I will likely purchase a Vararam CAI. The site says that it will not suck in water. The dealer in my hood says that it will and that it will lead to problems down the road. Anyone have long-term experience on this topic? Thanks.

 

yes i have had it since dec 2005 no problems i drive year round in snow and rain have hit puddles just dont drive in water a foot deep

 

I've read posts here (more than one) of people who've sucked water up with their Vararam. You don't have to drive through a lake either. A hard rain or serious puddle can cause this. I was all set to get one until I read posts about it. If you haven't already, you might try searching the forum to read some of the past posts.

Too risky if you ask me.

Others run them with no problems at all. How's the weather where you live?

 

I really was gonna get the Varaam too but like the above stated its a great system but just too risky..
Especially the way GM is these days with voiding warranty's..
So I went with the KB..

 

I was driving through a "historic" area near my home during a good rain storm and was at a stop sign at what appeared to be a level interection. It was not level and as I went to cross it my vette went nose first into standing water that was up to the middle of the front wheel. My car sucked in a massive amount of water and stalled out. Luckily I was at a very low engine speed and there was no internal damage once the water was drained. I'm now much more careful and rarely drive the car in the rain. Obviously my situation was that one in a million and there was a ton of standing water and the entire front grille area was submerged. Haven't had a problem since and I wouldn't be all that worried about driving in the rain. That said if I had it to do over I would go with the top of the line Halltech.

 

If you drive your vette in the rain there's always a possibility that something could happen if all the stars align correctly. I had a vararam on my 05 and drove thru torrential downpours on my way back from Carlisle with no issues at all.I don't drive in the rain unless I'm caught out there in the vette.That's what my other ride is for. So,if you are a sunny day vette driver,don't sweat it.

 

Im in SoCal and weather is great most of the time of course, however we do have our period of hard rain, which usually equates to a flash flood warning.

 

Common sense and just a little knowledge about cars and driving in general can go a long way on this one.
I've seen bone stock 4WD trucks hydrolock their motors because they barrelled through a deep puddle without slowing down/going home another way. So of course when driving a low slung sports car that gets some of it's air from below the bumper, simply drive it/treat it as such.
In other words, if you're going through standing water in your Corvette (at speed) that is deep enough and flowing enough to get into a Vararam than you would've likely also damaged the car/motor with the stock air intake system still on it as well.
Vararams don't kill motors, people do.

 

Orange County historically has had flooded intersections. I have read on the forum about hydro-locked engines that required rebuilding due to bottom feeder CAI systems.

 

As long as you don't drive through big puddles of water, you should be fine.

 

With my 06 I put 35K miles on it with a Vararam. These miles where put on all over the country. Midwest thunderstorms to Seattle rain. I have been in rain where anything above 35mph would induce hydroplaning. Never had a problem.

IMO the only way you can hydrolock your motor is to create or drive though 10 inches of water. It might be possible to do this with as little as 3 inches of water. But just rain and you will be ok.

 

 

if you're so scared, then don't buy one

 

Back in our young and crazy wild days we once had an issue with water and engine operation. As early evening was coming upon us after a very long and hard day of duck hunting someone in our group suggested using the 4X pickup to fetch the duck decoys. We thought it was a great idea and two of us jumped into the truck and went out into the pond to collect the decoys. It was working fabulously, until we got the hood under water. Then we got a 'bang' and the engine stopped. Dang, we had to wade and swim to get the rest of the decoys. At the time everyone of us was cracking up and we had a hard time trying to hang on to the decoys. One of the guys went back up to the barn to get the tractor and chain, which we used to tow the truck back up to the farm. Unfortunately for us there was a 'pet' 300 pound pig that was out with us and he was causing a real ruckus, going after the ducks, decoys, our snacks, and otherwise getting in the way of the tractor. We finally ran him off with a set of dingy oars and were able to get packed up. The place was a mess though, and it took until past dark to clean up, and we had to run the pig off several times. Once we got the truck to the shop we found out about hydrolock. Hmmm, it seems like using a motor vehicle, much less a Corvette, as a submarine is not a really good thing to do. After this we trained the pig to fetch the decoys.

 

Uuuhhhhh... okay.

I've had a vararam on my '02 since July of '02 with zero problems. As everyone else said... just don't drive into ponds to get the decoys and you'll be fine. Hmmmm... maybe not everyone said that... but you get the point.

 

 

I'm very satisfied with mine. got an 05 with it and absolutely no problems in the heavy rain. just keep it out of deep water!

 

You can hydrolock your engine with the stock input if you're not careful. I have a buddy that it happened to when he was preparing to come out of a parking lot & a bus went past during a thunderstorm. The bus made a huge wave which washed up & bam....hydrolock. His car only had a couple of thousand miles on it. Plus he was 300 miles from home.
Now I have a Vararam in my C6 and had one in my C5 too. I drove back from New England to PA last September in Tropical Storm Hannah. It was the worst rain I've ever driven through...period. Scared, yes! Problems, none. I just avoided deep water as best I could.

 

you know, if you run around in a thunderstorm, and point your finger up, you might get hit by lightning as well...

 

Wait... wait... wait... what's this nonsense? I better write that down...