Why? Do you speed through lakes or rivers?

 

Wow.... Perhaps you should re-read the quotes in this thread from people who live in Florida(it rains a little there), a guy from Oregon(yes rains a lot there too), and a guy who uses his '08 car for business and has 57k miles on it with a Callaway Honker. Too many stories of high mileage, rain traveled cars. Am i saying it cant happen? no. What do you think the ratio is for sold CAI's to hydrolock?

Bottom line...when a motor hydrolocks you need to look behind the wheel to see who's at fault, not under the hood.

 

I have had my Honker on for two years now with no problems. I just avoid puddles or just park it if it is raining hard. There is always a certain amount of risk with CAIs.

Sorry to hear about your problem. This may be a good excue to mod the motor now.

 

I've been caught in some pretty nasty storms in NJ, there are certain stretches around my way that get pretty deep with puddles, I probably would avoid taking those ways if I am ever caught if possible. I really just want to know if the stock intake would have a lesser chance of this happening or are you screwed either way ?

 

I do not understand all the arguing...... who can tell the depth of a puddle just looking at it. The nut behind the wheel does not have a clue.

Then who looks at the speedo when you are trying to look through the windshield to see. So accounts of hydro locking will be all over the place.

In the lovely state of Florida you can be out in the sunshine one minute and there is a downpour the next. What looks to be a small puddle can be a lake. I am sure that there are many other places in this country that have the same screwy weather. Look at the bright side you could get stuck in hail the size of golf ***** without your clubs

Hey we all drive in all kinds of crazy weather, hopefully we will all be lucky enough to be able to avioid the deep puddles, water waves from other cars and be able to go slow enough when necessary......and if we can not that is why we have insurance

 

Not that I'd ever heard. Then again if one were to get their Corvette stuck in 6 feet of snow because they attempted to drive in, well, 6 feet of snow isn't exactly grounds for suing GM, Chevrolet or your selling dealership either.




Excellent points.

 

And this is what I love most about it.

 

I was going to test the water level requirements to have a surge or wave that conceivably could enter my Vararam. I tried to find an area where someone's sprinkler system went haywire with no luck. The most rain all year came 6 weeks ago and dumped a whole 1/2" over a 5 hour period late at night. I saw rain about 4 weeks ago near the 3000' level, but it evaporated before it got to the ground. I even left a hose in the street for an hour and tried to dam up enough for a test, but the desert sucked it up so fast all I got was some mud.

I give up. Somebody in Seattle needs to do this test.

 

Some alternate views on this subject: During 22 years in auto service, we saw many hydrolocked engines, 10 or 20 years before the C6 or most CAI existed. While a CAI would seem more prone to taking water, many circumstances must occur simultaneously for the problem to occur, and any set up can take water. We once towed a Jeep with a snorkel out of a creek, about a foot deep. It was hydrolocked, the snorkel inlet stood 5 feet above the ground. ???????? Circumstances.................. One recommendation , the washable ,oiled filters offer some buffering as water tends to bead up reducing the initial bleed though the filter. This may give you a few seconds to lift on the throttle, and kill the ignition. I personally have CAI's on three vehicles , one being a C6 , and one being a work truck which gets driven every where in the worst weather the east coast gets. You have a better chance of hitting a deer than getting hydrolock. IMHO.

 

These days, hitting a deer is not a rare occurrence (I can tell you of at least half a dozen people who have hit a deer, but I can't tell you of one hydrolock situation. That doesn't mean it can't happen.). Hydrolocking seems to be relatively rare if one judges from the posts on this forum.

 

Depends where you live...NO deer here in S. Fla...you have a better chance of hitting an alligator!

 

Ow my head. I think people need to read a little more carefully - when someone is clearly not making a serious claim (note the "" or a ""), then don't take them seriously.

Side note - I had an eclipse with a CAI and bypass valve that saved my a$$ through a (deep enough) puddle. I HEARD it open - muffled the engine for a second and then WHOOOOOOOOSH and a little pop in the revs. I don't know if drilling holes is the best bet since you may lose a little flow from the turbulance, but a bypass valve would be nice...

 

Any update on the damage to the motor?

I've BTDT with another vehicle- my Jeep. I drained all the fluids, cranked it, then got it running, but my rings and bearings were shot (it got submerged in a muddy puddle on a trail- very deep water). So I had to do a rebuild on it.

I'm hoping for the best for the OP!

 

I have at least skimmed all the replies and choose not to comment at all on the warranty issues but in almost all the comments about how the intake can ingest water (stock or otherwise), I see little to no mention of two basic considerations (1) water in motion has momentum and (2) the intake air flow tends to act like a vacuum cleaner and pulling any liquid or solids entrained in its flow with it. Vacuums do not pick up things by creating a vacuum; they pick up things by air flow.

This means that if the water gets to the intake with some momentum it will try to keep flowing in the intake tubing converting momentum into potential energy by climbing up the intake to the filter box.

I hydro locked my 68 442 and the intake was a foot and a half off the ground because a pickup passed me throwing up a large bow wave. A wave is caused by the momentum water and once it even came close to the air intake the momentum and the air sucked it into the filter housing and enough got through to lock the engine. Fortunately, after a couple of hours it cranked and after two oil and filter changes, I had no more problems. Hopefully this guy will not either.

Any low intake can get water thrown up into it and the air flow plus the momentum of the water can easily carry it up a good vertical distance to the engine. It is probably more important to drive very slowly (to minimize the momentum of the water) in a lower than normal gear than how deep the water is as long as it does not cover the intake. The higher rpms will help the engine ingest some water droplets without stalling.

Of course it is better to avoid standing water. Around here it may not look deep but it may also be conceal a large pot hole!

 

I drive through standing water in reverse. No probems with my CAI.

 

A vacuum cleaner does in fact create a low vacuum environment (did I just write that on a corvette forum?). The intake is a vacuum system powered by your engine, with energy proportional to engine RPM. I agree that scooping water up going 20 is worse than going 10. Here is a good article about a bypass on an NSX with a CAI.Article

 

Yes, it does create a vacuum but that low pressure environment is is what causes the air to flow on that direction and as it does it picks up stuff. The ultimate test is to block off a vacuum hose - it is pulling maximum vacuum but nothing is being transporting. No air flow no pick up dirt, water, whatever. It is unfortunate that they were ever called vacuums cleaners but we are pretty much stuck with it now.

 

Correct. I would definately say for most bodies of water entering your stock intake (inlet 25" off the ground)....that it would be far less likely to hydrolock than a Vararam type front feeder (inlet 8" off the ground) and less likely for a Honker type back feeder(17" off the ground). Still there may be situations where vehicle speed and/or height of water will not make a difference no matter the height of the intake.

Thanks you for a very lucid and fact filled post!

 

I am a forensic engineer and investigated a case like this last year for an auto insurance company. It was a Mercedes 5.5 l and the woman drove through a flooded underpass. Three rods were found bent when we tore down the engine. ($30,00 for a new block BTW)!

The insurance covered the repairs as it was "a road hazard" that caused the damage. I don't know what your policy covers but that is what I suggest you argue.

 

wow i live in florida now im thinking twice about getting a cai