CAI on rainy days ?

[91CRXTC]

i have an iceman CAI, i keep my lisence plate on the driverside over the floglight cutout, but when it rains i switch it over to the passenger side so rain doesnt go directly on my filter. Am i being too causious or is it ok to let raiin get on the filter which will get soaked and allow water in the piping which may get into the cyls and cause steam and clean them out alittle.

[doug294]

Should be ok as long as it is not submerged. Just by a bypass system.

[turtlecrxsi]

It won't do anything unless you drive in a flood. I even removed my by-pass because it just seemed to be taking up space... haha. Honestly, don't worry about it. I have my bumper cut on the passenger side so air rams straight into the filter (filter sits horizontal with opening right in top). Rain has never affected it. The only time rain has ever affected anything is when harness wires were wet.

On a side note: Has anybody ever experienced this? While coasting in neutral say down a hill at like 50mph the idle stays up higher than normal, but when the car comes to a stop, it returns to it's 1200rpm idle I have it tuned to. I figured it's probably a combination of the various mods I have... EDIT: Oh yeah, it only does this when it's really cold out.

[amy@af]

i have an iceman CAI on my 97 integra. i got caught 170mi fron home when it started raining. it was a moderate rain. the car rain fine, however i don't recomend it. you need an AEM bypass filter. the bad news is i don't know if it will fit the iceman system. i know my iceman wouldn't fit the bypass on the AEM CAI we have on the civic.

[91CRXTC]

but i dont think the rain water would soak the filter enough that the bypass would even work. i saw a video on the bypass, they put the filter in water and it sucked it up, but it had to be completely submerged for that to happen. i just want to know if getting alittle water was bad or not. i will continue switching the plate from side to side then. thanx guys!

[Exempt]

I wouldnt be so sure that it wont hurt anything unless is floods... This is NOT true! My brother has a 99 Accord V6, had a CAI intake on it when he bought it, and the splash guards missing below it... Well the other day he was driving in the rain, and all of a sudden CEL came on, and it started to smoke and run like crap... So we took it upto Autozone to have the codes pulled, misfire in every cylinder... We replaced the plugs (which were rusted BTW) and cap, and it runs fine now... We pulled his intake off, the lower part, and water poured out of it! So what happened was it sucked water into his cylinders and fouled the plugs... For his problem, not even a by pass valve would help... A splash gaurd might... But a filter exposed like that has no chance...

[civickiller]

well the bypass is suppose to open when the filter us submerged. alittle water in your intake isnt gonna hurt, people use water injection on their cars to help cool air temps and it suppose to help clean out your motor alittle.

[Exempt]

Yea most of the time its not straight water, its an alchohol and water mixture... Plus its not rain water either, which contains atmospheric polluants such as salt...

[91CRXTC]

but exempt... how was your brother driving? was he driving like it was a clear day and runnin his rpms up high or was he takin it easy cuz its rainin? i take it easy and try to keep my rpms down so i try to be in fifth ASAP, plus i do have my plate in front of the filter, and for awhile i had no splashguard on either, i was stupid and cut it off to put it in, has been fix last year.

[Exempt]

He was driving like normal... He dosnt play around in the rain... U really cant here, because the rain dosnt play either... And u usually cant see more than 5 feet in front of you in it... Ofcourse we are in Louisiana, and there is a difference in rain here, it usually dosnt just rain, but it pours... And the streets do flood a bit... Not enough to reach the filter, but enough to splash some water onto it when u hit a bump... Either way, I wouldnt drive around like that... I plan on getting a splash guard before I even think about slapping my down pipe back on... Better safe than sorry...

[turtlecrxsi]

Okay. That was a 99 Accord. Let's talk about a 88-91. I drove through torrential fucking rain on the way home last night with my CAI exposed, no splash guard, no bypass. I had no problem revving up, no CEL, no nothing. I do have some dirt on my filter but I'll clean that. So no problems...

[91CRXTC]

so would places closer to water have more of a salt content in the air then a midland place? this could also be a factor as to why some1s motor would be more suseptible then others.

[Exempt]

Originally Posted by turtlecrxsi

Okay. That was a 99 Accord. Let's talk about a 88-91. I drove through torrential fucking rain on the way home last night with my CAI exposed, no splash guard, no bypass. I had no problem revving up, no CEL, no nothing. I do have some dirt on my filter but I'll clean that. So no problems...

Yes and my brother drove his for atleast a year, nothing happened until the other night... They are both basically the same as far as how they would be affected, just the accord has 2 more cylinders.... Lets face it, water and electricity do not mix... And eventually your plugs will fail because of the water... And thats what happened too his... Its not so much the polluants in the water, but the water itself corroding the plugs... I guess it probably also depends on how often you change the plugs... He dosnt change them often...

Honestly tho, too me, the risk of sucking up water, and dirt (because an exposed filter will not filter out all of the dirt specially if your taking on water, proof was in my brother intake there was water and dirt particles) into my cylinders, plus the possibility of hydro lock, its not worth it for 2-3 more HP... Now if I had a splash gaurd, id probably run a CAI... Less risk... But no way Id run it exposed... But what it really boils down too is, personal preference... If its worth it too u, go for it... Im just telling u a situation that happened recently too my brother, im not saying dont run a CAI because it will happen too you, only just to advise you that there IS a risk of this when you run a CAI exposed like that...

[turtlecrxsi]

I just changed my plugs. I change them every 10k miles. Running NGKs. I agree that water and electricity do not mix. The lack of a splash guard was probably getting water on some wires I have tucked by the intake. My harness was rigged and the fan relay and all that good stuff had to be rewired. I took the time this weekend and totally cleaned all that up making a nice safe protected ground to chassis and taping/looming the wires so they wouldn't be exposed. My car is now only about an 1.25" lowered to save my struts and tires. I take care of my stuff. However, if my engine ever hydrolocked I would definitely do a swap.

[91CRXTC]

ok heres the beatly wierd ironic thing, on my way home lastnight my car started to spudder alittle at low rpms. im thinkin fowled plugs so im gonna change them today and let yall know whats up. it figures though, i bring this up and now it becomes a problem.