today i was convinced by an interesting fact. one of my friend told me rain is good for your car. why? well... for a cold air intake system, when the rain gets aborbed by the intake filter, it'll be sucked in and lead its way up to the thorttle. the rain will evaporate by the time it goes thru the thorttle body cuz the inside the intake arm is hot. which means air. the more air flow therefore more HP. true or not?

the amount of rain was not given, but i suppose a bit of wetness shouldn't hurt the car too much, perhaps it'll be benefitial? someone correct me (him) if this theory is wrong.

 

thats makes entirely no sense

 

 

High humidity will lower your quarter mile time. The best conditions are cold and dry.

 

He's got a valid point. Actually, I've heard that the best way to improve performacne with the CAI is to soak the filter in a bucket of water overnight before driving each day. Mad hp yo

 

 

for those who respond (or will respond) like " " or ricefob-is-dumb comment, any counter to prove tat rain is bad for cold air intake?

i don't mind , jus thought it'll be a nice thread for open discussion. more knowledge for me, and you.

 

he may be right but for the wrong reason... read about how water can be used (if sprayed in a fine mist) to cool the air, retard detonation, and create 'denser' air in the engine.

this is not an urban legend.

http://www.syclone.freeserve.co.uk/waterinjection.htm

 

as 2k2 said, but the water in there does not create oxygen in the intake. it stays H2O all the way through the engine and out the exhaust- with the exception of going from a liquid to a gas somewhere along the way.
only thing it'll do is help the engine run cooler, as it'll cool the intake charge by evaporating and absorbing heat from the air around it. (heat of vaporization if you remember your chemistry. water requires energy to change from liquid to gas phase, and it gets the energy in the form of heat from the air)

 

but water injection is totally different from what he was talking about.....if I'm correct in water injection the water is passed thorugh a cooler where it is cooled first...the rain water isn't. and anyways he says the rain evaporates before it reaches the TB, in water injection the mist is sprayed into the TB to reach the cylinders, with the rain thats hardly the case.

I stand by my original post

 

BOOOOOOOO...Chemistry blew!!!

 

wonder how the MAF likes the water

 

I'm not saying he's right, I'm saying "water can be used to..." and directing him to read that link. I think his friend if full of **** but am too polite to just come out and say it

 

yeah, pretty much.. his friend said something about the "creation" of oxygen..

oxygen was only created once... it's just bonded to stuff now.. like hydrogen.. which won't break it's bond inside an engine....

 

oOoo...i c i c

thx guys i'll let him know.

 

ive heard of this too, wet days or fog help older car or carburated cars run alot smoother is what ive been told from numerous people

 

Uhm...at the very least, the water is bad for the intake...mine is rusty as hell on the inside.

As for the water, I doubt it helps at all... The water turns into water vapor which is bad for performance, IIRC...isn't that what humidity measures? Humid days suck ****.

Although, water does not compress, so we'd be increasing our compression

At the very least, all of us CAI crew are cleaning our intake when it rains...

 

Water injection is only used to prevent detonation in heavily boosted engines, for the reasons stated by Matt93SE. It has no use in a NA engine. Even if it does make the intake air cooler and denser, it replaces oxygen molecules with water, so there is no improvement in performance.

 

The water would not evaporate in the intake pipe, if it did it would mean you are sucking HOT AIR in which it's not. You're just getting the water inside your engine which can't be a good thing...

 

good point! tat totally made mine (my friend's) theory contradicting.

 

Latent heat of conversion.

 

you mean raise the time?

 

There *might* be some truth to it. When i used to take my car to the local drive-through carwash, everytime i pull out of the lot, the car would feel peppier. Of course only for a minute or so - at which time all the "mist" left in the engine bay has already evaporated.

 

how is your intake rusted by water? OXYGEN causes rust. anyways i don't think water will help but only mess up the engine.

 

sport compact car had a great article on water injection involved on their 300zx project car... go about half way down the page... gives an incredible description of the principals of water injection and benifits...

300zx water injection

mike (sorry les, didn't realize i was on your name at work)

 

yeah switched names now... water injection seems incredible... it allows you to make a high boosted motor that would usually require high octane gas to run a lower octane gas everyday on the streets... can't see anything bad w/ that but every application they talk about it being on is a turbo/SCed car... so if you're planning on running a turbo, water injection seems like it's the best idea yet...

mike

 

Thanks for the info, Mr. Wizard

Seriously, though...rust can't form without moisture.

 

I was talking to a buddy of mine, and he said that electricity can cause hydrogen and oxygen in water vapor to separate.

All things considered, the few drops of rain that get into the CAI shouldn't hurt your engine, and if they help it...I doubt anyone will notice

 

it's called Electrolysis.

 

That's true, but water is the catalyst. I mean, if Oxygen was the only factor, cars that live in the very dry Arizona desert would be rust buckets, and they're not. Cars in coastal areas, like NY, LA etc, rust. So water, while being the catalyst, is more of a factor with rust than oxygen is

DW

 

this thread has turned into some college chemistry lecture...

 

See what you started...

 

Water won't hurt an engine except in quantities large enough to cause hydrolocking. Spraying water into an intake is a tried and true method for decarburizing the combustion chambers.

Rust is not a problem because the water is vaporized and leaves with the exhaust. For that matter water is a normal byproduct of combustion, which is the main reason that exhuast systems rust through from the inside out. Cars that are used for frequent short trips don't heat the exhaust pipes enough to vaporize the water that condenses on the inside of the pipes, and the exhaust rusts out much faster than on cars that always get up to full operating temperature.

 

College? Yes, I go to college (to teach ) The was referring to whether it would help or not. (grasping at straws)

I'll share you're sentiments with my PRCAI It's only surface rust, but it's still annoying. Do the other intakes rust on the inside?

 

If they use a K&N filter, probably not, due to the filter oil.

What do you teach?

 

not chemistry!

 

No, not chemistry. I teach for the computer science department.