Would installing the JLT Performance CAI put my car at risk of water damage?

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I'd like a yes or no answer please and not a lecture on avoiding deep puddles or standing water.

A couple weeks ago I was coming off the freeway onto a poorly lit bridge ramp at night after a major rain storm and without any way of seeing it before it happened I slammed full force into a massive puddle on the bridge which was flooded out and just let off the gas and coasted through while massive waves flew off both sides of the car as I slowed to the stop light just after the bridge. Then when the light turned green I drove away with my stock air intake unscathed.

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How much higher would the risk of severe water damage to the engine have been had I already installed the JTL performance Cold Air Intake that moves the air filter down into the fender?

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I honestly don't think that the splash would have been enough to pass the filter, go the entire tube, and then be sucked into the intake.

I'll go with "NO" on this one.
 
Wont lecture but yeah, just avoid deep water. :shrug:


UPR and K&N used to make a disc filter that went inline on fender intakes like that. Not sure just how it worked but it was designed so that if the main filter hit water it would close a flap and then allow engine compartment air to be sucked in. I never played with one so cant say how effective they are/were. Never known anyone with them.
 
This actually happened to me on my old car. It had been raining a lot but I didn't know it cause I was outta town. I was following a friend and by the time he hit the water it was too late for me to stop... I ended up having to replace the engine so i would say that there is a possibility if your not careful
 
As long as u have the wheel well liner in it still u should be ok unless u plan on takin a deep sea fishing trip in it lol.

HAHAHAHA that made me crack up! I have a JLT ram air intake which keeps the filter under the hood. If your worried about deep sea fishing being an issue, get the JLT RAI. I noticed a small seat of the pants gain and the car seems to rev a lot faster now. Definitely a worthwhile $65 craigslist mod!

You can kinda see it in the pic, sorry I don't have a better underhood shot.

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This actually happened to me on my old car. It had been raining a lot but I didn't know it cause I was outta town. I was following a friend and by the time he hit the water it was too late for me to stop... I ended up having to replace the engine so i would say that there is a possibility if your not careful

Right, and internet know-it-alls can spout all they want about avoiding deep puddles but just as my example above shows you are not always able to. I've googled Ram Air and CAI and found quite a few people from Domestics like Camaros and Focuses to Imports who have hydrolocked their engines in the rain with these systems. And aren’t the gains from a CAI pretty marginal with most of the gain coming from just swapping out the stock paper filter with a K&N type filter?

Raising the risk of a completely destroyed engine for just a couple HP gain doesn’t seem to represent the best risk vs. reward ratio, not to mention how much they cost considering what they are.
 
You can definitely hydrolock an engine with a CAI in the fender well. Sometimes you can't avoid situations like that and filter placement definitely makes a difference.

I have a K&N FIPK on my car, the filter is an open element and sits in the factory filter location. I have yet to have any problems with it, but I also haven't hit any water aside from some decent sized puddles at highway speeds. If water was forced under the hood, it could definitely get wet.

On a near stock car, a CAI won't make a big difference. If you're concerned with water intake as much as you are, you're best off just putting in a replacement K&N filter in the stock intake and removing the snorkel.