Water can be ingested by airborne methods but from what I have heard, it would not be enough to kill the engine. Small amounts would just become steam and should be blown out. Now the water hitting the MAF sensor like that could do some serious damage to it. Try running the car with the MAF sensor not working, it's not gonna happen.

Thait intake duct would let alot of water in, It is possible that it could have ingested quite a bit of water if driven for a long time.

 

Don't forget that the filter is coated in an oil so rain or anything sprayed at it will just roll off if properly oiled.

 

Understanding the fact that you have a "hole" to the intake, I still dont see how the car could possibly vacuum up enough water to kill the engine like that. I can see water bouncing off the hole sides and hitting the intake and beading off, but even if that was the case, I dont see how it could be enough to literally kill the engine whether just from too much water or from bending a rod.

I could theoretically see the MAF getting messed up from water and going into limp mode. I'm thinking your friend has a hole like that in the stillen front bumper kit which leads to the intake. But even if it was a custom duct CAI surrounding the JWT as best as you can, I would still bet it wouldnt be truly sealed and thus not able to build up enough vacuum to pull that much water up.

Either way, however it happened, hope your friend gets the car rolling again.

 

sucks for him, maybe his Z just hated him...

I have no idea, I want that freaking intake duct.. its nice...

you guys think its nice?

 

I agree...I doubt you could kill a car with just that hole in the front bumper...There's too much space between it and the JWT...just doesn't seem probable....and wouldn't we hear of Pontiac's ram air system killing cars all the time???

Probably totally unrelated, which is why it is silly to post a cause and affect thread until it can be proven by a mechanic why the car died. Right now it's all speculation, and if the car had an Injen CAI on it, we'd all be pointing at it.

 

maybe if the filter got saturated with water, it could have allowed some water to pass through and mess with the MAF.

correct me if i'm wrong, but i think the Z MAF works by measuring the extra voltage needed to keep some wire or whatnot at a constant temperature while the air is moving through the intake tube and cooling the wire. if some water got on the MAF sensor (and water has a high specific heat => it needs a lot more heat to reach temperature equilibrium with the wire => MAF sensor voltage reading will spike really high to keep the temp constant) then the ecu could have read that and thought the engine was getting a lot more air than it actually was. then the ecu tries to correct the situation by reducing the amount of air to (what it thinks is) the proper level. but in actuality, the engine gets less air than it needs, very little combustion occurs, and the engine goes limp.

i don't think ingesting a solid column would be the only way for water to kill an engine

just a thought

 

I thinks that's what more likely happened. The MAF got wet, and it read more air than what actually was passing through. To compensate for more [falsely sensed] air, the ECU shot more fuel into the cylinders, causing a very rich condition to develop. The car sputtered, coughed, and maybe even back-fired as it drowned itself in too much injected fuel.

I hope that's it. That won't break anything. Just air dry it out, start it up, and drive away, good as new!

 

i have had the Varis CF air duct installed longer than anyone one on the board and i have never had a problem with injesting water or debris. the angle of the Varis air duct is not perfectly aligned with the air opening on the Z so water would have to behave like air to reach the filter. it is more likely that the rain water will bounce off the plastic/metal pieces and just splash onto the filter. not sure about the mines's though! perhaps on a very long trip in a heavy down pour the filter could eventually get soaked but i would think that your problem is something else.

 

So whats been concluded from this twilight-zone post. If you have a hole in your bumper and it's raining, plug it, why take the chance. This way if something happens to your car the possiblity of rain damage is out. I love the look of the duct, but thats exactly what it's for, if your buying it for performance gains in the rain then i feel bad and will send you some socks to stuff it with.
taa taa

 

good thinking about the Pontiac system... i never thought about that!

 

Th pontiac system angles up and takes a couple of turns, At least it did on my Grand Am GT. There is no way water would get through that. What did the mechanic say. Lets go ahead and end this.

 

My thoughts exactly. My Nismo intake sucked up water while just driving down the street. No puddle required. All it did was soak the MAF pretty good. Killed the engine and the car wouldn't start any more. I pulled out the MAF, air dried it over night, reinstalled it the next day and all was well. Sure freaked me out, though.

If he actually got hydrolocked, would the engine even be able to turn over? If a piston or something got bent and destroy, seems like that would just foul up the whole system and lock it up completely. If the engine is still turning over and just not starting, then I'd bet it's the MAF that's messed up.