yesterday was the weirdest day in so cal...it started to rain out of nowhere and i had no bypass valve on. scared the f*ck out of me driving home...so i installed the bypass valve today and noticed that my car doesn't accelerate as much anymore. i was wondering if the lack of performance gains was due to the bypass valve or the low pressure in the atmosphere cuz of the rain?

another thing: is it safe to have the bypass valve on all the time? or should i remove it, then put it on only when it rains or about to rain??

 

i have the AEM CAI, with no bypass valve, and have never had a problem in the rain...as lng as you don'y submerge it in water completely...you should be fine with no bypass valve

 

so cutting the pipe and inserting the bypass was a waste?? should i just take it out, and install a coupling to patch up the cut??......but what about hard rainy weather? what if el nino returns?

 

use a silicone coupling then you can always put the check valve back in during the good down pours livin in socal we relly dont have to worry about hard rain that much any way.

that and do you realy plan on needing the extra exc. in the rain

 

you have a good point...why the hell would i want to push it during the rain....but the question i have is, should i keep it on year round? is it worth the time and effort to put it on everytime it rains??

 

I agree completly. I feel that the bypass vavle is a complete waste of money. Unless you plan on driving around in two foot puddles you should never have a problem. I used to live in La Jolla and my eclipse was lowered 2 inches and had a CAI on it and never had a problem. Maybe you might want to keep it in your car just in case you have the day you want to run through a ton of two foot puddles. That would actually be kind of fun.

 

i live in florida. it rains every single day. i have an aem cai. no bypass valve.

no problems.

 

I noticed you live in So Cal like me. What people from outside of this area need to understand is that we don't get much rain at all, but because of that we have terrible drainage when it does. Like others say, you shouldn't have a problem running without a bypass valve, but if you find yourself wading in a foot deep puddle on the streets of L.A. (the Sepulveda Basin is a real good example, having stranded floating cars every Winter) then you should really worry. Nothing like stop and go traffic in a shallow pond!

 

If you already have it on leave it. Better safe than sorry.

 

eh, up to u, i wouldn't juss cuz it eats hp

 

Does it really have that much restriction? I thought it was completely open except for when you let off the gas. Who wants HP when you let off?

 

if i leave it on, would it eat up my gas too??

 

its all about saftey in what you can, and cant do. my buddy has a completely STOCK celica gts. well one day it poured really bad, and he went under a bridge were there was a HUGE flood. well needless to say his stock intake tube sucked up about a gallon of water and his motor is hydrolocked. its a 02 basically brand new car. the only problem is he bought the car used and his warranty expired. point is, if its too deep to drive through, dont do it!!!!!! reverse!!!!!!!!