Saud2k

normally i never drive my car in the rain...as
1- the car is a bit iffy to drive when wet
2- i dont trust anyone driving when the roads are slippery
3- iv got a AEM CAI and i dont want any hydrolocking in my car

so wednesday morning i wake up and its cloudy and the roads are wet from last nights rain, so i took my chances and decided get in my car and drive to college cause i have important midterm revisions.

so i get on the highway and it was ok...no rain, until suddenly the highway was blocked by traffic ,this is when i hear on the radio that this highway is blocked because of a truck that rolled over.

so i wait in the very heavy traffic that is almost not moving...then what i feared happened...heavy rain. it rains for half an hour while i just sat there in traffic and watch the roads being flooded with water (our sewage system is terrible, because it was design 40 years ago when we never got any rain).

this is when i decided that i couldnt wait any longer...i took the emergency lane until i reached the next exit so that i go back home. im driving ever so carefully and slowly, i reached an exit less than a mile from my home and this is were i realized that the exit i was driving through was FLOODED with water i mean the water was up to the curb. halfway through it, the car started shaking and the rpms were slowly going down...shit then the worst thing happened...the engine died.

i used the cars forward momentum to reach a safe place to put my car, i put on my hazard lights and called the local garage to get me a flat bed as soon as possible. long story short, the mechanic was an asshole who didnt know anything (he told me to try and start the car multiple of times).
i just told him to change the sparkplugs ,change the oil and oil filter ,clean the injectors, brought him the stock intake to install and started praying for the best.

after about 2 hours of working on the car , i fired her up and the engine started!!
it turned out that the water got inside the CAI, inside the throttlebody, inside the injectors, but not inside the engine...i checked every detail in the car , the car seems fine but im really paranoid now.
thanks god this didnt turn out to be a very costly engine rebuild

so my question is, is there any other thing i should check in the car or engine?, could anything happen to the engine after what happened? and what else should i replace?
the car is fine now, and im driving her again, but im really worried something could happen in the next few days or so..
LESSON LEARNED...i wont drive the car if there is a cloud in the sky!!! or without a bypass valve

Mikes256

Dude, How deep was the puddle?@! The convertible top wouldn't be your best bet in deep sea diving, not to mention the fish scratching the paint as they swim by.

Saud2k

it was half way up to the bumper....im lowered BTW
CAI + water to 1/2 the bumper = disaster!

REVHIR

this reminds me of the time that my C5 corvette got hydrolocked... it was a horrible expirence trust me. My oil pan cracked it got so much water in it. The engine was burning this smoke out of it and it stuck like burnted oil. I was depressed for a month after that, but at least i got my 96 cavilier after that and thus adopted a daily driver that actually does me much good. I get scared as hell now even if i don't have a CAI when i see water that is deep. Ill just stop the car and walk. Thank you!

dolebludger

If your car is running fine now, I would say that you did "dodge the bullet" --- this time. But if you have one of those AEM CAI's that hang low in the engine compartment, I'd consider something else if I were you. For just one example, my CAI mods can be found (pics and description) in the Sponsor Group Buys section on page 27 of the thread entitled "AUT radiator cooling plate and CAI". Mine won't hydrolock, unless you drive through high water at high speed (in which case "stock" might hydrolock). If you don't like my mods, there are a bunch of others that won't get you into hydrolock problems. It is time for you to switch

Another reason for you to switch from an AEM that hangs the filter low in the engine bay is this. While considering intake mods, I did consider this CAI. I hung a thermometer in the approximate place of air intake from this low-hanging AEM and drove for 2 miles. I checked the thermometer. It had gone up to 130 degrees and had broken! I have no way of knowing how much hotter the air had become there. But this did tell me that nothing that drew air from that area could be accurately called a "cool air intake."

Thanks,
Richard

aronparsons

Yep. The small gain in performance isn't worth it if you have to worry about destorying your engine. I was always worried with my CRX that I would hydrolock; eventually I just switched to a short-ram. Really I should have just stayed with the stock intake, but whatever.

Jeff In DFW

Water would not get to your fuel injectors thru the air intake.

If you had sucked water into the engine, it is dead.

My guess is you got water into the ignition system causing it to die. That is why it runs fine now.

dolebludger

IMO, the stock air intake on the s2k (and on many other Honda models) is a design defect, as the intake is sealed in the engine compartment and located right above the radiator, where it can draw only hot air. But this does not mean that the solution is to mount the filter bare low in the engine bay where it can intake water, and where the air is not cool anyway. In contrast, the air intake on my Mercedes C 320 has TWO intake "horns" mounted to 4" pipes, and the "horns" are beside and in front of the radiator just behind the grill. Hey, no mods needed here!

But the s2k presents a problem, as there is not the physical room for such a system. And it gets hot in Kuwait as it does here in Oklahoma, and heat soak is a problem with the stock s2k intake. But there ARE solutions that don't risk hydrolock. I gave references to a place on this board to view my own solution. No, I haven't had it on a dyno, so I can't swear that it makes more power. But I feel that it does. And what I do know is that it increases fuel efficiency by about 2 mpg. And, if you don't like this set-up, there is the K&N FPIK that is also inexpensive and will not hydrolock.

IMO, the low intake area of the AEM CAI involved here is a disaster waiting to happen. And with so many alternative solutions to the s2k's inherent heat soak problem, why risk it?

Saud2k

to tell you the truth, im sticking with the stock intake for now u im sure that the rain season is over, after than im likely to get a comptech CAI

jakub2000

Talk about that man..in 2001 during December, we went to the beach every day. Now in Nov 2005 is so freking cold in the evenings,that you can straight away forget driving with the top down. The first storm and rain went down last week In 2001 it did not rain the whole year

On the other hand,its good to see a change in the climate, isn't it?
I hope your car did not get damaged, stick to the stock airbox as you mentioned and put the bad boy back in after April is over