Beware Mazdaspeed Cold Air Intakes

[vert]

I live in Bloomington Indiana. I know the car wasn't driven through anything other than just surface water on the pavement or minor puddles. I was told it can happen as a cummulative thing and that eventually one or more of the rods bend as water accumulates in the cylinder causing pressure.

All I know is I am out 8100 dollars and this car never "transversed deep water...."

Water will not accummulate on top of piston, it will be expelled during the exhaust stroke of the piston. The water will go up through the valves and into the exhaust. Too much water and it can cause bent valves and if you continue to run the motor major problems.

 

[Raynman]

I've had my CP-E MAFci for 40K miles and have driven it through two winters, tropical storms, puddles, slush, snow, torrential rain, etc. and still no hydrolock.

A Used Oil Analysis of the oil will tell if the engine hydrolocked itself.

 

[M6Head]

Water will not accummulate on top of piston, it will be expelled during the exhaust stroke of the piston. The water will go up through the valves and into the exhaust. Too much water and it can cause bent valves and if you continue to run the motor major problems.

Would this cause a rod to bend?

 

[Flash5]

I had a CAI on my old car and it literally was right in front of my tire with nothing covering the filter. I can remember one time I was driving during a storm, and when I got home, got out and looked at it. It was dripping of water. While I don't suggest you let this happen to your car, the car still didn't hydrolock after that. I would look into it.

 

[vert]

Would this cause a rod to bend?

If you got enough water in the cylinder on the compression stroke it can bend a rod. The CAI has to come into a substantial amount of water in order for it to be sucked up into the intake. Take a look at your oil and see if it is chocolate milk/coffe color. If it is then some type of fluid made it into the cylinders. If your oil does look like that, it does not mean the CAI sucked water in, but you could have coolant leaking into the motor from bad gasket or a crack.

 

[chiefmg]

Since there seem to be a huge number of misconceptions concerning the whole hydrolock issue, I would like to put forth some info in the hopes it will help understanding. I just hate seeing all the "CAIs are bad" threads.

Every engine has a certain amount of unfilled volume when the piston is at top dead center (when all valves are closed). Remember that fluids are non-compressible. In order to damage an engine through hydrolock, it would have to ingest a larger volume of water than the empty space can contain. Pretty simple.

Now, take a look at the intake. I can't give actual numbers here but will try to lay things out in general terms. When talking about pumping fluids, there is something called suction head. This is the distance the fluid has to travel in order to reach the piece of equipment that is doing the pumping. The higher the head, the more the equipment has to work in order to raise the fluid. Based on my experience as a ship's engineer, I doubt the engine is providing enough pumping action to suck in enough water to cause damage when driving through rain. Plus, remember how hot cylinder temps are and know that small amounts of water will be vaporized and burned with the fuel.

I can't say for sure without testing, but I imagine that you would have to be revving the engine a lot while the intake is submerged in order to get it to hydrolock. You would notice the engine stumbling before it actually got to that point (due to the water ingested leaning the mixture).

For the OP, I agree with those who have posted that the dealer is blowing smoke up your pant leg, for whatever reason. You can check to see if water did in fact cause your engine failure as others have said. I wish you luck in getting your problem resolved.

 

[desperado-c]

Interesting. Sounds to me that they are just blaming your blown engine on a CAI. It wasn't hydrolock, it was a snapped rod.

Definitely not hydrolock. Your car is still under warranty, right? If so, let this be a warning to people who think they benefit from using Mazdaspeed products. Even the green warranty means little more than a replacement w/o labor if the part "fails". As if a CAI could fail. Even after hydrolock the CAI would work fine if the engine wasn't screwed.

Anyway, I agree that this is BS on the dealers part. I'd like to know if the Mazda rep made this determination about the CAI being the cause of "creeping hydrolock".

 

[DeadGeneration]

My intake took in some water one time - you definatly notice the loss of acceleration - followed by the decline of power to the point of it being hard to maintain speed - you attempt to accelerate and the engine hesitates dramatically - you pull over and the rpms are dangerously low barely keeping the engine alive - you let it idle and rev it a few times and it goes away - no problems afterwards or ever again and that was pretty much in tsunami weather - 65mph highway turned into 25mph traffic

 

[mattleegee]

oops

 

[baconbitz]

I would definately take it for a second opinion. Take the CAI off and take it to another dealership, see if they say the same thing.

 

[mattleegee]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ALZIS-5V_mY

Please watch

Example of a motor FULL of water!!!!

 

[jcgemt2003]

Ive actually had my intake soaked and covered in mud...(it snowed like 4" than it rained another 3") and it still worked fine...I took it off and cleaned it with no problems....I also asked my dad and brother who are mechanics becuase I was worried about the same s*** and both said that you would have to litterally submerge the intake for it to do anything. If its just wet the moisture thats pulled up into the engine would evaporate from the heat.....oh yeah and for $8100 you could order forged pistons, head, etc...from this online store. http://www.***************/Engine_s/70.htm

 

[stirob]

WOW, dealers never cease to amaze me with the bulls*** they try and pull. There is no such thing as cumulative hydrolock. The same d- bag that suggested this to you has probably never heard of water injection. My guess if you have a bent rod is that you probably got a hold of some bad gass and it detonated the crap out of your motor, in which case you should also have a damaged piston. Thats my guess anyway. Good luck.

Rob

 

[Killer]

I was told it can happen as a cummulative thing and that eventually one or more of the rods bend as water accumulates in the cylinder causing pressure.

OMG what :bs:

 

[kamon8404]

I don't know much about hydro lock but you have a speed 6 that means there had to be so much water in there to go through the extremely hot turbo ... intercooler and then finally into the engine and accumulate enough water in there to cause something like that. Hmm .... something definitely sounds fishy to say the least.

 

[Speed6 Guy]

This is like reading the Onion news paper it all look real but it is just BS

 

[Killer]

This is like reading the Onion news paper it all look real but it is just BS

(werd)(silly)

 

[doogie]

I live in Bloomington Indiana. I know the car wasn't driven through anything other than just surface water on the pavement or minor puddles. I was told it can happen as a cummulative thing and that eventually one or more of the rods bend as water accumulates in the cylinder causing pressure.

All I know is I am out 8100 dollars and this car never "transversed deep water...."

Oh snap...They pulled the big one on you man..go see your lawyer with all the paper work and parts with pictures...NOW ...they will re-think what the have claimed...you couldnt come out of this pretty decently..(yippy)

PS...LMAO..there is a sucker born everyday....just dont make it be you.

 

[kyle's protege5]

WOW, dealers never cease to amaze me with the bulls*** they try and pull. There is no such thing as cumulative hydrolock. The same d- bag that suggested this to you has probably never heard of water injection.. Rob

I was gonna say that too. I purposely inject water and methonal into my intake , should I be worried about "accumulative water lock"?!?


:wtf:

 

[Mr.Ames]

i blew the motor in my explorer, ceased right up. but i drove thru a 2ft deep puddle at 60km/h in 4wd with a broken splash guard. it was friggin hilarious, you should have seen it