AEM CAI + Water = WEIRD NOISE
 

I was driving in a storm with lots of rain and I didn't run over any puddles or anything when all of a sudden I hear this gurgling sound from the passenger side. I was pretty sure it's my intake because I let off the throttle and it stopped. I don't have an AEM Bypass and it scared the crap out of me because one of my friends got his car messed up from being submerged in water.

4 questions:
Should I put in a bypass?
Would it affect the performance?
Would water have come all the way up to the throttle body if I continued to press on gas instead of letting off throttle?
Would that water mess up my car also?

anyone?

Re: AEM CAI + Water = WEIRD NOISE
 

its actually 4 questions. hahah

you should put in a bypass, yes.
i dont think it affects performance at all.

i dont know about your other questions tho. sorry. i dont have CAI on my car, this is just my opinion from reading other threads on hydrolocked cars.

i've heard the bypass doesnt do anything for your car if your intake isnt completely submerged in water. so if water splashed on your intake it'll suck it up.
performance, i've also heard that you'll be sucking in some warm air from the engine compartment.
yes, the water probably would have gotten to your throttle body if you didnt let off the gas
and yes, if water gets into your engine you have a very high chance that your engine will hydrolock, that means bye bye engine.

I had the same problem one day, but the wierd part is that I have a AEM SRI.

It sounds like your heater core and not related to your CAI. What your hearing is the water gurgling in the heater system due to it having some trapped air in it. Its completely normal.

yes you would have affected performance......(if you did get the aem bypass valve)..... it would be degrading the purpose of even having one......because warm air from the engine compartment comes into the inlet.......

How deep was the puddle you drove through? Is your car lowered. You have to keep in mind for a significant amount of water to be sucked into your intake you'd have to be in one deep puddle.
The bypass filter basically negates anything you might get from the intake because air will always take the easiest path, naturally it will flow through the bypass just because it's the least resistant path. So you're back to square one with it.
Again unless you were 6 to 9 inches deep in a puddle I don't think it would have continued up your intake if it got in at all.
If a good amount of water gets in your engine say hello to hydrolock.

As someone else stated it's probably just your heater core. Hope that helps.
-Nic

sweet jesus.....don't mess with water dude, espically if it makes noise. i've heard to many horror stories of sweet engines couldn't totally shut down cause they person wouldn't pay the extra $50 for the bypass valve. it won't affect performance much, but go on the safe side.......plus you won't have to deal with the paranoia