I have one of the old gen1 AEM CAI on my '00 Accord the grey model, but mine was painted body color red long ago. Any how I also have the gen 1 by pass valve and today after working on the wife's TSX with my brother-in-law we took my Accord for a test spin. And when we got home and looked under the hood the Bypass valve had snapped off at the Norton clamp into two pieces.

Needless to say my AEM CAI is now worthless since I have nothing to keep the two ends together. I may just junk the entire setup, I'm a bit disappointed with AEM at this point. This is the 2nd repair to my bypass valve after an NHTSA recall for a clip to retrofit faulty foam inserts.

So I may end up either just installing the OE intake or an Injen unit as I've been a bit disappointed with my AEM since day one. My disappointment has always been with fitment and build.

 

Why not just get a silicone coupling to take up the space of the bypass valve and mate the two ends together?

 

I think it broke because you didnt install it properly. I have a K&N Typhoon with AEM bypass valve on my 03 Accord EX-V6 and it has been 6 months, the valve is in great shape.
When installing the intake, it should be properly connected so that it doesnt move. This is the mistake most people do.
Make sure the filter and the intake is properly secured from both ends and you should be OK.

 

I'm pretty sure MrChad knows how to install an intake, but the fitment of my CAI was always good. I don't have a bypass-valve though

 

The bypass shouldn't move at all when you install it

 

The bypass valve was installed perfectly, as was the AEM CAI, it took 4 1/2 years for mine to fail, but they will all fail.

The plastic got brittle, likely from engine heat, and it's brittle fracture failed at the coupling for the Norton hose clamp near the intake side of the rubber isolation/sealing section for the norton clamp. It was not torqued to death.

I'll post pics, this was an AEM materials issue.

AEM has changed the design of both the CAI non-V2 and the Bypass valve over the years for the Accord 98-02 CAI , likely do in part reliability and safety issues. I'll post pics, this wasn't my issue; the bypass valve was installed per AEM directions to the letter in the ideal location under minimal stress.

Replacing the bypass valve with a silicon hose would re-instate the reason for the bypass valve. Like I said I'll post pics later.

Worked great for 6 mo., wow talk to me in 4 years...... Unlike most I've had my Accord since new in '00.

I have reinstalled the OEM intake and filter w/out the reasonator for now. I may just swap to an ingen short ram. The build of the Ingen units appears better then the Accord-AEM from what I have seen on other's TSX installs.


Failure mode at tabs, note ring on inside of CAI, this was for a NHTSA recall, bypass valves were failing at the glue point causing the inner foam to get sucked into the TB.


Fingers on ends of bypass, note brittle failure cracks. Likely do to fatigue of the environment.


Close up of failure: early hairline cracks like these failures have started on the other side too. But they had yet to fail.


Failure point on CAI, the bypass valve sat next too the distributer wires in the engine bay if you are familiar with the 6th gen. The CAI never interfered and my AEM was installed per spec, using the rubber full isolation mounts. I also had proper clearance between the CAI and the AC hard lines never did they interfer or touch during operation. However, AEM has since redesigned the mount for the CAI in the 6th gen. "Could there be a reason?" Note my CAI was an original AEM grey unit; painted San Marino Red to match my car during a prior body kit install. No modification, other then install of the CAI bypass were done at any time. My CAI bypass valve failed after approx. 40,000mi of use. Also note my style of AEM conical filter is no longer in use by AEM.

 

bump photos added above with text.

 

If you had it for 4 years, I think it served you enough. I tought you only had it for a little while and it failed. I think it failed by the engine heat, the plastic got weak by ecessive heat over the time. It might also depend on the weather conditions as well since some regions are humid and some are dry.
I hope mine lasts atleast like yours.
Goodluck and thanks for sharing this information with everybody.

 

Do you expect your factory intake to fail in under 4 years?
I only drive the car in the summer, it's stored all winter and too be honest the bypass valve was purchased for paranoia as I rarely drive the Accord in the rain since I have a company car. But I have been in a few and the bypass valve did add piece of mind.

But it shouldn't fail in 4 years, do you expect your CAI to fail in 4 years? I wasn't too happy with the fit of the AEM gen 1 CAI intake; I think the design is a bit flawed IMO for installation, and now I'm very unhappy that the Bypass valve broke. I've had the car 5.5 years now. No other major mechanical part is reasonable to fail in that time, save for wear items, brakes, wipers, tires, etc.

Do you consider an AEM bypass valve a wear item? For the money spent in December '00 I clearly didn't expect the unit to fail, ever. If I knew this info now, I would have likely not purchased an AEM CAI or bypass valve. A k&n re-usable drop in filter and no reasonator box is likely a better more reliable intake solution for a free breathing engine.

I've been trying to call AEM tech support all day to discuss the matter with them, I just get voice mail. I'd gladly mail the failed valve and invoice of purchase and a letter. I think a failure of this nature is serious.

I think the material used to design the unit may need to be re-evaluated. I shouldn't have to by a new bypass valve every 4 years, no one should. If the newer units being made are of a different material that's more durable then great, I'll take a chance on one. Also I can't find any type of warranty info for my AEM products, do any AEM products come with a warranty? I don't think I misplaced any documentation, I've saved almost every reciept ever for my car.

 

You do have a point and I agree with you. It realy shouldnt fail like this but there could be a lot of reasons behind that. It could be a defected piece, Flaw in the design like you said, weather conditions or may be thats how much they are suppose to last cause you have to either replace or wash your air filter after a certain amount of time.

Iam not against you in any way but the point is no one ever claimed or shared any information about how long they last or if it ever failed whitin the time they owned their car.

Dont get me wrong but you are the first and only one so far to have this problem and I know its not like you dont know anything but it could be just badluck or defected item, or something else.

I searched some more forums and couldnt find any posts with the same type of problems yet but will definitly do some research cause this realy is important