# Problematic Cold Air Intakes



## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

i was hearing some nasty things about intakes and what it does to your engine and i'm getting scared, cuz i have one. #1:Hydrolocking: what is it exactly? and how likely does it happen and would i need to worry about it? i know it has something to do with water entering your engine and causing damage, but i need some more info. #2:MAF failure: how often does this happen and is there any way to prevent it? #3 anything and everything: are there any other prolems i need to worry about? that will cause major problems in the long run? I currently have the Injen Race Division intake and i've been driving around with for about 800 miles and two months with absoulutly no problems and it sounds great but all these people talking about theirs screwing up is creeping me out and i'm considering putting the stock intake back in so i dont screw things up......c'mon guys!!!!please advise...what should i do? i dont want to pay for a new engine nor a new MAF!!!!


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

Don't listen to those "The sky is falling" people. Many Many people have ran Cold Air Intakes for years and have never exerianced any problems what so ever... 

the only way you will suck water up the intake is if you try to drive through a river...litterally you'd have to run through deep water and long enough to pull the water all the way up the intake pipe... This is extremly rare.... 

If you live in a heavy rain area you can simply move the filter up to the "A" pipe in the winter then go back to the lower pipe after the rainy season... 

Who ever those people are, stop taking their advice...


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

I assume you are talking about my post from the other thread, Those things are very unlikely, but there is a chance and that's why I put them.

It's very hard to hydrolock your engine, you have to get into water that is high enough to completely engulf your filter, then the suction from the engine pulls the water up the intake and into the engine, causing bad things. But in order for any of this to happen you have to go into atleast 2 feet of water, something you shouldn't be doing anyway.

MAF failure is more common, but still pretty unlikely, no one really knows the cause yet. Some blame over-oiling the CAI filter, some blame extra vibration from the CAI (because it isn't braced as well as stock), and some blame little drops of water that go through the intake messing up the MAF (little drops are no problem for an engine, but some people think it might hurt the MAF). There doesn't really seem to be a pattern with the spec-v's MAFs taking a shit, but either way it is pretty unlikely that it will happen.


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

sr20dem0n said:


> *I assume you are talking about my post from the other thread, Those things are very unlikely, but there is a chance and that's why I put them.
> *


not sure what other thread that was referenced from, but I bet if you ran a poll... less than 1 in 500 would have experianced any problems... I've never heard of MAF failure on a B13 or B14 that could be attributed to a CAI...or for that matter I haven't seen any MAF failure from turbo'd cars... Basically bad things can happen with anything if you don't use common sense... heck you can wreck your car by driving it....lol


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## BlackSpec02 (Apr 12, 2003)

A lot of guys I know with CAIs just put the stock box back on in December and then put the CAI back in, in about february or march... its an easy replacement, takes only a few minutes. AEM makes an air bypass valve that you can buy for their intakes so you don't have to worry about that at all...even if you submerge your entire intake the air bypass valve opens allowing air through and not the water... i read in a magazine some guy tested this out on his Acura NSX ...he stuck the entire CAI filter in a fish tank of water... reved the engine up.... the water went up the intake to about an inch or two below the valve...where the air was passing through. My question is, though (regarding CAIs in general) ... if you partially submerge your intake, like splash through a deep puddle or something, wouldnt enough water be able to go up into your engine to do damage?


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

BlackSpec02 said:


> * like splash through a deep puddle or something, wouldnt enough water be able to go up into your engine to do damage? *


no...there isn't enough suction pressure to draw it all the way up the pipe.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

myoung said:


> *not sure what other thread that was referenced from, but I bet if you ran a poll... less than 1 in 500 would have experianced any problems... I've never heard of MAF failure on a B13 or B14 that could be attributed to a CAI...or for that matter I haven't seen any MAF failure from turbo'd cars... Basically bad things can happen with anything if you don't use common sense... heck you can wreck your car by driving it....lol *


Normally MAF failure is pretty rare, but for some reason it is much more common on the spec-v's and no one really knows why. I think they just came with weak MAF's personally


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

hmmm thanx guys, that does sound reasonable. one more thing i wanted to mention was that the Injen RD CAI , when installed, is enclosed by the stock inner fender/plastic cover thingy. dosnt that help repel water at all? and are any of you guys from Texas? i want to know how the waether is like...ie rainfall... another thing is......how often do you guys clean/reoil the filters? does that help keep crap out? and prevent MAF faliure?


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

it raining like crazy over here in cali right nowand yes it helps prevent some water gettin sucked in from your wheels when driven though the wet roads and stuff


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

How often do you guys clean and reoil your CAI Filters? or do you get new ones?


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## BORNGEARHEAD (Apr 30, 2002)

GUYS!

There is a bulletin from Nissan that we got at the dealer TODAY about the mass air flow meters. It involves reprogramming the ECM. It is for the 2.5 Se-R and the 2.5 Altima. It is NOT the aftermarket intakes causing this problem.


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## BlackSpec02 (Apr 12, 2003)

Well tell us about this bulletin.... what can we do, are MAFs available that arent so darn weak, etc. what did the bulletin say?


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

yeah....is there a recall or something? is it online? give us a link or just post what it said.


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## FletchSpecV (Nov 26, 2002)

I'd like to know more about the MAF problem from Nissan and also how much does a new MAF cost? Thanks fellas.


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