Water in air box

[DboyATL]

Hey guys I have a 2020 1500 and recently installed a S&B CAI about 2 months ago. When I first installed it I noticed a few drops of water after the first rain so I put the plug on the side thinking that was the problem and so far haven’t noticed any water but today I popped the hood to check something and there is a decent puddle of water at the bottom of the box it’s been raining pretty bad and I may have drove through a few small puddles on the street but nothing more than 2-3 inches. Is this pretty common or should I worry about it and is it something I damaged while installing that’s causing this?

 

[crazykid1994]

More than likely it’s from driving through the puddles and it’s splashing up. Can you share a picture of your intake around the front where the actual opening to fresh air is?

 

[Dan90]

Sucking water into the engine definitely is not OK, but water in the air box doesn't necessarily mean into the engine. I've had an S&B intake for some time and I see traces of water inside the box similar to what you describe and have never had any issues. Take it off roading through some decent depths of water also. I try not to get too aggressive with splashing water but it gets up there. Especially with my pre-runner style front bumper and cut fender liners, not water resistant friendly!

There is a drain hole so you shouldn't have "standing" water in the air box.

I don't worry about the water if that is any consolation...

I also have the Blackstone oil reports that come back "clean", no evidence of water contamination...

Hope this helps. Love the sound of the S&B intake!

 

[DboyATL]

More than likely it’s from driving through the puddles and it’s splashing up. Can you share a picture of your intake around the front where the actual opening to fresh air is?

Yeah as soon as I get some time I’ll try to get some pics thanks for the fast reply I been too busy to check back on here didn’t think anyone would reply so fast

 

[DboyATL]

Sucking water into the engine definitely is not OK, but water in the air box doesn't necessarily mean into the engine. I've had an S&B intake for some time and I see traces of water inside the box similar to what you describe and have never had any issues. Take it off roading through some decent depths of water also. I try not to get too aggressive with splashing water but it gets up there. Especially with my pre-runner style front bumper and cut fender liners, not water resistant friendly!

There is a drain hole so you shouldn't have "standing" water in the air box.

I don't worry about the water if that is any consolation...

I also have the Blackstone oil reports that come back "clean", no evidence of water contamination...

Hope this helps. Love the sound of the S&B intake!

I know all air boxes usually do have a drain hole but I don’t recall seeing one on the s&b, there definetly was standing water in there for basically the whole day but it was less and less of it every time I checked. I will try my best to avoid puddles from now on but I was worried that if I were to really get on the throttle (which I do all the time) that it would slowly keep sucking up water and eventually get into the engine.

 

[crackerjack1957]

Little water sucked in engine will not hurt anything.......use to pour a little water down the carburetor back in the day to remove carbon from combustion chambers for the ones that never pushed the pedal to the metal.........LoL

 

[Burla]

This is the reason I never even consider a CAI for my hemi, my oem takes air from the perfect place, in fender well protected from water and dust. I have had an air filter to replace my factory air filter whenever it needs it, I live on a dirt road, it is still like new, lol. 11 years, I still have a replacement but I'm not gonna just replace it to replace it if my oem isnt dirty, lol. I'd get one of those rain covers that you see on a lot of cai systems if it were me. Take a look at rain shields, I know afe has them, I assume sb does as well.

The filter is not meant to be soaked in water, not gonna be good if that happens. air flow will suffer.

 

[crackerjack1957]

So true on the water damage on the filter Burla

 

[Dan90]

This is the reason I never even consider a CAI for my hemi, my oem takes air from the perfect place, in fender well protected from water and dust. I have had an air filter to replace my factory air filter whenever it needs it, I live on a dirt road, it is still like new, lol. 11 years, I still have a replacement but I'm not gonna just replace it to replace it if my oem isnt dirty, lol. I'd get one of those rain covers that you see on a lot of cai systems if it were me. Take a look at rain shields, I know afe has them, I assume sb does as well.

The filter is not meant to be soaked in water, not gonna be good if that happens. air flow will suffer.

This assumes your fender wells are protected from water and dust . Mine are pretty well exposed with the pre runner style bumper.

But yes I do agree with your point from a stock setup perspective. SB does take the air from the fender well, same as stock... just sounds better doing it .

 

[crazykid1994]

This assumes your fender wells are protected from water and dust . Mine are pretty well exposed with the pre runner style bumper.

But yes I do agree with your point from a stock setup perspective. SB does take the air from the fender well, same as stock... just sounds better doing it .

My fender wells are cut for my prerunner bumper and I had to get rid of the s&b due to water getting into the air box. I did have the water sock over the filter but still did not feel comfortable. I currently have a stock air box back in that I plan on adding an aev snorkel to in the future for full water protection.

 

[Dan90]

My fender wells are cut for my prerunner bumper and I had to get rid of the s&b due to water getting into the air box. I did have the water sock over the filter but still did not feel comfortable. I currently have a stock air box back in that I plan on adding an aev snorkel to in the future for full water protection.

:O I better get my **** together. I take it you haven't noticed any water in your stock air box?

I wonder how much the water sleeve restricts air flow.

 

[crazykid1994]

:O I better get my **** together. I take it you haven't noticed any water in your stock air box?

I wonder how much the water sleeve restricts air flow.

I had no noticeable difference with their water sock/prefilter. I get a tad bit in the stock air box under severe road conditions with my fender liners being cut but that’s also why I got more water in my s&b box.

 

[Dan90]

Just looked at the S&B site. 3-5% reduction in air flow, but say you make this up over the life of the filter because it keeps it more clean for longer than without.

 

[crazykid1994]

Just looked at the S&B site. 3-5% reduction in air flow, but say you make this up over the life of the filter because it keeps it more clean for longer than without.

The filter flows well enough that I doubt 5% reduction is going to be anything noticeable since it’s rated way over stock airflow anyways. Either way you are still above stock. I couldn’t find any pictures of mine but the extra intake tube that drops down behind the bumper was exposed after cutting my fender liners and the only way to run the aev snorkel is the stock air box. I just swapped to the 6.4 filter since it’s thicker. If your fender liners are not cut I would say buy the sock and I would not be super concerned anymore unless you are driving through flooded areas at a high rate of speed