# CAI + water = problems



## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

Well the other day when i was driving through the rain and wind from hurricane katrina my intake kept sucking in water but it has never done it before,but it got so much in it my car went dead and when i took off intake water was leaking out of it, so anyways im thinkin its becuz i took my fender wells off to give clearence for my rims i put back on, so my tires are throwing water in the filter. My question is will an AEM bypass valve prevent this from happening or do i need to fabricate a sheilding to stop this or both or what. i wanna know how good these bypass valves are..


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## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

thats what the AEM bypass valves are for.

HOWEVER, it would be smart to take off the piping going into the fenderwell and just put the filter on the end of the pipe off the maf, making a short ram or warm air intake.

WTF are you doing driving around in that damn hurricane anyways?!?!?


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## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

xbrandonx said:


> thats what the AEM bypass valves are for.
> 
> HOWEVER, it would be smart to take off the piping going into the fenderwell and just put the filter on the end of the pipe off the maf, making a short ram or warm air intake.
> 
> WTF are you doing driving around in that damn hurricane anyways?!?!?



ya for right now i made it in to a short ram until i can get a bypass. I was just getting off work at 6:00, it wasnt real bad just alot of wind and some rain,i saw a power line like catch on fire or something big blue flames coming out of it so i turned around but man over in LA it looks real bad especially new orleans.


So does anyone else have an AEM bypass on their car with no fender wells and rims, and does it work properly like this or do you guys think i shud make some kind of shroud around the back of the filter?


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## PoppinJ (Jun 13, 2005)

Either one would work I guess, wich ever is cheaper. I'm suprised it worked for so long with no splash guard on. My buddy just left out like one or two of those plastic screws and it did the same thing ur describing, sucked up to much water and died on him. A splash guard will work though if properly installed, maybe you can modify your stock one, like cut off the top of it so your rims have clearance, but leave the part to the back and bottom of the CAI so its still protected.


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## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

AL_Sentra said:


> Well the other day when i was driving through the rain and wind from hurricane katrina my intake kept sucking in water but it has never done it before,but it got so much in it my car went dead and when i took off intake water was leaking out of it, so anyways im thinkin its becuz i took my fender wells off to give clearence for my rims i put back on, so my tires are throwing water in the filter. My question is will an AEM bypass valve prevent this from happening or do i need to fabricate a sheilding to stop this or both or what. i wanna know how good these bypass valves are..


If you're driving through rain or mud, it is absolutely vital that you have a splashguard. Get a new splashguard and be done with it, or convert it to WAI form for the time being.


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## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

wildmane said:


> If you're driving through rain or mud, it is absolutely vital that you have a splashguard. Get a new splashguard and be done with it, or convert it to WAI form for the time being.



no shit its vital, i converted it the night of the hurricane in the wind and rain after pouring water out of the pipe and drying it. im going to probally get some sheets of aluminum and make new fender wells.


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## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

So if you knew it was vital, why did you even make this topic? 


"My question is will an AEM bypass valve prevent this from happening or *do i need to fabricate a sheilding to stop this or both or what*."


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## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

oh sorry, I meant i knew it was vital to keep water out of the engine, not that i knew i needed a splashgaurd in order to prevent it. but if i dont have a splashgaurd and just the aem bypass, will this combination work?


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## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

Yes, that's what those AEM bypass valves are for, but do you really want rusted up components (including your CAI) in your engine bay? And knowing that each time you drive through mud/rain you're just messing up your engine bay even more?


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## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

wildmane said:


> Yes, that's what those AEM bypass valves are for, but do you really want rusted up components (including your CAI) in your engine bay? And knowing that each time you drive through mud/rain you're just messing up your engine bay even more?


dang man u make me not even want to put the cai part back on lol, but as long as i put a fender well on it everything shud be ok and i shudnt have to worry about water should i?


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## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

Haha, it was meant to be there for a reason..


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## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

AL_Sentra said:


> dang man u make me not even want to put the cai part back on lol, but as long as i put a fender well on it everything shud be ok and i shudnt have to worry about water should i?


I'd say that high 90% of people who have CAI do not use a by-pass valve. HOWEVER, i'm sure that an even higher percentage have splashgaruds.

Regardless of what you do, get that gaurd back on there.


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## Russell (Sep 11, 2005)

i had a CAI on my Isuzu Rodeo. it sucked up water everytime i got off the pavement. i had no splashguard on it, but the deepness of water i was going through, it made little difference. but engines don't like water at all. i would develop a motor skip sometimes. for this, i just dump in about 3 cans of Seafoam and poof its gone.


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

My only question woul dbe: Why would you drive threw a hurricane with a CAI? 

This is worse than FEMA being 3 days late  You knew it was coming.


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

AL_Sentra said:


> no shit its vital, i converted it the night of the hurricane in the wind and rain after pouring water out of the pipe and drying it. im going to probally get some sheets of aluminum and make new fender wells.


A splashguard isn't water proof... If you drove through water deep enough to catch suction and pull the water up the pipe the splashguard wouldn't have helped anyways....it's a splash guard..not a underwater containment unit 

just take it off when you expect heavy rains...it takes all of 5 minutes... you can even buy quick connect clamps to make it even easier.. easier than making new water proof fender wells..



xbrandonx said:


> I'd say that high 90% of people who have CAI do not use a by-pass valve. HOWEVER, i'm sure that an even higher percentage have splashgaruds.


I never had a bypass on any of my CAI's... just don't drive in deep water...common sense has to come into play at some point


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## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

myoung said:


> My only question woul dbe: Why would you drive threw a hurricane with a CAI?
> 
> This is worse than FEMA being 3 days late  You knew it was coming.



i was just getting off work man, winn-dixie is fuckin crazy  
i saw a powerline like catch on fire going home and then my car started going dead and i couldnt get home....sucked


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

this thread is worthless without pics. 

so i thought id provide some. 

This is what happens when you suck water thru your CAI


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## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

Mike, I remember a post on here about a Titan whose splashguard was slightly messed up, and he did some off-roading in it, and the tires had flung mud all into his stock intake. When you have your tires flinging whatever into your wheel well, there's a good reason to have a splashguard.


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## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

AsleepAltima said:


> this thread is worthless without pics.
> 
> so i thought id provide some.
> 
> This is what happens when you suck water thru your CAI



wow....what did u do hit the water at 90 mph lol


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

AL_Sentra said:


> wow....what did u do hit the water at 90 mph lol


actually i hit the water at about 10mph... turned it off as soon as it happened too, but it was too late - damage was done.


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## fanl (Jun 24, 2004)

Does Sentra 95 GA16DE have a stock bypass valve on air intake ducts? 
Couse I literaly drove under wheater, so that the wather touch the spark plugs and my engine start to misfire... And it doesnt stop running !!


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## AL_Sentra (Sep 5, 2003)

fanl said:


> Does Sentra 95 GA16DE have a stock bypass valve on air intake ducts?
> Couse I literaly drove under wheater, so that the wather touch the spark plugs and my engine start to misfire... And it doesnt stop running !!




someone correct me if im wrong, but I beleive the stock airbox has a gasket around it so its pretty much water tight, and the spark plug covers are water tight as well. but i dunno, why did u do this anyways?


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## araemo (Feb 10, 2005)

myoung said:


> just take it off when you expect heavy rains...it takes all of 5 minutes... you can even buy quick connect clamps to make it even easier.. easier than making new water proof fender wells..


Anyone know if the Nismo Sentra SE-R gen2 CAI can be converted to a WAI?

And does it have a bypass valve built in?


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

10 mph and you hit a puddle and it destoryed your motor? That's hard to believe... come on tell the truth.. you tried to drive through deep ass water... I've drivin in rain and hit millions of puddles in many cars with CAI's and never had a single problem..


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

fanl said:


> Does Sentra 95 GA16DE have a stock bypass valve on air intake ducts?
> Couse I literaly drove under wheater, so that the wather touch the spark plugs and my engine start to misfire... And it doesnt stop running !!




Of course not.. you would have to submerge the hood under water to get any water in the OEM intake...

It's not a boat don't drive in deep water....

We've seen test were the cai filter has to be completely submerged for a good period to create the suction pressure needed to pull water all the way up a 4" down pipe...so your car would have to be in water above the bumper ....Sorry but I'm not buying the "hit a puddle" stories..




> Well the other day when i was driving through the rain and wind from hurricane katrina



Okay what's wrong with this sentence? haha


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## Exalta (Jan 21, 2003)

i agree with the water being more than 2 feet deep....

i got trapped in traffic when a flash flood struck...

engine died when water was entering through the floor....

4.5 feet of water total...had to go out through the windows...

my car's now in the shop

engine,electrical systems and my interior and accessories all f*cked up...


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## b14sentrafjs (Mar 7, 2005)

Like Myoung and Exalta are saying, the filter has to pretty much be submerged to creat enough of a vacuum to suck up the water that will kill your engine, i live in Mass/New hampshire and it has been raining for the past 10 days or so and i have had no problems with my CAI


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

my cai killed my engine in less than 8 inches of water. its the luck of the draw.


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## skootz1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Think about this, do you like sucking water down your wind pipe? Let me guess, you chock right? I live in Cali so rain is not much of a prob. However, I will put a bypass valve in mine. Bet your ass i will. I read on an AEM website that you are not suposed to remove your splash gaurds because the direct result would be what had happened to your car.


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## Loki (Jan 12, 2004)

skootz1 said:


> Think about this, do you like sucking water down your wind pipe? Let me guess, you chock right? I live in Cali so rain is not much of a prob. However, I will put a bypass valve in mine. Bet your ass i will. I read on an AEM website that you are not suposed to remove your splash gaurds because the direct result would be what had happened to your car.



I dont have the splash guards (none of them) and here in Puerto Vallarta it rains about 65 inches per season, and bad drains.....have passed buy puddles atleast at 50 mph, and nothing so far.....just one time i had an engine cleaning (diesel and other stuff) than it was funny for a few days


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## skootz1 (Oct 12, 2005)

I was simply relaying info that i read on AEM website. They said not to remove the splash guards. Only for installation and then put them back on. They also said that it would take away from performance because you would grab the air straight from the pavement which is hotter causeing less HP gain. Well you probably have a bypass valve right? Its designed to cut the air flow from the intake and thats why you havent had any problems.


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

skootz1 said:


> I was simply relaying info that i read on AEM website. They said not to remove the splash guards. Only for installation and then put them back on. They also said that it would take away from performance because you would grab the air straight from the pavement which is hotter causeing less HP gain. Well you probably have a bypass valve right? Its designed to cut the air flow from the intake and thats why you havent had any problems.


I've had CAIs in several cars over the years and never had a bypass valve... 

it's common sense...

1) don't drive in deep water... 

2) If you think you might have to then learn to pull the lower pipe and make it a WAI...takes all of five minutes..

3) if you get caught in deep water then turn the motor off

Nothing wrong with getting a bypass if it makes you feel better...but with it or without it you shouldn't drive in deep water anyways...there are alot of bad things that water can do to your motor other than water getting sucked up the intake


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## scrappy (Jun 30, 2002)

I heard aem doesnt recommend using bypass valve with any other intake than their own. They wont guarantee it works if you do


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

scrappy said:


> I heard aem doesnt recommend using bypass valve with any other intake than their own. They wont guarantee it works if you do


Of course they don't...wonder why?


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

why do people beieve everything manufactures say on their website


Mike is right on this. It is never very easy to suck up water. I drove through a foot and a half of stagnant water without a problem. I didn't fly through it, i barely cruised so water wouldn't fly everywhere. Dont be a dumbass and try to drive through lake placid with your car. I have had my CAI for 4 years, my car has been dropped for the last 3 and have no had a single problem, its there are a lot of valleys and hills in PA.


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## 200silvia (Jun 12, 2002)

I think it would eb a waste of your money. I had an aem cai for over a year with no problems at all driving through water and 2 feet of snow.


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

psuLemon said:


> why do people beieve everything manufactures say on their website
> 
> 
> Mike is right on this. It is never very easy to suck up water. I drove through a foot and a half of stagnant water without a problem. I didn't fly through it, i barely cruised so water wouldn't fly everywhere. Dont be a dumbass and try to drive through lake placid with your car. I have had my CAI for 4 years, my car has been dropped for the last 3 and have no had a single problem, its there are a lot of valleys and hills in PA.


yeah im one of the unfortunate ones... i didnt see the water until it was too late. even my lowly 15mph was too fast.


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## Chuck (Nov 19, 2003)

The AEM bypass valve doesnt prevent SOME water from getting in, if you drive through a small puddle, but some of hte filter element is still exposed, it will continue to suck in throught he filter, and water can still be sucked up... but once the filter is 100% submerged, the bypass valve opens cause of engine vaccum, hopefully you put it in front of the MAF (if you get one) otherwise get ready to have massive un-metered air.

but all in all, its added assurance.. i dunno if anyone here seen the AEM video , where they put a civic intake in a fishtank.. like under 2 ft' of water, then they revved the engine up to like redline, with the bypass valve. and it ran fine...

blah.. CAI's are ghey. go turbo


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## DanTheMan (Jan 12, 2003)

*CAI's are Gay?*

Well, they beat WAI's and NA motors may not make the car fly down the road or make cool noises, but they will run damn near forever, whereas turbos lack reliablility and often require fuels with octane beyond your corner gas station if you want to run any large amount of booooosssssssT. Plus you should probabally re-build the whole engine internal set-up like WES to handle something it was never engineered to handle. 
Not my idea of a long trip car.
Not to mention you'll spend more than my car is worth on the turbo/intercool/install/rebuild.

HEY, isn't this the NA section of the forum?


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

DanTheMan said:


> Well, they beat WAI's and NA motors may not make the car fly down the road or make cool noises, but they will run damn near forever, whereas turbos lack reliablility and often require fuels with octane beyond your corner gas station if you want to run any large amount of booooosssssssT. Plus you should probabally re-build the whole engine internal set-up like WES to handle something it was never engineered to handle.
> Not my idea of a long trip car.
> Not to mention you'll spend more than my car is worth on the turbo/intercool/install/rebuild.
> 
> HEY, isn't this the NA section of the forum?


are you a retard or did you just get dropped alot. CAI serve a good purpose and some make good power gains for those who want N/A... Turbos DO NOT have reliability issues, its the dumb ass trying to do it cheaply and cheap out onthe fuel management, (one of the most imported factors of the turbo build up). Hell You can run turboed cars on 91+ octane fuels. NO stupid octane boosters needed. and wes has a stock bottom end. He doesn't have forged internals or anything as they would have to be custom made. You really need to learn what you are talkin bout before you speak.


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

DanTheMan said:


> Well, they beat WAI's and NA motors may not make the car fly down the road or make cool noises, but they will run damn near forever, whereas turbos lack reliablility and often require fuels with octane beyond your corner gas station if you want to run any large amount of booooosssssssT. Plus you should probabally re-build the whole engine internal set-up like WES to handle something it was never engineered to handle.
> Not my idea of a long trip car.
> Not to mention you'll spend more than my car is worth on the turbo/intercool/install/rebuild.
> 
> HEY, isn't this the NA section of the forum?


I think you need to do more research.. 99% of the above comments are completely wrong.

In fact the only part that is correct is the last sentence..


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## skootz1 (Oct 12, 2005)

DanTheMan said:


> Well, they beat WAI's and NA motors may not make the car fly down the road or make cool noises, but they will run damn near forever, whereas turbos lack reliablility and often require fuels with octane beyond your corner gas station if you want to run any large amount of booooosssssssT. Plus you should probabally re-build the whole engine internal set-up like WES to handle something it was never engineered to handle.
> Not my idea of a long trip car.
> Not to mention you'll spend more than my car is worth on the turbo/intercool/install/rebuild.
> 
> HEY, isn't this the NA section of the forum?


What a tard. This is :bs:


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## Twiz (Aug 24, 2004)

Any chance the AEM bypass valve could disintegrate (parts of it like foam, plastic) and end up inside the engine ?


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## skootz1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Anything is possible!


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## Twiz (Aug 24, 2004)

skootz1 said:


> Anything is possible!


  I have a full stack but I just decided the AEM bypass valve is not worth looking at. Nevermind.


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

Twiz said:


> I have a full stack but I just decided the AEM bypass valve is not worth looking at. Nevermind.


the bypass valve is a 50 dollar waste. you dont need it and even if you suck up a little water it wont stop it. the only thing it does is slightly protect u whne you completely submerge the filter and if you are driving in that much water, you should just end your life cuz you are a wetard


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## b14sentrafjs (Mar 7, 2005)

psuLemon said:


> the bypass valve is a 50 dollar waste. you dont need it and even if you suck up a little water it wont stop it. the only thing it does is slightly protect u whne you completely submerge the filter and if you are driving in that much water, you should just end your life cuz you are a wetard



I agree completly!!!!! it is simewhat hard to submerge the filter!!! unless you drive in a river in which case.............:balls: your not smart... A CAI is a great.

:banhump:


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