than sorry right?

Gohan Ryu · #7 03-02-2005, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honda_luvr_2000

No, the bypass valve is a bypass for the air, not the water. when vacuum gets high in the intake tube, it's opens the valves and allows air to bypass the main intake filter and come in there instead.

Correct - the bypass valve prevents water from being sucked in thru the filter. If the air filter becomes immersed in water the vacuum created causes air to be sucked in thru the foam bypass valve instead of the submerged air filter. The air filter doesn't have to be entirely submerged - just submerged enough to create enough vacuum to start sucking air thru the bypass valve.

CAI's are safe IMO, but if you live in an area that gets a lot of rain you should get a bypass valve - it's a cheap investment that could potentially prevent a major disaster.

SiZ · #8 03-02-2005, 04:13 PM

CAI with a bypass valve is about as safe as anything else.

I'm wondering how fucking deep of a puddle you have to be driving through to hydrolock with a short ram?! 3 feet deep?! Some water splashing on your filter isn't going to cause it, the filter needs to be almost completley submerged.

amy@af · #9 03-02-2005, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turtlecrxsi

Word of advice... if it floods where you live on a regular basis, by a jeep with a snorkel...

she had just moved from here a month prior to avoid the snow

bambam89lx · #10 03-03-2005, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honda_luvr_2000

No, the bypass valve is a bypass for the air, not the water. when vacuum gets high in the intake tube, it's opens the valves and allows air to bypass the main intake filter and come in there instead.

Yep that's right.

turtlecrxsi · #11 03-04-2005, 08:21 AM

The by-pass is still just pieces of plastic and I bet that any stock tubing can have holes cut in it with foam wrapped around it to act the same way.

I stand corrected though. Water doesn't exit rather air enters...

SiZ · #12 03-04-2005, 06:16 PM

Yes. If your filter is submerged in water, it will suck up water instead of air.. Naturally its going to suck whatever is easier, so if you just spash some water covering for arguments sake 60% of the filter, it will just suck air from the other 40%. But if 100% is covered, there's nothing left to suck but water. With the bypass valve, if you did suck water up into the main filter, it gives another spot higher up on the pipe for it to get air from instead of just swallowing all the water. Since the water is a lot heavier, and the air is now comming in somewhere in the middle of the filter, the water doesn't make it past the bypass. It saves your motor!

Shortly after they were released they did a good test on them in SCC on an NSX and put the air filter completley submerged in a fish tank or something like that. No damage done.

honda_luvr_2000 · #13 03-04-2005, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiZ

Shortly after they were released they did a good test on them in SCC on an NSX and put the air filter completley submerged in a fish tank or something like that. No damage done.

Yep I remember that article. It was a beastly NSX with some major suction power. At WOT it pulled the water about a foot up the clear intake tube past the air filter, but you're right, it didn't suck it all the way up to the bypass valve, and so the car didn't have a problem.

Hilikus Funkin · #14 03-04-2005, 11:46 PM

my filter got all rusty when i have my cai in... i had it on when it snowed last bc i was too lazy to take it off and salt and snow got all over it... But i cleaned it with water today and used some compressed air to spray some of the shit out. Now its better than when i first obught the filter. I just need to get some oil for it now.

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