Last summer I bought an ebay cold air intake. It improved pedal response and fuel mileage. But as soon as it rained I notice the engine light coming on and the car chugging really bad. Then when it drys up outside it goes back to normal. I know that it is the mass airflow sensor, but my question is has anyone else had this happen to them?

Is it just because it is an ebay intake, or has anyone had any problems with other intakes such as injen or any other brand?

Is there any thing that I can buy or make to deflect the water away from my intake?

This problem fianally resulted in the failure of my mass airflow sensor and I had to replace it. I would like to keep the cold air kit but if It is going to keep hurting my maf then I will go back to stock.

 

Yea brand name intake?

Get what you pay for

 

just get a hydro shield and you'll be fine

 

Where do I find that?

 

i think that TTR sells them.

http://www.turbotechracing.com/produ...dcategory=5611

that should fit. PM TTR and they will know

 

dmage may already be done.. hopefully not though you definately need a hyrdoshield.. im geussing their filter is a dry flow filter which absorbs all the water causing ur intake to suck water instead of air..do ur reasearch next time before you **** up ur car

 

thanks I just ordered one.

Ya the damage is done to my maf, I already replaced it. There is nothing wrong with the engine or blower though. And as far a research goes, I see no difference in the ebay intakes or the name brand intakes except for price.

 

no.. but u should have looked to see what kinda filter it had.. then u wouldnt have had to replace ur maf.. atleast u didnt have to replace something more expensive.

 

True, I assumed that all 'open' filters are the same. It is pretty much the same material as a K&N filter.
Here is a link to the type of intake that I bought.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOMZ-05-07-Chevy...3A1%7C294%3A50

 

no there is a huge difference in the intakes. I ran the ebay intake for months, and from day one had a check engine light on. i didnt have the water issues like you, but my car would never clear the check engine light. so TTR ran a sale on the injen intake, so i bought it, got it delivered and compared the intakes. they design is obvisouly almost exact, but the difference is the inside. the bends and piping is sooo much smoother on the injen. So after the injen install, and 15xxx miles later. Have never had one check engine light.

 

I dont want to start an argument with you but, unsmooth bends will not trigger a check engine light. The only problem I see with the ebay intake is the thin material that it is made out of and where it rubs the headlight frame a little bit. I put buffers down where the intake rubs the frame so that it would not eat a hole in the tubing. I think maybe you had an install problem from the begining.

 

there are a lot of people that are running the ebay intake and are fine with it.

 

my fujita intake did the same thing....changed the filter to a heat sheild one...problem solved...

 

why didnt you just do a air-box mod with a K&N cone or AEM...

 

i actually have the ebay CAI and it works fine. i don't see how rain could have affected your filter UNLESSS you ran through puddles or flipped over. or you cut the plastic liner underneath the filter. but yes a hydro shield would solve your problems. in the mean time im using pantyhose, it seems to work fine. Just temporary.

 

We have heard this time after time, there is a difference from brand name to eBay... Brand names are a much higher quality product...

 

THIS HAS NoTHING TO DO WITH THE BRAND!!!
any CAI will do this without a hydroshield, putting an aem or injen sticker on it does not make it hydro lock proof lol
get a hydro sheild, trade out the filter, trade for a short ram...those will fix your problem

that has nothing to do with it. the engine will still suck the same amount of air from the same location. all the ebay brand does is have no name attatched, unless the ebay brand has a bunch of holes that water is pouring in then its just the same as any other intake

 

We are not speaking of WATER in the intake, but a CEL's.

As stated, by a member here who has had BOTH, the bends on the eBay intakes are "rough" and not smooth, like Injen/K&N. This causes disrupted air flow over the MAF sensor causing CEL's. Again nothing to do with sucking up water, eBay and Injen/K&N will also, if you drive in 12"+ standing water, which you shouldn't do in the first place...

 

i have the ebay intake and didn't get CEL's =\

 

ive had the ebay intake for over a year, the bends are smooth inside and the yes there was a cel right away...and their should be and you should need to reset your battery....and that will fix it
it has for me and many others....
id bet there is another problem...like they are using an oiled filter and it is getting all over the sensor or what not....
but either way, both of those problems are not due to it being an "ebay intake" over other brands

 

so your saying i dont know how to install my intake correctly? which is why the ebay intake threw a CEL? and my injen has NEVER.....good suggestion. idiot.

I was not stating anything about the water. And yes there is a huge difference from brand to non brand. Evidently if i've had both and one threw a code and the other hasn't, that is your "here's your sign"

exactly!

i reset my battery...multiple times.

 

did you reset your computer on your car kwest? the bends on the ebay intake i thought we're pretty smooth, worked great with me. I didn't need my vibra mount when i Insulated it pretty tight. I did not throw one cel the last few weeks so hopefuly i don't. and it is a good proposal to say that you might have not connected it right but as you previously stated it was water that got into your intake that caused the problem maybe. I know a few guys who stripped the screws in their MAF and that threw a cel, but no serious problem. it sits in their.

 

Wow Kwest, you have anger issues!! Why am I the idiot? You are the one trying to tell me that the smoothness of the bends threw a cel!!!! LOL Get a clue. I just stated that maybe you installed it wrong. Why so touchy? Oh I know, your Daddy touched your Pee Pee when you were little!!

 

I have an Injen CAI, AEM dry flow filter & hydrosheild & just recently this week I've noticed my car bogging out like it doesn't want to go in to boost.. but when the weather is more dry out it DOES go back to normal. Either my sensor is dirty or water somehow got in to it.

My scan gauge brought up a bunch of codes regarding my MAF sensor. I'm going to try to clean it first & if the problem still occurs then I will be buying a new MAF sensor.

Does anyone know roughly how much a new MAF sensor costs?

 

That is pretty much the same problem that I was having.
I bought my Maf from autozone it was around $80.