I installed my CAI yesterday, it's a ractive CAI. It's one of those that go down into the engine compartment and near the wheel dbehind the bumper.

This morning I got off work and decided to take a look at the setup see if it was getting wet, and man was it!! Water was actually dripping down throught the bumper and onto the filter, my eyes widened out of surprise. before installing this yesterday I had to completely take out all that damn white plastic stock intake setup, which was hell to get off.

Anyone have an idea how to not get any water onto my filter, how do you guys go about this. Do you like not drive in the rain??

 

well it doesnt really matter if your filter element is wet cause you can if you want to just get a bypass valve and also i drove last night in flood warning area and my filter got damp but i stayed out of the puddles

 

a bypass valve only works when the filter is completly submerged in water. having water dripping on the filter will not "activate" the valve.

i dont know if it is a big problem haviing water drip on it. maybe you can make something to prevent the water from dripping directly onto the filter.

:dunno:

 

I put a bypass valve on mine, been through a winter and a wet summer, no problems. I'm sure the filter gets wet, but I've never had any consequences of that. I'm lowered 2" as well.

-Diabolik

 

I thought only AEM came out with a water bypass valve...

correct me if i'm wrong

 

it can go on any intake as long as its the same diameter.

 

It doesn't matter if a little bit of water is getting on the filter, as long as air is still getting into the engine. The bad thing is if/when air gets sucked into the combustion chamber, since water doesn't really like to compress

 

You are fine with water on the filter, as long as its not enough to submerge the filter. I drove my GSR with a CAI through last winter, and I got tons to water on my filter and never had a problem. Stay away from lakes and you'll be fine

 

yeah.. just as long as the filter isn't submerged you'll be fine. a lil drop of water won't do any harm... it'll probably evaporate by the time it even gets to the tb.

 

Air is easier to suck in than water, and like many things in pysics, this also takes the path of least resistance. So, it shouldn't suck up water unless it's unable to get an adequate supply of air. Still, I wouldn't push your luck.

I believe how a bypass valve works is that it just acts as a small auxillery filter in the engine bay. If the regular filter happens to get so wet that it can't supply enough air, it would normally just start sucking up water. But, a bypass valve allows it access to the air in the engine bay, which it can suck in with less resistance than trying to suck water through the filter. The downside to a bypass valve is that even if the CAI filter is completely dry, it can still be easier for the engine to take some of it's air from the engine bay. It's like trying to drink through a straw with a hole in it (above the level of the drink); you get a mix of your drink and air coming in from the hole.