You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Driving in the rain with CAI
- Thread starter jeff4880
- Start date
I just installed a CAI and it has started to rain today. Is there problems with getting the filter wet with just driving on wet roads? I'm going to avoid puddles but the water coming off the front tire worries me.
You should be fine, just don't go driving through any huge puddles or lakes. If it really worries you, get an Injen Hydroshield for better peace of mind. Good luck.
mazdaspeedster3
Member
- :
- Mazdaspeed3. 2008
I have the hydro shield and live in Michigan, seems to work great. Avoid heavy water spots like the plague and drive on.
a little water on the filter is also not that big of a deal, just please don't engulf your intake in water...and you'll be ok
Yeah, don't be another douche head who is driving in rainy conditions and all of a sudden hits a damn lake......Those people need proper eye care.(headshake
I live in FL and we have some pretty major flooding on the streets after a good rain (which can be often). I have the MS CAI installed and haven't had any issues at all.
I was a bit worried at first while driving in what only can be described as a torrential downpour but even at highway speeds, nothing happened.
As others have said, just try to avoid big deep puddles.
I was a bit worried at first while driving in what only can be described as a torrential downpour but even at highway speeds, nothing happened.
As others have said, just try to avoid big deep puddles.
Bonafide_Spd3
Member
- :
- 2007 Mazdaspeed3 GT Cosmic Blue
hydrolock=funny... Don't know why people always say that??? I live in florida as well and haven't had any problems. I've had to drive across some pretty deep water as well and I wasn't worried. Haven't had any problems with the rain. I think that hydrolock is bs. I had a cai on my truck and I use to go muddin with it and was swamp in mud holes and all that good stuff. I think to get hydrolock you would have to have the filter submerged in the water and suck water up. Alittle water on the filter never threw any cel on my truck or anything
- :
- 2002 22A P5 and 2007 TR MS3
You have to litterally submerge the entire intake tubing in water...plus be hitting the gas hard enough to pull water into the engine before it dies from the vacuum...
Basically it does happen...but you have to drive into a lake...as stated before...
Or you could switch to a SRI and suck super-heated engine bay air into your intake, causing your engine to pull timing to fend off knock...The choice is up to you..
Basically it does happen...but you have to drive into a lake...as stated before...
Or you could switch to a SRI and suck super-heated engine bay air into your intake, causing your engine to pull timing to fend off knock...The choice is up to you..
Or you could switch to a SRI and suck super-heated engine bay air into your intake
Proven to not make a difference on the MS3.
Last edited:
Proven to not make a difference on the MS3.
+1
It's not sucking in "super hot engine bay air". When the car is moving air is being directed into the engine bay making it damn near ambient. This point has already been proven about a thousand times.
6
60181
CAI aren't about ambient temps at 40mph....it's the fact that your engine is sucking in hot air and hotter air until said ambient temps are reached. Sit in stop and go traffic or commute int suburbs like I do and you'll see a difference that can be data logged easily. Been there done that on many different cars. Take it to the strip and sit in the staging lanes and log some runs side by side and you will see a difference. Races are won or lost in the first 60ft or less and that counts both traction and power.
So again, enjoy the SRI, they are certainly a boost over stock, but they are not as efficient at a true Cold Air Kit except perhaps when rolling...but even then, my CAI is right behind the fog light with ready access to cool air, not tucked under the hood next to the furnace....a furnace so hot, even Mazda vents the battery to keep it cool.
To the original poster, no worries on hydro-locking. I'm amazed at so many people using that term here. I've had CAI kits on most all of my past cars with zero issues. Even my Accord and GXP have their filters in essencially the same location with no trouble. They will need cleaned more often, but I keep a spare filter on the shelf and just rotate them.
Unless you drive into a flooded road that will push water into the lower lip and then enough to actually submerge part of the filter you'll be fine and likely won't even blow a CEL....unless it's an airflow issue...get a system with a straightener in it like AEM.
So again, enjoy the SRI, they are certainly a boost over stock, but they are not as efficient at a true Cold Air Kit except perhaps when rolling...but even then, my CAI is right behind the fog light with ready access to cool air, not tucked under the hood next to the furnace....a furnace so hot, even Mazda vents the battery to keep it cool.
To the original poster, no worries on hydro-locking. I'm amazed at so many people using that term here. I've had CAI kits on most all of my past cars with zero issues. Even my Accord and GXP have their filters in essencially the same location with no trouble. They will need cleaned more often, but I keep a spare filter on the shelf and just rotate them.
Unless you drive into a flooded road that will push water into the lower lip and then enough to actually submerge part of the filter you'll be fine and likely won't even blow a CEL....unless it's an airflow issue...get a system with a straightener in it like AEM.
+1
It's not sucking in "super hot engine bay air". When the car is moving air is being directed into the engine bay making it damn near ambient. This point has already been proven about a thousand times.
CAI aren't about ambient temps at 40mph....it's the fact that your engine is sucking in hot air and hotter air until said ambient temps are reached. Sit in stop and go traffic or commute int suburbs like I do and you'll see a difference that can be data logged easily. Been there done that on many different cars. Take it to the strip and sit in the staging lanes and log some runs side by side and you will see a difference. Races are won or lost in the first 60ft or less and that counts both traction and power.
So again, enjoy the SRI, they are certainly a boost over stock, but they are not as efficient at a true Cold Air Kit except perhaps when rolling...but even then, my CAI is right behind the fog light with ready access to cool air, not tucked under the hood next to the furnace....a furnace so hot, even Mazda vents the battery to keep it cool.
To the original poster, no worries on hydro-locking. I'm amazed at so many people using that term here. I've had CAI kits on most all of my past cars with zero issues. Even my Accord and GXP have their filters in essencially the same location with no trouble. They will need cleaned more often, but I keep a spare filter on the shelf and just rotate them.
Unless you drive into a flooded road that will push water into the lower lip and then enough to actually submerge part of the filter you'll be fine and likely won't even blow a CEL....unless it's an airflow issue...get a system with a straightener in it like AEM.
Show me one person who pulled better than a 2.0 60ft with just a CAI. I have pulled 2.0 60ft's serveral times with only mod being a Cobb SRI serveral times in 99 degree temps w/ heatsoaked stock TMIC. Yes, your agrument is mute. Carry on...
P.S. Hydrolock is real and does happen so be weary if you're hell bent on getting a cai for some reason..
Last edited:
hyperpasta
Member
Are you Sure?
Let's use our heads here for a moment.
The CAI has a much longer and vertical path to travel to get to the turbo than the SRI. It would take one hell of a gulp of water to get enough water into the turbo and then to stall it. Really the turbo would chop the water into a course or fine mist (depending on turbo RPM) at this point of our gulp's travel into the combustion chamber. That just what would happen. So it would slow the turbo down as well, remember the turbo was designed to move air, not the Nile River. Effectively choking off air flow to the motor. The motor then looses power and rpm. Then it has to go uphill again into the inter-cooler through all the small passage ways, then to re-condense back into the intake manifold. Whew! Were it is divided into four passages ways and then into hot combustion chambers. Let's not forget all of the surface area in the intake track we have just coated with our gulp of water so our gulp is now more like a trickle. Sure most of it would be converted into a mist or vapor as well by the time it hit the intake manifold from heat and intake pressures and the turbo wheel chopping the water up.
Even with a SRI's short path to the turbo it wouldn't be an issue, don't think it can't happen with a SRI, go and do some serious puddle jumping and check the engine compartment for signs of splash under the hood. I feel they both are a push when it comes to which is better for water protection. As neither of them has a water trap built in the their design. Must be a reason for this you think?
You'll see more cases of hydro lock from poor water mister installations with a badly wired shutoff solenoids than from driving in the rain. I run a Snow Meth/Water injection in my Turbo Diesel truck and you can't believe just how much fluid the motor can ingest. I use a 7 gallon tank!
One last point.
The Surface Tension properties of water will coat and hang on to everything it touches.
The airfilter will break that wad of water into a fine mist as it is sifted through the wire mesh, the gauze will hold some water for you, it will then collect to the intake pipe walls, the turbo housing, the intercooler passage ways, etc. Like someone mentioned above sure you could drive into a lake WFO and bend all the rods...but then you would have deserved that IMHO....
For what it's worth......
On a 110 degree day the asphalt is like 145! Hell I've measured dirt at 171 degrees in 120 temps. If you are foot off of the ground guess what the temps are at the intake filter? If you a foot higher in the engine bay? Don't forget the motor radiates heat and a lot of it when you feed the motor fuel, so the thinking that the engine bay is cooler while the car is moving is true, but just how true? There is a reason Mazda went to the FAR LEFT side of the engine compartment for an intake source. To get it away from the engine!
Some of this stuff is as simple as common sense, some of it needs to be measured and proven. It's just after forty years of doing things and having them work the same way year after year we can trust our experiences. Everything is a compromise when it come to performance. Best place for an intake source would be right under the front of the windsheild in the low pressure area. It would provide a good source of cool dense pressurized air. This spot works in NASCAR, SCCA, NHRA(hood scoops/shaker hoods) etc. Will it work in the MS3 sure but it would be one hell of a compromise to our Wallets, so Mazda sourced air from the front left lower grill area. Cheap simple and it works. Is it the best? I think not, but it will do for now.
Let's use our heads here for a moment.
The CAI has a much longer and vertical path to travel to get to the turbo than the SRI. It would take one hell of a gulp of water to get enough water into the turbo and then to stall it. Really the turbo would chop the water into a course or fine mist (depending on turbo RPM) at this point of our gulp's travel into the combustion chamber. That just what would happen. So it would slow the turbo down as well, remember the turbo was designed to move air, not the Nile River. Effectively choking off air flow to the motor. The motor then looses power and rpm. Then it has to go uphill again into the inter-cooler through all the small passage ways, then to re-condense back into the intake manifold. Whew! Were it is divided into four passages ways and then into hot combustion chambers. Let's not forget all of the surface area in the intake track we have just coated with our gulp of water so our gulp is now more like a trickle. Sure most of it would be converted into a mist or vapor as well by the time it hit the intake manifold from heat and intake pressures and the turbo wheel chopping the water up.
Even with a SRI's short path to the turbo it wouldn't be an issue, don't think it can't happen with a SRI, go and do some serious puddle jumping and check the engine compartment for signs of splash under the hood. I feel they both are a push when it comes to which is better for water protection. As neither of them has a water trap built in the their design. Must be a reason for this you think?
You'll see more cases of hydro lock from poor water mister installations with a badly wired shutoff solenoids than from driving in the rain. I run a Snow Meth/Water injection in my Turbo Diesel truck and you can't believe just how much fluid the motor can ingest. I use a 7 gallon tank!
One last point.
The Surface Tension properties of water will coat and hang on to everything it touches.
The airfilter will break that wad of water into a fine mist as it is sifted through the wire mesh, the gauze will hold some water for you, it will then collect to the intake pipe walls, the turbo housing, the intercooler passage ways, etc. Like someone mentioned above sure you could drive into a lake WFO and bend all the rods...but then you would have deserved that IMHO....
For what it's worth......
On a 110 degree day the asphalt is like 145! Hell I've measured dirt at 171 degrees in 120 temps. If you are foot off of the ground guess what the temps are at the intake filter? If you a foot higher in the engine bay? Don't forget the motor radiates heat and a lot of it when you feed the motor fuel, so the thinking that the engine bay is cooler while the car is moving is true, but just how true? There is a reason Mazda went to the FAR LEFT side of the engine compartment for an intake source. To get it away from the engine!
Some of this stuff is as simple as common sense, some of it needs to be measured and proven. It's just after forty years of doing things and having them work the same way year after year we can trust our experiences. Everything is a compromise when it come to performance. Best place for an intake source would be right under the front of the windsheild in the low pressure area. It would provide a good source of cool dense pressurized air. This spot works in NASCAR, SCCA, NHRA(hood scoops/shaker hoods) etc. Will it work in the MS3 sure but it would be one hell of a compromise to our Wallets, so Mazda sourced air from the front left lower grill area. Cheap simple and it works. Is it the best? I think not, but it will do for now.
Oh god. I haven't posted on this forum for quite a while until recently and it's all the same crap. There are still the major fanbois of the SRI and COBB and blah blah blah. Proven this, proven that. Just because you bought it doesn't mean you have to act like it's gods gift to cars.
The simple fact is you're going to put whatever the hell you want in your cars. I personally give up on trying to persuade somebody to buy something just because I like it. It's stupid because on the lovely internet, somebody is going to try and poo on you. Yes, the lovely mature and "factual" internet.
Hydrolock does happen or else guess what, the term wouldn't exist. My bro works for a Mazda dealership and when I bought my car from him, he said three people had thier cars towed in within the last two months because of it.
This forum and many others are not the end all be all of Mazda owners so just because you don't hear about it here, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Off to the Harley forums.
The simple fact is you're going to put whatever the hell you want in your cars. I personally give up on trying to persuade somebody to buy something just because I like it. It's stupid because on the lovely internet, somebody is going to try and poo on you. Yes, the lovely mature and "factual" internet.
Hydrolock does happen or else guess what, the term wouldn't exist. My bro works for a Mazda dealership and when I bought my car from him, he said three people had thier cars towed in within the last two months because of it.
This forum and many others are not the end all be all of Mazda owners so just because you don't hear about it here, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Off to the Harley forums.
Oh god. I haven't posted on this forum for quite a while until recently and it's all the same crap. There are still the major fanbois of the SRI and COBB and blah blah blah. Proven this, proven that. Just because you bought it doesn't mean you have to act like it's gods gift to cars.
The simple fact is you're going to put whatever the hell you want in your cars. I personally give up on trying to persuade somebody to buy something just because I like it. It's stupid because on the lovely internet, somebody is going to try and poo on you. Yes, the lovely mature and "factual" internet.
Hydrolock does happen or else guess what, the term wouldn't exist. My bro works for a Mazda dealership and when I bought my car from him, he said three people had thier cars towed in within the last two months because of it.
This forum and many others are not the end all be all of Mazda owners so just because you don't hear about it here, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Off to the Harley forums.
You make it sound like the only fanbois are those who own SRIs. The exact same things could be said of CAI owners. It goes both ways my friend.
Edit: \/ +1 to Silver
Last edited:
Silver Ecstasy
Member
- :
- 11 MS3 Sport
CAI = Fine in the rain.
CAI vs SRI = ENUFF ALREADY!
Choose your poison, either way, our MS3's arn't 1/4 mile cars anyhow. So no sense trying to get into a pissing contest.
CAI vs SRI = ENUFF ALREADY!
Choose your poison, either way, our MS3's arn't 1/4 mile cars anyhow. So no sense trying to get into a pissing contest.
Similar threads
- Replies
- 5
- Views
- 931