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Hey wassup...just wanted to let people know that u should get a bypass valve...and not take the risk of not gettin one..cuz i live in cali...and it barely rains around here...however recently...it was raining...and i didnt bother buyin a bypass valve...cuz i was stupid and being cheap...and unfortunantly...durin that one day that it was raining really hard...my intake sucked in water and resulted in my gettin a new engine..because i had flooded cylinder 1 and 2, my spark plug chamber was flooded as well, a piston shot through the block and through the oil pan, my intake manifold was flooded wit water...so i guess wut im sayin is...if ur goin to get a cold air intake...just spend the extra dollars and get a bypass and not be like me...endin up payin 2196 (hook up price) replace the engine, and getting new gasket, rods, piston, labor, installation, etc...well for those that still arent convinced..maybe these pics might convince u...courtesy of the shop that is workin on my car...click here to view the pic...check out pic 4...lol

 
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Dumb question. Was your filter submerged?

 
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naw it wasnt submerged...thas wut got to me...cuz i thought it had to be completly sumberged to hydrolock...but in my case...i guess i was wrong

 
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It has to be. Completly. Those are the plain physics of it. If there is positive pressure still being exerted (ie no vacume caused by it being under water) around the filter air will continue to be sucked up through the open element. Only when there is no air available will there be vacume enough in injest enough H20 to damage the engine. There are exceptions to the rule, but you need to have a TB at or near WOT to even begin to create enough force to suck up the water AND the exterior air. If thats the case, WTF you were doing drivng around like that through small rivers flooding the street?

Hydrolocking (the term used for sucking water into the engine via the intake) a car is rare, even with CAIs, and lowered cars. A filter needs to be COMPLETLY submerged for the vacume to ingest a volume of water large enough to enter and damage the internals of an ingine.
Example: Every time it rains or I wash my car, the filter gets completly soaked. Yet when I run my car after its washed or WHEN its raining, nothing happens. Why? Because A) Theres not a large enough volume of water to do anything, and B) that wouldnt matter anyway, because at the ammounts were talking about any liquid water would be vaporized before entering the intake in the first place due to heat from the engine.
"But Joe!" you may ask, "wouldnt the water vapor hurt the engine too?"
No. Water in its liquid form will jack **** up because its rather non-compressable. An engine works on COMPRESSING and expanding gases, and therefore when a uncompressable substance enters the chambers, bad stuff can happen. This isnt so with water vapor, because it is just that. Vapor. A gas form which is eaisly compressed.

As for the "bypass filter".. that things a crock. Cooked up to give people a false sense of safty while increasing sales for AEM. In fact, if you hydrolock your engine with the bypass valve installed AEM will NOT cover it. Why would THAT be? Perhaps because it doesnt work all the time?

My advice to you is, unless you plan on driving through 3' rivers in your lowered civic with CAI, DONT WORRY ABOUT IT. If you are, you shouldnt be driving that car with those mods in the first place because you are a moron. And therefore I dont care what you do or what happens to your car.

 
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here's another thing to think about.

bypass valve ONLY WORKS when the filter is fully submerged. so it doesn't really do much unless against partial submerging, or water splashing on it.

I tell people time and time again, water splashing on the filter.. or partial submerging.. if the volume of water is enough, may result in hydrolock. people either dont think that'll happen to them or dont care. I've know people with bypass valve on and still got hydrolock...

sorry that had to happen to you.

thats why K&N has a bag over their filter for their CAI. it gives a bit more protection.

You can probably try K&N's bag and the bypass valve... that way you block against splashing.. and full submerging.. but not partial. heh. nothing is perfect. best bet is to not have a CAI during rainy season, or when it rains.

hope you get ur car fixed soon.

edit: seems like there's a conflict here in my post and joe's *shrug*

his explaination of volume and throttle is sound, but I know people that got their filter soaked and they hydrolock. since they didn't even drive over any puddle deep enough to get the filter fully submerged. and yeah, he had a bypass vavle on.

 
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ehhh. i edited it to cover the exceptions to the rule (first paragraph). U know there always is in every case.

 
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yeah I know.

I agreed with you anyway.

that guy that I knew probably thought he was safe with the bypass, and floored it or almost. or else I dont see how he can get those water all the way up his engine... unless that puddle is actually deeper than what he said it is.

 
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I guess in a sense i got a lil cocky...lol...cuz for those that were at the cal poly meet in cali wit me...we had to go through this one flooded street that was bout 3-4 ft of water...and i had my injen cai wit no bypass or any kind of protection...and i was able to get through that street wit no problem and this time...i was thinkin that a lil puddle couldnt do any harm...i guess my cocky *** paid for the price

 
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geez.

probably what this other guy I knew did too.

another advice people: its a rare thing, but dont go WOT over a puddle. geez. ease off the throttle and just ride over the puddle/flood area if you can.

 
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mang...im still sooooooooooooooo pissed at myself for the stupidity of wut i did..i saw the puddle...i was goin to ease on the throttle but noooooooooo i had to get cocky and just fly by it..but i still dont get how sooo little water can do soo much damage to the block..if u look at pic 4 of my link..its cracked...i understand that it causes pressure..but to the point where it shoots right through the block and through the oil pan..arrrrggggg

 
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oh yeah btw hondaguru...i was wonderin if u could maybe answer this question for me...now that i need a new engine..i was wonderin if it would be possible to put a vtec head from a D16 on a D17...seein how the vtec on the d17 sucks ***...from wut i heard..it was a 3 stage instead of like the previous gen civics where it kicked in all at once...also will it be beneficial or just a waste of time and money

 
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Ive never heard of anyone doing that, but Id say 99.9% "no", given the fact that the d16 and d17 arent even that closely related. It would be cheaper to just find a K20A3 to install.

 
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i've never heard of this k&n bag that capyoda is talking about.. does anybody have a pix.. or a sight where i can check it out to see if i wanna purchase it?

 
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there's a recent pic in a recent thread about intakes or intakes and exhaust I think...

either in other products and parts or tech forum.

 
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Click Me

 
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that bag is just a prefilter for dust and larger particles; they have similar ones on the carb filters that look like foam bands. i live in ny with some crazy weather, if it rains, just dont drive but if you have to, keep the rpms down to the probability of sucking in water.

 
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does anybody know where i can purchase this?

 
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Joe covered everything here already.... I'm going to add one thing.

As stated, the bypass valve will only work if you fully submerge the intake filter. On the other hand, the bypass valve also hurts the performance increase the CAI gives you. CAI's are built a certain way, to create resonate impulses which cause the intake charge to "force" itself into the intake manifold. If you suddenly cut that, you've disrupted the flow of the intake and disrupted that resonant pulse.

 
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so does anybody know where i can purchse that bag?

 
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bleh