I have a friend who actually bought a bypass valve, but when he realized that he needed to CUT HIS INTAKE TUBE IN HALF to install it he said screw it and sent it back. AEM even had to do a recall on the bypass valves because they were breaking and getting sucked into the engine (actually, I think this only happened to one or two people, but still...). AEM fixed the problem with a clip.

For those who don't understand how it works, all it is is a sleeve with a gauze filter around the center and a valve under the filter. When the end of the air intake is completely submerged, the change in pressure causes the valve (basically a flap of sorts under the filter) to open and pulls air from the engine compartment. The problem is that it doesn't work very well in the first place. The valve can get pulled open just by stomping on the gas, and the hot air from the engine compartment defeats the purpose of having a cold air intake. It's just a gimmick for paranoid people.

 

Exactly. So you are supposed to install higher in the intake tract, in line with the throttle body, and cut open your $200 cold air intake?

Ok, Ill take two.....not!

 

which is why I started out the very first responce like I did...


you don't NEED a bypass valve at all......

you guys should know by now that I am not one to hammer ANYONE about anything....especially someone new.....I actually thought he would respond by asking WHY I thought he didnt' NEED one.....

 

Hey you guys! thought you'd like to read this. I'd like to put in a link, but I'm kinda illiterate on the computer, so bare with me Search mp5online's forum for "vapor lock" and follow the 1st link(Ron C), there's a very informative article about AEM's bypass valve.

 

for those of you who are worried about sucking in water out of a puddle in the road but need that mega hp boost a CAI gives you ......



now you can drive though 3 or even 4 feet (1 meter for our friends in the great white north) of water and still suck in that fresh, dry, fridged power boosting air

that would look phat sitting up next to the windsheild of my P5
the everyone would know my **** was custom, i wouldn't even have to open the hood!

 

I've seen a snorkel/stovepipe type thing like that on an MR2 once

 

umm so how many inch of water do u guys think a lowered car with injen CAI can hold before water sucks into engine and ruin it? (just for future reference to U-turn when i see an estimated range of water ahead of me...in California)

 

wouldnt it seem the best thing to do would be to look at your car, maybe even measure the distance the air filter is from the ground, and make your own decision as to what kind of puddles you should drive through?

 

why couldnt someone just swap their cai into a short ram whenever they *think* they may have a problem? i know you can remove a section of the injen, so wouldnt this be a better overall solution when going out in a hurricane? i often drive to areas that i do not know well, and i drive quite a bit (30,000k in 17 mo), so i get a little leary sometimes of roads being flooded when it REALLY rains.