I have heard that the location of the Place Racing Cold Air Intake inlet can cause water to enter your engine. Is this true? I live in an area that receives 140-160 inches of rain per year, so this is obviously a big concern for me. Would I be better off using the K&N style intake?

 

the cai puts the filter next to ur left front wheel. if you have a wheel well cover, water shouldnt come in contact with ur filter. if you're really worried about your filter sucking in water, just get a short ram. Or you can get a PR cai and just put the upper piece(ala short ram), and slap on the bottom piece when it stops raining so much....

 

I have had mine for almost 2 years. I live in Florida and have dropped the car 2" on springs... NEVER and I REPEAT NEVER have I had any problems with water.... Just remember not to drive through the pool...

 

Though I don't have an intake, I want one and have wondered about this too. I think the only concern is driving in enough water to completely cover the filter, so the engine has to pull in water rather than air. If that happens, I think you would have bigger problems, like not drowning. Even this case can be avoided with a bypass valve.

To my knowledge, the filter getting water on it will harm nothing. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

It really takes a serious level of innattention to cause an H2O-related CAI catastrophic engine failure. (Don't get me wrong - people have done it).

"The minute you idiot-proof a thing, the world invents a bigger idiot." -unknown

You'd have to be well into the rev range or WOT going through standing water (deep puddles) to do it. If you have a CAI & you're not a complete idiot (I'll assume you're not), you know this is a situation to avoid. If you approach standing water, low revs (or off the gas altogether if possible) is what you're shooting for.

If you want peace of mind, just install the AEM air bypass valve & you'll have nothing to worry about.

http://www.aempower.com/induction.htm

(It says "for use only w/ AEM induction systems," but that's just for liability reasons - they can't guarantee the valve's effectiveness when paired with non-AEM engineered products - that doesn't mean it isn't actually effective with other companies' intakes). The valve can be purchased separately.

 

no water problems here and I've had mine for over a year now...driving in Colorado snow and rain

 

You will not have any problems with the CAI in rain or snow. Unless you drive through 5" worth of water, you will be fine.

BTW-AEM had a recall about their bypass valves & not fully working & it actually had let water by. Its probably been fixed but i have yet to seen anyone use it with their CAI.

 

I would think it will need to be deeper than 5"... I would say it would have to me more like 8-11" (just measure from the ground to the filter) and even then it would not totally submerge the filter...


I live here in Oregon which does not get the heavy down pours like in CO but we get constant rain (~1-3" a week) for like 5-7 months and I have never had a problem, but I have backed out of a flooded street that was ~7" deep once I noticed it was a pond and I was only going ~5mph.



As usual this is IMHO

 

The more water, the more it will splash.

 

I have a PR CAI and have an AEM bypass valve. No probs installing except had to do away with one of the rubber connectors that came originally in the CAI and put the AEM valve in it's place. As it has been said time after time, water is not a real issue but if you are worried then install a bypass valve and worry about something else.

 

Yes, I was aware, but didn't mention because they have corrected the problem with a new design. As I understood, the problem with the original design was not that it was allowing water to pass through, but that one or more of the rubberized flaps on the valve were potentially able to detatch from the valve and become lodged in the intake under certain circumstances.

If you're shopping for an AEM air-bypass valve, verify from AEM what the new part # is, so you can be sure you don't get the faulty valve.