We received a call the other day from a customer who drove his 2003-2005 Dodge SRT-4 through deep water and ingested water into his engine. Now, before all of you who have intakes on your car get really worried, keep in mind that in order to ingest water into your motor you need to basically submerge your filter in water. A light spray of water onto your filter will not create problems.
For those of you that want the most power out of your cars, a cold air intake is usually the best way to pull in colder air from outside the engine bay. We have also seen dyno tested differences of 4-7 horsepower OVER short ram intakes with cold air intakes.
There is one trade off with cold air intakes though, the filters on most cold air intakes are placed low, and if you drive through deep water you are at risk.
Heres a quick listing of cars that we offer parts for, and the intakes you have to be careful with
HIGH RISK :
2003-2005 Neon SRT-4 – the AEM cold air intake places the filter the lowest, and it also makes the most amount of power out of all intakes tested.
1995-1999 Neon – the Iceman intake places the filter very low, and is at risk of water ingestion if you drive through deep water.
Low risk
2005-2010 Cobalt 2.2/Supercharged/Turbocharged
2000-2005 Neon
No risk
2008-2010 Caliber SRT-4 (the intake setup on the Caliber is VERY high compared to the ground)
Now, if you have a Neon, or Neon SRT-4 and you have an Iceman air intake, or AEM cold air intake, just be careful about driving when its raining really hard. If you cant tell how deep water is on the road, dont drive through it!
