shoud consider the bypass http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/tech/0104scc_tested/index.html :bow:

Hmmm. Sound good. Would I be able to put this on an Injen intake or does it have to be an AEM intake.

another reason to wait for the AME CAI

no more fear of ur engine hydrolocking :bow:

Not sure if I can really trust that. If you look at the set-up they've used, you can see there's a relatively long tube attached to the intake, about 2 feet in length. This tube not only adds a lot of length to the intake piping, it is also positioned vertically, straight up. I think in a real situation, where the piping is a lot shorter and is not vertical, the water would be sucked in faster, and with a lot more force.

Indeed and this only works if the whole filter is submerged right? What are the chances of that happening? In a flood right where you probably wouldnt even be able to drive your car. What happens when water gets on just one side of the filter? That doesnt seem like it would create the seal required for the rubber flaps in the bypass thingy to open up. I'll just go for an SRI setup as usual.

pointless if your driving in water deep enough to submerge the whole filter on our car your an idiot.

That just scared me into buying one of those for my K&N, no one needs to gamble with wisconsin winters. Expect a full report when I recieve it, should be a good mod for $40 shipped.

that is a waste of money. there is no way you will completely submerge your filter in water. it floods over here sometimes and i still drive my car w/ a CAI and never once worried about my engine. you guys just need to stop being all scared over the rainy season and just get it. you will regret getting a SRI. trust me, i used to have one and it sucked so bad. just don't go driving into lakes and you'll be ok. ;)

i remember someone saying that the bypass opens up during hard accelerations therefore sucking air through the bypass instead of the main filter.

its a good insurance item. my friend hydrolocked his aem cai equiped integra. this happened in los angeles (aka the city of no rain) of all places. it blew a connecting rod and punched a hole in the block. it cost him $1100 to replace the shortblock. another friend hydrolocked his BMW when the upper radiator hose broke and the cai sucked in the fluid. he only had to replace the head gasket and some piston rings/seals. it doesnt take alot of liquid to hydrolock a motor.

the bypass valve is old news.

it's all good til the bypass falls apart and the rubber pieces get sucked into your engine. and yes, i've heard of this numerous times.

it's all good til the bypass falls apart and the rubber pieces get sucked into your engine. and yes, i've heard of this numerous times.

really thats somethign i have never heard but i guess it's somethign you should worry about.

looks like im getting one and adding it to my injen

for $40 better safe than sorry. I guess I'll pick one up just in case.

I ran my honda civic for 3 years with a AEM CAI and never used the bypass filter and never had hydro lock and florida has down pour rain storms . I even checked it when I pulled into my work (garage I worked for) and yeah there were a few drops of water on the filter but not enough to be pulled up the motor . Like they said if you submerg your entire front end in water yeah you will hydro lock , and if you drive to the point where your front headlights are almost underwater you really shouldnt be driving in the first place.

yeah for everyone buying these you are just making it out to seem like you consistantly drive though deep water, if you actually plan on getting water up to your CAI on the tC, which is like headlight level, your being an IDIOT. Say whatever you want, but whens the last time you fired up your car and said yeah I'm going to drive though hella deep water today, ok you didn't, don't plan on doing it, and you will be fine, if you can't tell how deep it is, guess what? DON"T DRIVE THROUGH IT

First off buy it if you want no harm in having extra security, 2 not needed the filter is pretty well covered up all around and 3 my dumb ___ has tested the hydrolock theory with 3 succesful passes thru teh automatic car wash, even when water is sprayed up intentionally thru teh car wash spraying where the filter sits, the car shows no sign of stutter and teh filter remains dry, this in 3 passes thru the car wash, so its pretty hard to get hydrolock on this car and also i have drilled holes into my front cover where the filter sits to get more colder air directly into teh filter, and still the filter stays dry and no signs of stutter, so if you wnat to buy the bypass valve there is no harm in it, but IMO a waste of money unless you plan to drive into 6 ft puddles

Sounds like people are hydrolocking in places like California.

i used to have a zx3 with a AEM CAI, and when i started off at a stop sign i kind of got on it, and floored it right through a puddle not knowing it was about 4 inches of water which isn't too much, but it was enough to hydrolock my engine, and I had a misfire in 2 cylinders. I thought I blew my motor up because I wouldn't turn over or anything, so it was towed and luckily all I needed was new plugs and wires and I went straight home and ordered the bypass valve. Then I drove through another puddle a few months later feeling invincible with the new bypass valve and it starting boggin on me, but I quickly let off the throttle to keep any more water from entering the throttle body, so it didn't stall. Moral of the story, it doesn't need to be submerged to hydrolock. But i learned my lesson. But are CAI really worth buying to begin with? IMO no, but that's just me

i used to have a zx3 with a AEM CAI, and when i started off at a stop sign i kind of got on it, and floored it right through a puddle not knowing it was about 4 inches of water which isn't too much, but it was enough to hydrolock my engine, and I had a misfire in 2 cylinders. I thought I blew my motor up because I wouldn't turn over or anything, so it was towed and luckily all I needed was new plugs and wires and I went straight home and ordered the bypass valve. Then I drove through another puddle a few months later feeling invincible with the new bypass valve and it starting boggin on me, but I quickly let off the throttle to keep any more water from entering the throttle body, so it didn't stall. Moral of the story, it doesn't need to be submerged to hydrolock. But i learned my lesson. But are CAI really worth buying to begin with? IMO no, but that's just me

A similar story and somewhat common, a friend of mine had a CAI installed in his brand new GTI. We stopped at a stop sign, had been raining all afternoon here in south FL. There was a shalow puddle next to the asphalt. We just made the turn, apparently all the rain weakened the asphalt the minute the car drove through it cracked about a whole 3 foot section of the edge. The vehicle's front tilted a bit but just enough to submerge it a bit past headlight level, next thing you know the steering wheel shuddered and a wierd thump was felt. The engine Hydrolocked 2 pistons where damaged no oilchange could fix that. And this was knowing we had a CAI and being careful not to drive over puddles. There are times you cant anticipate what can happen. Oh and he tried to turn off the ignition the minute the we felt the car listing, a very quick event.

I have the Injen intake installed in CAI mode on the TC. And I have seen the post about hydrolock, and took a look to where the filter would be positioned in the bumper. For those of us with the Injen intake, I don't really see a high possibility of getting hydrolock with the position of this filter. If you open the hood of the TC, and look beside the battery, you can see the filter is located just under the battery tray. The battery tray is pretty much even with the right headlight. You would have to splash water for a duration of time under the carrage up to the level of the headlight in order for the filter to come in contact with water. And even then, the body paneling underneath the car does not open a direct path to the filter. So, I really don't have to many worries when it comes to rain. And the article talks about you changing it everytime it rains, it's not EVERY time it rains. Just the times when forecast expect high level flooding will I convert it to SRI, and be on my merry little way.

Question
Will the AEM Bypass Valve cause a loss of power?


Answer
The bypass valve may cause a slight loss in power due to the interrupted wall section created by the internal shape of the valve. In dyno testing we have found that the power loss is minimal. The bypass valve offers great security against hydro locking the engine in rainy conditions. If maximum power is the requirement, we suggest that the bypass valve be used in the rainy season and when racing use a coupler hose to make a smooth section where the bypass valve goes.

http://www.aempower.com/faq.asp?fid=24&sid=&tid=3


Power loss is minimal... I wonder if this is the same dyno test that shows it gaining 5-10 HP or whatever they claim...

better safe than sry.

good find

The tC has a very healthy place for the filter of a CAI to reside in but what worried me most is the constant slush thats on wisconsin roads that can accumulate in that nice plastic shelf on the the underbody where the CAI filter is.

oh yea... southern california definately needs that

Last week it was pouring all afternoon and when I went on my lunch break I had to turn around once on the way home and once on my way back to work because it was flooding so bad. And I don't have a CAI.

And it's not just flooding. If it's raining and you hit a big puddle in the road it will splash and it can conveniently find it's way into your intake. Personaly, I don't really trust the bypass valve 100%. But I trust it to give me enough time to turn off my engine.

Some cars might need the bypass valve but not our's or atleast that much as them, if you see where most intakes sit on say eclipses, integras, civics and some others their CAI filter sits right at level with the front bumper or on their air dam panel on the bumper so a bypass valve on these cars is needed on our cars like someone stated our filter sits right below the battery tray and right above that air dam panel, so we are pretty safe from hydrolock, not saying hydrolock is impossible on this car but we are at least risk than other cars, added security no harm in buying.