Air intakes and car washes

[Roarbomb]

I remember seeing comments here and there about car washes and intakes.
I understand that it’s blasphemy to not was your car yourself, but that isn’t much of an option for me.
Does anyone run their car through an auto car wash with aftermarket intakes? I have AP and am curious to know how “iffy” it would be to drive through a car wash.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

The touchless car wash I go to got recently ripped out, but I went to it all the time. You WILL get some water in various places under the hood, including into the intake. However, it's not an amount any greater or worse than driving in heavy rain on the freeway, so you'll be fine

 

[nhcowboy28]

I remember seeing comments here and there about car washes and intakes.
I understand that it’s blasphemy to not was your car yourself, but that isn’t much of an option for me.
Does anyone run their car through an auto car wash with aftermarket intakes? I have AP and am curious to know how “iffy” it would be to drive through a car wash.

Oh it’s much worse than driving through the rain. At least at my auto wash. I’ve tried taping off the entire hood sides. Didn’t help. Literally 1/2 - 1 inch standing water.

Figured out it is coming in the front not the sides (likely the snorkel).

I just keep a couple of MF towels and soak it up from the bottom of the intake hosing before leaving the parking lot.

 

[Roarbomb]

Figured out it is coming in the front not the sides (likely the snorkel).

I just keep a couple of MF towels and soak it up from the bottom of the intake hosing before leaving the parking lot.

Just stock snorkels?

And do you mean housing, or like inside the actual hoses attached to the turbos?

 

[ZyroXZ2]

Oh it’s much worse than driving through the rain. At least at my auto wash. I’ve tried taping off the entire hood sides. Didn’t help. Literally 1/2 - 1 inch standing water.

Figured out it is coming in the front not the sides (likely the snorkel).

I just keep a couple of MF towels and soak it up from the bottom of the intake hosing before leaving the parking lot.

Ignore me, removed my message. Didn't realize he was on stock snorkels.

Replying to his following message, I don't have standing water in my intakes after the touchless car wash, so I do NOT think it's the stock snorkels... lmao

 

[nhcowboy28]

Just stock snorkels?

And do you mean housing, or like inside the actual hoses attached to the turbos?

Stock snorkels in the grille. So water is sitting in the bottom of the AP filter housing.

 

[Roarbomb]

Stock snorkels in the grille. So water is sitting in the bottom of the AP filter housing.

Ok thanks, glad to hear you have AP and other than clearing water out of shields, no issues.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

Stock snorkels in the grille. So water is sitting in the bottom of the AP filter housing.

Hmmmm... Given I use a touchless, you'd think I'd experience the same thing (those things blast water everywhere obviously). I've got another theory for you: one of my fake hood vents leaks into the engine bay when there's a ton of rain. Check your fire blanket: do you see signs of dried water in a circle with more dried water dead center like it's dripping through? I've had water come through my passenger side fake hood vent, and the fire blanket puddles it where, you guessed it, the intake box is, and I've had it drip onto my weather stripping and a few drops have found their way onto the filter before.

 

[nhcowboy28]

M

Hmmmm... Given I use a touchless, you'd think I'd experience the same thing (those things blast water everywhere obviously). I've got another theory for you: one of my fake hood vents leaks into the engine bay when there's a ton of rain. Check your fire blanket: do you see signs of dried water in a circle with more dried water dead center like it's dripping through? I've had water come through my passenger side fake hood vent, and the fire blanket puddles it where, you guessed it, the intake box is, and I've had it drip onto my weather stripping and a few drops have found their way onto the filter before.

My touchless carwash I think is broken. The moving nozzles from the top don’t go back and forth. And when it makes a 90 degree to get the front (and comes down)... I think it just floods my snorkels. Lol.

I haven’t noticed any other areas with water.

My air filters do look wet right after, but they dry out quick on the way home and I was blasted by this forum some time ago about being worried about a wet filter. Apparently I’m a jack ass for worrying about such things. Oh well.

Also note that the newer AP intakes have a drain hole predrilled. I just haven’t had time to yank these off and drill.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

M

My touchless carwash I think is broken. The moving nozzles from the top don’t go back and forth. And when it makes a 90 degree to get the front (and comes down)... I think it just floods my snorkels. Lol.

I haven’t noticed any other areas with water.

My air filters do look wet right after, but they dry out quick on the way home and I was blasted by this forum some time ago about being worried about a wet filter. Apparently I’m a jack ass for worrying about such things. Oh well.

Also note that the newer AP intakes have a drain hole predrilled. I just haven’t had time to yank these off and drill.

Soooo... you checked your fire blanket for signs of dried puddles of water, or...?

I wouldn't think your touchless would be blasting that much more water anywhere than the one I used to go to (they're replacing it with a regular brushed auto car wash, and I was like "okay, well, nice knowing y'all" lmfao) regardless of how broken it is, lol

 

[nhcowboy28]

Soooo... you checked your fire blanket for signs of dried puddles of water, or...?

I wouldn't think your touchless would be blasting that much more water anywhere than the one I used to go to (they're replacing it with a regular brushed auto car wash, and I was like "okay, well, nice knowing y'all" lmfao) regardless of how broken it is, lol

I’ll take a video for ya next time.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

I’ll take a video for ya next time.

Side note: you said there's a pre-DRILLED drain hole, but that you haven't had time to remove the plug and DRILL... Which is it? lmao

It's also surprising to have a drain hole in an intake box. Methinks they also ran into leaky fake hood vents and actually planned for it (there are no drain holes in the K&N, though the gaps in the metal at the bottom serve as drains anyway). The factory one also has no drain holes, or not that were visible to me. The drain hole will also draw in a small amount of super hot air from the bay, too...

 

[Roarbomb]

Side note: you said there's a pre-DRILLED drain hole, but that you haven't had time to remove the plug and DRILL... Which is it? lmao

It's also surprising to have a drain hole in an intake box. Methinks they also ran into leaky fake hood vents and actually planned for it (there are no drain holes in the K&N, though the gaps in the metal at the bottom serve as drains anyway). The factory one also has no drain holes, or not that were visible to me. The drain hole will also draw in a small amount of super hot air from the bay, too...

Our AP ones are first runs and do not have drain holes. He was talking about adding it.

There really isn’t a gap till a few inches up for water to drain out of. The factory don’t have drain holes, but it’s also a closed system.

 

[Manaz]

Our AP ones are first runs and do not have drain holes. He was talking about adding it.

There really isn’t a gap till a few inches up for water to drain out of. The factory don’t have drain holes, but it’s also a closed system.

No airbox is a closed system - it must have a way for air to get in to get it, get through the filter, and obviously a way for air to get out to the engine. If air can get in and out, so (largely) can water.

I'd be surprised if the stock air intake system on the Stinger doesn't have drain holes (or at least a draining option if not specific holes) in it - most every other stock "air box" car air intake system I've come across does, because hydrolock (hydrostatic lock) if the car ingests a significant amount of water via the air intakes will generally kill an internal combustion engine dead.

Really, as long as the filter doesn't end up submerged, you should be OK. Ideally, you don't want a lot of water getting onto the filter at all (it'll mess with an oiled filter, and paper element filters don't allow much airflow when they're wet), but a bit of standing water in the "box" shouldn't be an issue as long as it's not touching the filter. Adding a drain hole (or two) in a sensible location won't have a significant negative impact on the intake solution (the amount of air that might bypass the preferred air path via a ~5mm wide drainage hole is insubstantial).

 

[Angel]

I remember seeing comments here and there about car washes and intakes.
I understand that it’s blasphemy to not was your car yourself, but that isn’t much of an option for me.
Does anyone run their car through an auto car wash with aftermarket intakes? I have AP and am curious to know how “iffy” it would be to drive through a car wash.

Just drove through a car wash with AP intake and car hydro locked and engine is blown.

Getting car towed to dealer now!!!!!

LOL I am kidding never had any issues.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

No airbox is a closed system - it must have a way for air to get in to get it, get through the filter, and obviously a way for air to get out to the engine. If air can get in and out, so (largely) can water.

I'd be surprised if the stock air intake system on the Stinger doesn't have drain holes (or at least a draining option if not specific holes) in it - most every other stock "air box" car air intake system I've come across does, because hydrolock (hydrostatic lock) if the car ingests a significant amount of water via the air intakes will generally kill an internal combustion engine dead.

Really, as long as the filter doesn't end up submerged, you should be OK. Ideally, you don't want a lot of water getting onto the filter at all (it'll mess with an oiled filter, and paper element filters don't allow much airflow when they're wet), but a bit of standing water in the "box" shouldn't be an issue as long as it's not touching the filter. Adding a drain hole (or two) in a sensible location won't have a significant negative impact on the intake solution (the amount of air that might bypass the preferred air path via a ~5mm wide drainage hole is insubstantial).

I think you really misread my post to explain what you did, lmao

If enough water was getting in to submerge the filter, a drain hole would have never prevented it...

 

[Manaz]

I aimed to provide clarity for those who may not fully understand the concepts is all.

I agree that once you submerge the intake, you're cactus irrespective (if the engine is running).

 

[Roarbomb]

I aimed to provide clarity for those who may not fully understand the concepts is all.

I agree that once you submerge the intake, you're cactus irrespective (if the engine is running).

Bottom line is a car wash should be no issue. Even if the filters get wet, as long as they aren’t under water there is no risk of hydro lock.

I’ve driven in rain with them and the filters were wet to the touch but the shields were dry.

Do I have this correct?

 

[Manaz]

That is my reading. If something were to happen and you had aftermarket intakes/CAI/etc, Kia would have to prove that they're substantially different in the sense of preventing water ingestion to the stock ones in order to refuse a warranty claim.

 

[sym]

I might have been the one to make the original comment the OP referred to.

I have the SSR intakes which have the filters right behind the front grille. My concern wasn't with water ingress, but it is two fold. One, the soaps / sealants repeatedly soaking and drying the filter would eventually clog it up. Not a big problem for the engine beyond a loss of performance. The second was that touchless carwashes use a strong acid or base (or both) to do the cleaning, and could dissolve contaminants trapped by the filter and let them move into your engine. Again, probably not a big deal, but those contaminants could do damage over time.

My car is ceramic coated so I just go to the self service car washes and do a quick wash and rinse and then drive off. I do a good detail and apply sealant every 6 months. I just did this recently and it looks great. We'll have to see what the spring showers and pollen (and bugs...) have to say about that though.