350zDCalb

iTrader: (21)

It rained very very hard yesterday, here in Albuquerque, it can be dry and sunny one minute, and a monsoon the next

I will not drive my car if it is raining/looks like it is gonna rain..here's my story

drove back from work yesterday afternoon, it started pouring...i got home, car ran fine the entire way...this morning, nice and sunny, figured i'd take my car to work...as soon as it would build boost the car fell flat on its face

I got back to the shop a few hours ago (my first chance of the day to investigate)---I assumed a bit of water got sucked up in the air filters....

so, I disconnected both pipes coming off the turbos where they connect to the intercooler--and probably a cup of water drained out of each!!!!

I cleaned everything out, and put it all back together..no problems..hit 20 psi a few times on the way home from the shop, running great...
wanted to share my story to prevent this from happening to anyone else...I am guessing that the water never actually made it in the motor, but rather caused the MAF sensor to go crazy, kiling the power (even though I'm running off the UTEC MAP, I assume the MAF will still cause the car to act up when it comes in contact with water)... soooooo glad my motor is ok

Anyone else go through this????

-TODD

booger

iTrader: (6)

Where are the air filters located at ? Low in the front bumper ?

taurran

iTrader: (18)

I'm pretty sure they're behind the bumper to the left/right of the stock grill. With a stock bumper they shouldn't be directly exposed to water unless you're not using one of the undertray or plastic panels in the front of the wheel well.

As far as rain is concerned, I don't think anyone would have more experience with it than Florida owners. I haven't heard of anyone down here having issues like this.

Sharif@Forged

iTrader: (92)

Todd, do you have your inner fender plastics properly secured? I have a big hole in one of mine, due to my oversized tire combo. Maybe some water leaked in between the fender, and your splash pan. I am running without a splash pan too. Fortuanately, the Greddy filter setup is mostly immune to water issues.

Nitrouz

iTrader: (27)

that's the first time I've ever heard of this issue...I drove mine 17 hours straight from vancouver to norcal...through the FLOOD in oregon in January, and light snow in norcal...with no problems.

BoOsTedz33TT

iTrader: (1)

i have been waiting for someone to post this, i think the intake is not safe for driving in the rain, its just to low, i dont drive in the rain, but sometimes it pours....you cant help it

zland

Todd:

Interesting you posted this. When we at SZM did the turbo comparision/shoot out article, my brother who is a Nissan/Infiniti mechanic expressed comcern over the the location of the air filters (he actually was concerned over the exact issue that you experienced). I debated over mentioning it in the article and now that you have actually experienced it yourself, i feel like maybe I should have mentioned it in the evaluation. I guess my brothers experience of working on Nissans for over 30 years helped him see what I missed.

zland

Todd:

PS...the feature on your car should be coming in the mail any day nowin the first Nissan Sport Magazine issue. I hope my coverage of your car is worthy....

mrtomcat

iTrader: (3)

interesting, I drove through lots of rain without any issues and just like a cai unless it gets submerged there shouldn't be a problem.

this is an ignorant question but could the water be sucked in by the intercooler?

captj3

iTrader: (1)

^ Tom the answer is no. Zland isn't the nismo cai located in the same spot along with the aem? I live in florida and have had no problems with this so far. As taurran said one minute sun is shinning the next you have 2" of water on the road.

baptist

Ive driven through some deep water with mine, never had a problem. Was bricking it, though!
England isnt the driest of places.

Glad your car is okay, Todd.

After all that building, be tragic to lose it to some rain!!!!!

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (4)

Just like mrtomcat stated, water in the intake tract and getting sucked into the motor isn't a problem unless BOTH intakes become fully submerged and thus potential hydrolock occurs. You'd have to drive through a flooded area that completely submerged the filters to have an issue like that. With my APS TT setup and the stock plastic pieces in place, I don't see how water could become an issue at all.

350zDCalb

iTrader: (21)

well Bri, I wasnt fuly submerged, promise...and when I took off the pipes that feed the intercooler, a ton of water spilled out..scary!

so, it CAN happen..be careful guys- if it rains agaim here and I have my Z, I'm keeping it parked, I'm not going down by rain

350zDCalb

iTrader: (21)

cool, looking forward to it...we put new pics in there, right? so much has changed since that first photo shoot

phunk

iTrader: (21)

todd glad to here there is no damage and your motor is OK!

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (4)

I'm not doubting that it was possible to get water in there...just stating that you won't hydrolock (damage) your motor without a submerged filter since it won't suck in a constant flow of water, i will just take in some water and mostly air and it won't hurt anything.

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (4)

You're up early on a sunday...

Tantrum Z33

iTrader: (27)

I had the same problem coming back on my 4 hour long trip from AAM. It was pouring rain the whole time and since I have a vented hood, water must have been traveling down into the intakes. Found about a cup of water after I empty out the IC. My MAF was freaking out as well which prevented the water from going into the motor. Glad that your motor is ok!

Enron Exec

Sounds a bit like something that happened to me about 2 1/2 years back. I was driving along with the stock motor on the ATI SC, unknowningly i already had 1 piston missing a small orange slice off the face of the piston and another piston with cracked ring landings and rings. The car still ran fine but blew a little more smoke under the gun. Well i was comming back from lunch into the parking lot and it had just poured like a foot of rain. I saw that the parking lot was flooded but thought maybe i could inch my way through the edge where the water wasnt as high. Like the old saying goes, if you cant see the curb, dont risk it. I followed the edge but then it dipped down and i sucked in maybe 2-4 liters of water. The car sputtered and died. The car managed to coast to some higher ground and I left it there until after work. After work, i tried to start her back up and she rolled over... but sounded terrible. Well i drove home slowly making as little use of the throttle as i could becaue as soona s i gave it a little too much gas, it would run terrible again. The next day i popped open the intake tube from the intercooler. I could see all the water that was there from the night before had left little rust stains. I thought maybe there was more water still and maybe it was sitting in the intercooler. I pointed the intake tube off to the side away form the throttle body and gave the car some gas.. out comes like 2 liters of water like the worlds largest super soaker!!! I did that a few more times and reinstalled the intake tube. The car ran fine afterwards.

Lesson i learned... dont drive through high water. Its never worth the risk.

350zDCalb

iTrader: (21)

so am I!!! I switched to synthetic today (3000miles after new motor) and the old oil looked great...

I was scared, but the MAF saved me (as i couldnt give it more throttle as to suck in more water--the MAF freaking out prevented this)

-TODD