Need some help with this problem.

I have an AEM cold air intake installed on my 03 OZ Rally. The Pipe snakes down to just behind the bottom of the front bumper on the Drivers side of the car.

Problem is, every time I drive the car in the rain, I think its sucking up Mist and water and its making my car Studder while driving, and stall out completely while Idleing. Unless I keep the revs up at each stoplight the car dies out.

Does anyone else have the same Intake installed, and have any of you solved this problem without resorting to swaping out for a Short Ram and stock air scoop set up?

Thanks alot

T8

 

CAI's aren't made for rainy weather.
Hopefully you didn't damage your MAF too bad or else good luck finding a cheap used one.
I would suggest getting rid of that setup asap.

 

Or get a water bypass valve thingy, I believe AEM is the company that makes them even.

But yeah, water+MAF+intake manifold+water= death

 

I don't have a cold air intake, but on my turbo setup my idle is also rough when its raining or misty out. I believe its caused by the excess moisture and humidity in the air. Did you reset your ECU after the CAI install? Even if you did, it couldn't hurt to do it again to let the ECU learn the settings over again.

 

I have a short ram intake installed on my 03 OZ Rally and I don't have any problems in rain or snow... so if you want an intake, I'd suggest to go with the short ram... I noticed your in Toronto and with our weather, I wouldn't recommend the CAI because of all the snow and slush that we have to drive around in in winter (this is all assuming that you winter drive your Lancer like I do hehe)

 

With my CAI I've never had a problem in the winter with snow and ice.

Only time I get the choke out problem is when its really raining. I've drivin my car through 2 winters with no problem. its only in spring/fall during a thunderstorm or heavy downpour that it hapns. Sometimes it happens within 10 blocks of my start point, and sometimes I can drive almost 30 klicks befor it starts up.

So far I've found for short distances if I let the car warm up first I dont have the problem unless i'm on long drives with steady rain. but with a GF living in another city for school, long drives are a part of my life.

 

Id reccomend the bypass valve too. I got the same AEM CAI and I live in Florida so I have to hae it. It'll save your engine.

 

I have been driving my 03 since well 03 with an AEM CAI and havent had any issues with rain/snow/ice car runs fine

 

I really don't think the bypass valve would work for slight rain drops and mist.
I believe the whole filter has to be submerged in water for the bypass to work.
Something to think about.

 

i had my 02 oz rally since 02 and i had the same problem since i installed my aem cai, i never put the bypass thing cuz i though that would defeat the purpose of whole intake swap (since it might leak air or something). I had it on for good five years, but had stalled out numerous times, i could feel loss of power when driving in light or heavy rain. I even made some custom cover box for the filter cone, but that didnt work. Its a great mod but only in dry weather. I've since took it off, after i was forced to park on side of the road couple times and let it dry out, and had to tow my car once cuz it would start back up. you can cut the pipe and make a short ram out of wat you got.

 

AEM Bypass is only supposed to kick in when the cone filter is clogged, or at least that is my understanding of it.

Might not be a bad investment... here's a link for ya. Straight from the AEM website.

 

guess I have just been lucky????

 

i have a AEM CAI installed on my 03 OZ. it has been on there for 3 years and i haven't had a single problem with it and haven't removed it once...i even have the grill removed from the front bumper that the filter hides behind


and i also drive far to see my girlfriend too

 

^I didn't remove the grill but I did take it off and dremil out the plastic where the holes should be

 

^haha thats what i wanted to do but i didn't have a dermel at the time so i went with the next best option ha

i think i might go see if i still have that piece kicking around in my garage