Just thought I'd post for anyone in the future researching this. It rained here quite heavily yesterday. I was on the highway, and suddenly the car began struggling, almost like the traction control was going on and off, but the rpm were fluctuating quite a bit and no traction lights lit up. I got to work and let it sit, then went out later and revved it. Seemed to struggle for a minute, then no more problems.
Drove home later in the rain again, and same problem. This was on the highway, and I didn't drive through any standing water, only heavy rain. I determined the AEM CAI was somehow sucking in water.
Drove it today, not raining, and it's back to normal. I don't like that it was sucking in water at all. Tomorrow I'll be finding something to make it work as a short tube instead.

 

If you "actually" ingested water inside the engine you might have bigger problems. Hydrolocking could lead to bent rods.

Had a cheap CAI on my old car, suck a small amount of water. Car still ran okay. Months later when I rebuilt the engine. One rod was slightly bent.

As you suggested, try running a short intake, and see if the problem occurs again when it rains.

 

I really don't see how it would suck in water from the rain. I never noticed any struggling with my cai. To hydro lock your car I think the entire filter must be submerged in water.

 

Sucked in a mist of water past the filter and you most slight moisture on the MAF , no big deal.

 

no problems here. I always question those who somehow manage to suck in any water with a cai. its pretty hard to do imo

 

I know that's what happened, and I wasn't worried about hydro lock as it wasn't submerged. Just thought it was strange, as that's never happened before. I don't drive this car in the rain a whole lot though. It can't be good for the car, as it was barely keeping speed.

 

About the only thing it could do is cause a MAF to completely fail over time.

Look at how a water/meth system works, some people even just use water with no meth added. Not hurting a thing, it's not like gallons of water are being ingested at a time.

 

Doesn't take much, I ran over a puddle and only abit of water was ingested in one cylinder. Intake was no where from being submerged.
Small ingestion of water technically won't lock up or seize an engine. But this could happen if abit of water is in one cylinder while the other cylinders are performing as normal.

All and all, this is prolly not your case. Just something to think about.

Car still ran for acouple months as well.

 

A puddle did that? Idk man