TRD CAI w/ bypass valve for $340 'or' Injen CAI w/o bypass valve for $280 should i pay the extra for the TRD w/ the valve or just not worth it?

 

i think the bypass valve is pretty useless... if that means anything.

 

With the Ingen you can make it a SRI for the wet season and are good to go.........and it is really good looking under the hood.

 

Pay extra for a little piece of mind. I have an Injen and a BPV.

 

i think that little piece of mind is pretty much the only thing you'll get.

sorry, but hearing stories of how a bypass helped suck water into the engine.. really doesn't seem to help its case.. and the other ones where it didn't prevent water from still getting sucked in.

it takes a bit of effort to hydrolock a tC. (or lack there of...)

 

just try to keep away from people's pools, and if you decide that you need to go swimming in your car, let off the throttle, and you should be fine.

 

Haha, thats great advice.

 

I say try ebay dude (Injen) & getta hydroshield.

 

I have an injen cai.....no bypass valve.....and never had a problem....and I live in the northeast.....unless your planning on driving through a lake....no need for bypass valve.....and injen gives more hp gain than trd. Go with the injen.

 

Or unless your car is dropped and the streets flood like they do here

 

OOOR you could just buy the injen AND a BPV seeing as how they both have the same function and Im sure the TRD is the same Injen or AEM system on a different badge

 

The bypass valve proof is in the pudding, as they say. Please check out the Sport Compact Car article on the subject. They hooked one up to a makeshift CAI that was then installed on an NSX and ran on a dyno. While the NSX was running, they then put the intake in a fishtank, dunked it in and out, and then resubmerged it and ran at WOT. No hydrolock.

SCC Article

That being said, I have a TRD CAI on my xB with a bypass valve. My engine was damaged and the dealer is claiming it was hydrolock. It was a clear day with no water on the road and no rain when it broke. Just because the BPV works, it doens't mean the dealer won't try to blame the intake anyway when something goes wrong and you need them to honor the warranty. Oh, and the '06 xB CAI just happened to be labeled "For Offroad Use Only" in the sales manual. It didn't say it on the site I bought it from, wasn't labeled on the part and wasn't in the paperwork that came with the manual, and who the hell takes the xB off road? I'm now entering arbitration with Toyota to get them to honor the warranty.

Another guy in our club had a Weapon R SRI and had a bearing failure. The dealer claimed metal shavings from the intake caused it. His was the fifth tC in six months with the same failure. Get some kind of water protection but know that if you go to a shop with it installed they may try and screw you over.

 

I have the Injen now, no BPV and have gone through some questionable waters before... never once had an issue or even a hickup. Where the CAI drops, it's pretty well protected from water getting in that area. Your call though...

And by offroad, I'm pretty sure they mean for racing purposes and whatnot. Not actually taking your car offroad driving!

 

yeah.. only opens up when the filter is completely submerged really.. not really accurate to a real life situation cause the NSX wasn't in motion... you don't have wind and other factors in play.

also, yeah.. you need to clean out some intakes and make sure it's okay prior to installing it. it's not the first time i've heard of metal shavings in the intake from manufacturing causing damage.

(and yes... the dealer was probably RIGHT, whether you want to believe it or not)

 

My car almost hydrolocked in a rain storm coming out of my schools parking lot. So I say better safe than sorry. Too many threads about hydro-locked tc's. Maybe its not an issue in sunny California.

 

yea well i live in jersey and the weather sucks here, so does the roads, it kinda feels like i am driving in a pool around here, so id rather spend the few extra bucks knowing that il be safe (even if it works or not, o well)

 

I'm from PA and the weather there can be bad... Where I'm at in Cali right now it rains crap loads at times too! Northern Cali, my friend. I want to go home!

 

just a Q? would a bypass valve reduce hp?

 

I can't speak firsthand for what happened to the other guy in our club's intake, there is a chance the dealer was correct. I do know he did get the dealership to reduce the repair costs. I'm not sure how much wind is a factor since the filter is behind the bumper and inside the fender wall liner, basically shrouded from direct contact with under-vehicle air. It is in the front airstream path for the lower grill.

As for my own arbitration, I won't debate here, please refer to this thread:

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...814&highlight=

Just know that when it happened the roads were dry with no puddles. I have this confirmed with a signed letter from the towing company. Hydrolock is not something that can occur and then drive away from to have it fail later; if it was hydrolock, water would need to have been present at the time of failure. Also of note is that an almost identical failure happened to another ScionLife owner with a short ram intake. His was covered under warranty and attributed to a faulty oil pump.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148996

AdmirN, AEM says it won't affect HP since the valve does not open until the tube is in a vacuum state caused by flooding. That being said, I'm not sure it would open under a partial flood condition. Companies do make hydrophobic socks that slip over filters. That would be the best protection for splashes.

For hydrolock to occur the cylinder needs to ingest a larger volume of water than the volume of the cylinder at the top of the piston stroke. Small amounts should not be an issue as they will evaporate during combustion and be pushed out the exhaust valve as steam. It's even been exploited for turbo'd race applications with water and methenol injection systems.

Perrin water injection

Snow Performance

Aquamist

 

As most say the bpv wont really help much unless you submerge your car. Almost everyone on this forum praises the injen but then have problems with the mounts breaking... So if you do go injen get the doc-I fender plate for it so it doesnt rub the inner fender and help stop that mount from breaking.