So i washed my car last night, and probably should have waited until my CAI filter dried before i drove the car. So i washed my car and the filter was probably wet, than i drove my car just down the street to get water out of the mirrors etc. And than i drove up my drive way, but while doing so, i did rev a little high(throttle controller). So i turned on my car this morning to go to work, and i noticed a clicking noise that was mentioned in another members thread discussing hydrolock. But it sounded like an electronic/static clicking coming from the radio or something. But is it possible to have damaged the engine simply from a wet filter? Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Chances are no you didn't damage the engine from a wet filter, you'd have to actually suck up a pool of water to hydrolock your engine, just getting a few drops of water would have been no consequence.

 

hmm, i sure hope not. I just found that weird clicking kinda disturbing, because i read about the clicking in another members thread. Where the damage was way worse than expected. Exactly how wet does a filter get? like how absorbent is the material, can it actually retain water if the material gets wet? Than having the retained water get sucked in from the throttle?

 

Yeah, your whole filter has to be submerged in water to hydrolock

 

The filter on your CAI is going to get wet in the rain anyway- you can't keep it dry when you are driving over wet streets. The same is true with most SRI's, especially the Fujita. Water comes in the grill and gets all over the engine and the filter. As the others have stated, hydrolock only occurs when you submerge the filter in water.

 

So what your saying is that when it rains your filter will never be completely dry. So getting the filter semi wet and having some water come in through the throttle is not really a big deal?

 

Any water coming into the throttle body through a damp filter will be atomized in the combustion chamber and is of no consequence. To hydrolock you have to completely submerge the filter with the throttle open forcing the engine to ingest a quantity of water. I'm not sure what you are hearing but as far as water damage you're in the clear.

 

You understand perfectly.

 

Ok great. What i was trying to explain is that i was afraid after washing my car, water from the wet filter would have gotten sucked into the engine while taking it for a quick spin down the street. Thats also why i was wondering exactly how absorbent could an inake filter actually be, if it could actually retain water. But great, you guys made me feel better. Thanks and +1`to all=]

 

if the engine had ingested enough water to hydrolock the engine, it would had locked right after you started it and not like 10 minutes after!!

Marko!!

 

Something to remember for those of you with CAI that are worried about hydrolock. The throtttle has to be OPEN for hydrolock to occur, if you are going through deep water just lift your foot off the gas pedal and you should be fine. Unless of course you are fording a river and in that case you would be f$%^ked....LOL

 

Your throttle is still "open" at idle, just not wide open. If the engine is getting enough air to run at all, it can still suck up enough water to bend a valve or break a piston or rod.

 

I think someone on the forum mentioned that depressing the clutch all the way completely closes the throttle body. But that can't be right is it? If the throttle body were to close all the way, wouldnt your car stall or shut off?

 

Lets just say for the sake of argument that this is a Fit throttle body. It isn't of course, it belongs to my del Sol, but I didn't feel like tearing into the Fit.
Notice that the valve is completely closed. This is the same configuration as when the car is idling. But how does it stay running!?

There is a bypass before the valve that allows air to enter when you are not mashing down the accelerator. Notice in the blurry picture you can see wood through the bypass even though the throttle is closed.


Of course with the drive by wire system in the Fit, instead of a bypass the ecu probably just opens the throttle wide enough to maintain the proper idle speed.

 

ahh i see. very interesting airborne. I did not know that. But if the ethrottle on the fit still needs to stay open at idle, than basically the only way to avoid damage with a CAI is to slalom between puddles whether your idling or stepping on the throttle. because you can be super careful and still end up driving over a deep puddle on a dark rainy night when visibility is minimal. damn. I think im just going to sell my CAI and get the HKS racing suction kit. LOL

 

Get two straws. Put one in a glass of water and one outside the glass. Suck them both at the same time. You won't get water. Its simple fluid dynamics. Your CAI is below the actual intake manifold, You could have the filter HALF SUBMERGED in water and still only get marginal amounts of spray to the intake manifold. If you are worried about deep water, buy a CAI water bypass thingy.

 

yeah you've got a point. I did a whole lot of research on the bypass valve in the pass but I've never looked into how much it will cost to have someone cut the intake pipeing.

 

LOL! After reading this I had to go try it! You only get a small spray of water if trying really hard

 

HAHA. tight. I dont even own any straws . but sometimes assholes at mcdonalds give me broken straws where its cracked somewhere and it has the same effect. LOL

 

Has any body installed factory nav system in 09 sport. If so what problems encountered.