does a cold air intake go low enough to suck up water in rain? or puddles

 

only if you leave the splash guard off, or the puddle gets to the level of the intake

 

get a hydroshield

 

what does dryflow have anything to do with hydrolock or not?

The answer is no because they are apples and oranges.

As far as hydrolock don't be a ******* and drive though deep water and you'll be fine.

 

from what I understand hydrolocking means you haveto manage to fill a cylinder with more water than there is volume when the piston is at full compression. And the likelyhood of that happening is pretty low unless you completely submerge the filter and inlet by driving in a foot or so of water. In that case no "hydoshield" will help anyway (or even the stock airbox for that matter)

Anything that splashes on the filter will be sucked in as a mist at most, which I don't think is even close to enough for hydrolock. It may mess with combustion enough to confuse the ecu and not run right, but I'd think thats it.

The moral of the story... don't drive in a flood condition.

However, There is one aftermarket anti-hydrolock item that I've seen is based on sound thinking.. Intake bypass valves. They are mounted mid way up inline with the intake and incase the opening of the intake is blocked (by water or whatever) the valve will open as a secondary air path; releaving the vacuum and preventing water from being sucked in. This is all presuming the valve is mounted high enough from the filter and water level that water is not going to go in the valve aswell. Ofcourse It's one of those items that you hope you never haveto use, but has potential to drive the engine nuts if it actuates under normal conditions, since it would be mounted downstream of the MAF sensor.

As for dryflow vs oiled. Theoretically I suppose dryflow is more likely to accept water as oil should repell the water. But that's neglegable if we are talking about the engine forcefully pulling in enough water to cause hydrolock

 

the dryflow is simply an alternative to an oiled filter and last a good long time but requires more maintenance

 

I can attest to this. Yes, when it rains alot, sometimes you will notice if the filter is still wet a little and you get on it it can act up. As long as you drive normally you shouldnt have problems, but you'll notice more issues if you're revving high or getting on it enough to create alot of boost. Drive it normal, wait til filters almost dry and it's back to normal. Doesn't mean dryflow's are bad, just something to be cautious of and drive more safely in ill weather conditions.

This bypass valve is only for use on N/A cars. Forced Induction vehicles shouldn't use a bypass valve.

http://www.aempower.com/Faqs.aspx?CategoryID=20

 

AVOID standing water. My son lost an engine in his 2.4 Balt this way....thankfully, comprehensive insurance coverage picked it up (with a painful deductible!).

Keep in mind what Preowner said...it only takes about 1/20th of a liter of water to equal the maximum space with piston at TDC...any more than that, and you are done, for water is effectively incompressible. Con rods bend, cylinders crack, it gets really ugly.

I can tell you...when it happens, it happens FAST. The thing folks fail to realize is this...at 2000 RPM, your engine is sucking in air at the rate of approx. 1000 liters per minute. That's 17 liters...per second. How many 1/20ths of a liter are in 17 liters? Yep, about 340! BOOM.

 

Sounds obvious, but good advice. In my 3000gt once it was raining horribly and i was on a two lane road and what looked like a continuation of the puddles that line the street/grass edge was alot more than a small puddle. I let off the gas because i could feel hydroplaning for a sec went to get back on the gas after that and the engine would on rev up and drop really quick . Didn't have any power at all, it was trying to stay on but couldn't and ended up dying so i coasted to the side of the road. Finally after a little while I was able to get it cranked and limp it to a near by parking lot. Let it sit for a while and after it quit raining came back to get it and it was still running like complete **** but it was still running none the less. I got it home and just let it idle for about 15 or 20 minutes and it smoothed out. It was a shitty ass feeling.

 

You were close to disaster! Chances are the rough running was from water on your MAF sensor.

 

so by avoiding going through a flooded area will be safe?

 

Yep. Don't do it!

 

i drove thru a foot of water with my old SS/SC...didnt realize it was that deep because it was raining so hard. engine died and me and some friends pushed it to our shop right down the road. got the air filter dry and ran some ISOHEET thru it...i was lucky; it was only enough water to mess up the TB and the first O2 sensor, but i had a buddy that got it pushed thru under warranty for me. Car ran strong after that...i was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO lucky...

 

i was worried just about know cuz its been raining here for the past 5 days. Dont want to mess up my car or anything cuz i just installed my 3'' raw.

 

STAY OUT OF PUDDLES!

That's about it. It's not a problem at all because a cai is behind the headlight in a cobalt anyway...totally protected no problem.

 

<---- just replaced an LSJ motor hydro locked due to floodings in my area. It had a hydroshield on it >.<

 

Good catch. I would, however, think an 8cyl would create more (or atleast similar) vaccum than our little SC?

 

Hey is it possible to mess up your car in the carwash? Sounds stupid but I had a freakin expensive carwash once with underbody and all this and then right after I tried racing my friends stang and my car was running like complete ****. Ever since then it's ran fine but I been washing my car myself since then too. Is this possible or was it something else that was messing with my car? I have the AEM dryflow btw.

 

With performance upgrades, I look at the Cost vs. Gain vs. Risk factor.

Cost = Not Bad (a few hundred)
Gain = 4-5hp , maybe 1/10 sec in the 1/4 mile (let's be honest)
Risk = Generally Low but COMPLETE DISASTER (if compromised)

So for the amount of gain received, I don't think CAI's are worth the potential risk (even the smallest chance of hydrolock is TOO GREAT).

Also, if your car is a dd ... the risk is increased.

I'd say go with an exhaust instead.

 

it rained really hard last night here when my car was parked on the street. after it rained maybe an hour or 2 i was on my way to go see a movie with the gf. got about half way there (about 5-10 min of driving) and it started acting up then completely died. the movie wasnt far so we took a cab. we decided to walk back since it was nice out so about two hours later and the car was still messed up and then went into that power save mode or w.e. started back up and i barely got it home. and now its the next mornign and the car is still acting up can someone give me some advice as to what to do? plz and thx

 

What's you car's setup? Throw any codes?

I think most of the guys here would probably suggest you try cleaning your MAF sensor first ...

 

Car washes are for minivans and sedans. I can't recommend them for performance cars

 

was there black magic or the like on the tire? may have just been slippin.

 

That happened to me with the POS AEM cold air intake I had. The MAF sensor screws were all rusted and when I took the filter off, water came out of the piping....talk about freaked out...Got a K&N and a hydroshield and all seems to be good now.....

 

or how about, don't be a jackass because this does happen to people even when you don't drive like a *******.

my AEM dryflow sucks in water and thus sucks huge donkey d*ck in the rain. My car will buck like crazy even when I drove it to point A in dry conditions, it rained while I was at point A and stopped before I left. On my way home from point A I garauntee it will buck if I get on it.

I've heard this type of come-back before and you're ignorant for thinking it has anything to do with people who mistreat their cars. Why the hell would I take a 24-thousand dollar car through a huge puddle like it's a beater? that doesn't even make sense to assume that.