I am so paranoid about water ingestion through my open element filter. Anyone else feel the same? I am thinking about putting in the old airbox. Except that during removal of the MAF I lost my temper and stomped on smashing it to pieces. Anyone have one or know where I can get one cheap? Maybe I am wrong about the water thing, but with all the snow/rain and flooding.I am concerned. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks

 

Hey Rory,
I felt the same way i put on an ARC intake an was kinda worried. But after washing my car i tried very hard to get water in there, and wasnt able to. So ill monitor it but not worried anymore.

 

Yeah Scott I tried that too. And after driving in heavy rain I checked the filter. It is dry to the touch but I am still not convinced

 

I have driven almost a year, in driving snow, torrential rain, washed my car several times, and it has never gotten wet.. at least enough to cause a problem, its in an area that will rarely get moisture, don't sweat it.. Its nothing to worry about.

 

well moisture will build up to some degree, it did on my rex and i didnt even have an open air element. I used the stock box. THe way i found out was when i too of the inlet pipe, when i was replacing it with a silcone one.

 

If you look at the intercooler spray bottle after driving you will see it is a little wet from where water is getting into the engine bay from around the headlight housing. I know it is probably nothing and I ran an open element in my Accord Type R back home in horrible weather and never had a problem. I guess its because I feel a turbo car sucks air much harder than normal aspirated motors do. Therefore if there is water in the vicinity it will draw it in to the engine. I just wanted to speak to some guys who have the same car with open elements and check their experiences. I know it has been fought about before. The car runs great putting down 286 to the ground with minors mods. I would hate for that to end just as I am enjoying it. because of some water in the engine to screw things up

 

Alos i even wounder if it would even make it to the engine canuse if u look at it, it has soem distance to go. throw the turbo, ic, then ic piping

 

Alos i even wounder if it would even make it to the engine canuse if u look at it, it has soem distance to go. throw the turbo, ic, then ic piping

 

Chances are it'd evaporate. Not to mention that when the air heats during compression it's likely to evaporate even more quickly as compression generates heat. Think of it as free water injection.

 

What you need to worry about is if an "appreciable" amount of water is ingested into the intake system at once. Water only represents a danger when there is enough water in a cylinder such that the water volume is greater than the smallest compression point within the cylinder. The quick physics - water does not compress, while air does.

A filter would typically need to be submerged in order to ingest an amount of water such that it would lead to damage. This is why cold air intakes are such a danger - they place the intake opening on a much lower level than the stock intake, or a short after-market intake. So if your filter is just being splashed now and then, that won't be a problem.

 

Yeah mine is still inside the engine bay in the stock airbox location. But some water/spray can get in there from time to time .