okay.. well not my car but my friends


One of my friends have the mines air intake duct done other their vehicle and he seems to be struggling in the rain when he drives his car.

It was POURING one day in Boston and he was driving around his Z. All of a suddden, on the highway, his car just... ka put..died

both of use were strained in the I93 for about 1 hour before the tow truck came and towed it to the dealership. He has a JWT Pop Charger, dun know if that is the problem... or if the air intake duct is a problem

Does anyone else have this problem..

 

Are you sure you didnt drive through a lake or something? The JWT sits VERY high up versus other CAI's...

 

Yeah. I don't see how the JWT popcharger could be any more prone to inhaling water than the stock filter.

 

mabey because he has a huge HOLE in the front bumper in front of the air filter.

 

Oh. That could be it... I failed to derive that bit of knowledge from his post.

 

I know that rain could travel through the air duct, but I thought the only way that an air filter will suck up water is if it completely submerged. Maybe the problem is something else. Did his car struggle in the rain before the duct or only after he put it on. If it started right after he put it on that is probably the problem, but if not it is probably is something else on the motor that is getting wet when he drives in the rain.

 

You would need to submerge the filter into standing water, and then the engine would have to suck up a column of water, and then that column of water would have to make it all the way into the cylinder(s). I agree: That's a tall order with a JWT, which is pretty high up off the road.

If the car hit water that deep, at highway speed, I'm guessing the car would have been torn asunder. It would have been like hitting a brick wall. At the very least, your friend would surely have been able to hear/feel if the car injested a column of water. There would have been noise and vibration from the engine before it quit, as the piston(s) tried and failed to compress water inside the cylinder(s). That's when things start to deflect, bend, break, etc.

It's probably something else...

 

sounds like some of you are still unclear about what this duct is.

 

http://bulletproofautomotive.com/pics/235.jpg

 

i doubt this was Air Duct/CAI related. Most likey something else. As posted above, the filter needs to be completely submerged before water will be sucked into the engine.

 

Hey guys, I am not sure.

I wasn't i the car with him, but his car is at the shop right now. They are goign to take the car apart to see what;s up. Its still not starting and they (mechanics) didn;t want to try.

I am not sure if Nissan is goign to cover that, w are going ot put the stock intake back in and bring it back to Nissan...

 

My car was fine tho, I have the JWT but I dun have the hole. So I am thinking if the air duct is the problem.

ANyone else have this Air Duct? and have been driving in the rain?

 

Not true at all... if you were driving through a very heavy downpour... and assuming the JWT oils had repelled as much water as possible... and eventually saturated.

It is VERY likely that he sucked up water through that duct.

You should be putting a guard in front of the duct during heavy storms.

 

I wonder what happens if the MAF gets totally soaked?

Chris

 

I'm no expert, but everything I've ever read/heard about cold air intakes indicates the injestion of heavy, air-borne rain will not come near to causing a problem. There is just not enough volume of rain water that can make it to the cylinder(s), and then cause damage. Heavy rain, and even small rivulets of water, if they make it to the cylinder(s) as a liquid at all, will just be vaporized there.

A *solid column* of water must get sucked all the way up the intake pipe, like soda through a straw, and into the cylinder(s) for damage to occur. Other than dipping the intake into a standing pool of water, you'd probably have to run the car under Niagara Falls to get enough water injested to cause any damage.

Some FI vehicles inject water and/or methanol directly into the intake to cool the intake charge and help control detonation. The volume of the supplemental water injected varies directly with the amount of fuel injected. The most common side-effect of this water injection cooling system: Very, very clean cylinder walls...

As far as the MAF question is concerned, maybe it has oil from an over-saturated intake filter all over it, so it's not measuring the air volume accurately? Maybe the car would sputter/stall even on a humid day? I guess y'all will find out soon enough. Good luck.

 

PhoenixINX here on Doug's computer...

I'm speaking from experience, I've run CAIs for YEARS and YEARS on various Hondas, etc...

They DO NOT have to be submerged to injest water.

Period.

 

GUYS, when there is a big whole in the front of ur bumper which leads directly to the JWT popcharger, its gonna suck in water when its pouring rain. the rain is gonna hit the popcharger directly and the popcharger is gonna suck in little by little. come on its common sense.

 

Why argue over whether airborne rain water can be injested? We accept that fact as a given.

More specifically, what I am wondering is if injested airborne rain water can migrate to the cylinder(s) with enough volume to cause *damage* when it gets there. I'm not talking about sputtering or bogging or hesitation. I'm wondering about real damage, like bent, broken, or other hydrostatic force induced rearrangement!

Have you ever seen that happen? If you have experience with airborne rain water being injested *and* causing damage, please tell me more! That's what I want to hear. Thank you.

 

I agree. I've seen first hand what small puddles can do to engines. Soooo many people think the filter has to be submerged, but that is just not true. They just go by what they've "heard"

 

well, my freind here was proof to suppose what some people have said, "intakes do have hvae to be submerged under water to get damage".