# Bypass valve assurance...



## HoloSkull (Jan 30, 2003)

This hasn't really been discussed (at least not that I found).

I know that an engine can be hydrolocked with a cai.
I also know that a bypass valve can prevent this.

I looked at the bypass valves on ebay (just to get a picture) because I make all my mods myself (conservative with cash) and I just kept thinking to myself: "How the heck do these things work!?" They looked like a rubber tube with a filter in the middle wrapped around the outside.

Wouldn't the water just continue on and hydrolock the engine?
Where exactly should these be placed so that they are effective?
How the heck do they work?


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## azkicker0027 (May 31, 2002)

well you see, there is a collapsible diaphragm inside that foam ring, the aem one for instance, has the foam ring, the diaphragm, and the housing. what happens is, when the filter gets saturated, the negative pressure produced by the engine will tend to suck in anything in the intake tract, what the bypass valve does, is to prevent water from going up the intake by opening that diaphragm under those conditions, cause it's easier to take in air than water. bear with me, kinda sleepy. so under normal conditions, the valve is closed, and when those intense pressure differences occur, it opens to let air in. i guess that works..........dozing off...........


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## McLaren F1 2003 (Jan 2, 2003)

its always a good idea to get one...trust me

im just about to get my car back after 2 months, because i didnt have one. of course that wasnt the only reason i lost my car


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## azkicker0027 (May 31, 2002)

imagine, $50 of something so simple can save the whole engine from hydrolock, wish i thought of this first.


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## HoloSkull (Jan 30, 2003)

yeah, I was just really hoping it wasn't 50 bucks...


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## azkicker0027 (May 31, 2002)

regarding the bypass valve, i tested it yesterday here in houston where it rained so bad, and i sloshed through some water confident that i wouldn't lock up my engine, and i didn't, i think my filter was saturated, but the performance of the car from the seat of the pants perspective didn't change, just more hissing.


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## HoloSkull (Jan 30, 2003)

Well, I won't have to worry about ruining my car. Already done that... Once I get it fixed we'll have to see if I have enough guts to experiment.


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## audio1der (Jul 14, 2003)

They leak, losing some of the power gains yo get from a CAI, you have so little room to place them between the filter and MAF that it renders them next to useless, it adds a coupler to the CAI, and there is very little vertical tubing in most CAI's anyway:
THEY ARE USELSS.
I had one, and swore by it. Now I have an extra coupler because I had to cut my expensive PR CAI to make it fit, and I couldn't be happier it's gone.
With or without a BPV, if you pull a real Homer, you're going to hydrolock your engine.
I've driven carefully through some crazy thunderstorms at nigh on poor highways with no problems since getting rid of it.
They are just fake, poor insurance for dumbas-ses who like to drive through puddles.

Save your $50.


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## tkvtec (Apr 20, 2003)

like to drive to puddles isn't exactly how i'd look at it, it just rained like hell here, still is, but on my way home from work I hit 5 ponds in the road that were unavoidable. For a couple I was able get enough speed and cut the motor and coast through. Others, on the otherhand, I had no choice because I saw them too late and couldn't get enough speed to coast all the way through the puddles. Needless to say, even cutting the motor didn't help too much because the filter got so soaked that it was keeping air from entering the intake causing my car to stall, run like crap once I got it running and then eventually I made it home limping and my car is still running right now, cause I want to be sure any water that entered the intake gets evaporated so I don't get any rusting in my cylinders, intake manifold, etc...


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## azkicker0027 (May 31, 2002)

well, if one would use their brain and skills for once, installing a bpv doesn't require hacking into the cai, just install it in front of the maf, and even with high load, the diaphragm doesn't open, i don't know what kind of car that was, but for myself, my AEM bpv works and doesn't leak, i also don't know what kind that car used, but some other bpv's are available too. and yes i like to go nuts sometimes, even off road in the mud and show up to work the next day with brown racing stripes


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## azkicker0027 (May 31, 2002)

testifying on the benefits and assurance that my bpv provided me today, as Houston was saturated really bad, and had no other choice than to go through, although i think i need to pull my carpet out to dry. :balls:


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