GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Whats Hydrolock and whats the chances of having it happen once I get a CAI?

hydrolock is something that seldoms happens and is blown way out of proportion. it occurs when water saturates your air filter and then sucked into the engine. this might occur more commonly if you had a full cai on your vibe/matrix... and it was submersed in water...if you do a search on cai or cold air intake you will find about 50 threads on this topic already. lots and lots of info.

It happens when water gets into the intake. If too much water gets sucked into the engine, the engine can seize, or even worse, piston rods, the crank shift, or other engine parts can be broken. How?Water can't be compressed like air and fuel can. If you try to force a cylindrical object into a bucket of water identically sized, you can't compress that water as you can air. You can only push so far before the water finds another way out, whether it be up the sides, or by cracking or breaking the bucket. Think of that as your engine.As to the chances of that happening, well, not very likely IMHO. Dozens of us have intakes, and not one person has had problems with water. It is well protected by the fog light assembly and the splash guard.In other wards, fear not, install one.

Sounds good, cant wait to get one. Now I have to decide which one to get.

The only true cases of hydrolock that I've ever heard of involved cars that were in a flood. Unless the CAI was completely submersed in water so that it sucked all water and no air into the engine while it was running, I really can't see how this would happen. If small amounts of water were drawn into the CAI while driving in the rain, I would think that the water would evaporate with the heat as it got near/into the engine and the water vapor just blown out the exhaust. Would cause the engine to run rough until it all cleared out, but would be far from hydrolocking.

if you are really worried about this they make valves that prevent this

It's rare but it can happen. Some years ago in Arizona I was driving behind a dump truck in a real monsoon. As I followed him into a big dip on a main road in Mesa, I realized too late that the water was over his rear axle! The waves broke over the hood of my Camaro, and as I pulled out the other side the back end washed sideways in the flood. I got under an overpass, popped the hood and found red mud all over and around the engine, but inside the air filter was dry. A lucky escape, but it would have been fatal to a CAI-equipped Vibe, with it's low-mounted air intake!