Rusty air filter, dead MAF, learn from my mistakes!

Well, I've completely humbled myself. I've been having random problems that weren't severe, until I had a MAF sensor short out. Luckily I found one at a junk yard for $40. I hope it lasts. But why did it short?

Randomly, on rainy days, on the highway, the car would choke. The computer threw some random misfire codes. I did some forum searching, and the suggestion was to replace the plug wires. Done, no problem for 3-8 months. Great!

The snow here has turned into a salt brine, so the wheel-wells get tons of spray. I was pretty sure that this was the cause of my MAF problem, but the car behaved just like it did before I replaced the plug wires. Got my handy code reader, P0102 and P0103, low and high MAF voltage. I'm guessing the high voltage was from the short, and the low was from it being dead. Luckily I got home without it stalling. Got out the handy code reader and the airflow read 0 g/s at idle through 3k RPM, so I was pretty sure the MAF was toast. I'm dissecting it in the basement now, but the replacement is in place.

So, why am I sucking water through my intake? Time to remove the wheel-well and see what's up. The first picture is what I found, a completely rusted cone filter. This is really nasty. I don't know how any air got through here, but it sure explains some other issues. Wherever the car was sucking air, it got water too.

Does anyone have any suggestions for sealing up the wheel-well so that water doesn't get in there? Obviously I'm getting a new filter, but that and my new MAF will endure the same fate unless I prevent the nasty salty brine from getting in there, rusting the filter, clogging it, and shorting out my MAF sensor.

So what else did this cause. Hmm, could be my massive oil consumption problem. I couldn't figure out why the PCV was flowing so much more oil into the intake than any other car I've seen. I put in a water separator for an air compressor to solve the problem. It has done a really good job, but the can is full by the time i get through 3/4 tank of gas. Mileage hasn't been that great either, but Pittsburgh sucks for traffic and hills.

These pictures were incredibly eye-opening for me. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes. Hopefully, someone can help me figure out a solution too. Any suggestions are welcome. I prefer not to use the stock intake, because it sux.

Thanks.

Dude, what kind of filter is that? I have a X3 CAI that is goes into the wheel well also. My filter is plastic and I think it's a cotton filter. I have not had any rust on the filter and have had only to wash it off with water. I have a AEM bypass on this CAI as well. I have had this setup for 2 years now with no problems. If you notice the pipe is not rusting, it's because it's designed to protect again rust. The filter looks like it's crap and you should get a different brand.

See, this is where I'm at with this... Does living somewhere where briny salty nasty justify the use of CAI vs. SRI? I would think dealing with this kind of mess would justify just using an SRI where the filter would be away from all the mess & just take the what? .5 hp loss due to the intake air temp being a little higher. I'd have an SRI or oem for winter & CAI for summer. You do it with tire/wheels right? Why not intakes too?

Well I would say yes, but look at the intake tube. It's metal and not rusting. I think the filter he got is not designed well, or did not have any protective coating on it.

My personal feeling is, if your not going with a CAI, stay stock and remove the resonators. I mean really, what is the point of a SRI versus a stock intake with resonator remove? The air coming in from a SRI is hot and thus not much air is going to be able to be sucked into the throttle body. The OEM at least gets cool air, but is not straight forward. This is to have a drop in filter and protect against water. The CAI also sucks in cold air, but has a bigger not restrictive pipe. To protect against water I have a AEM bypass on it. The only time I would see a SRI being necessary is on a supercharger/turbo setup. The move air you can suck in the better.

Maybe a solution would be getting a filter cover. Here is the difference between you and me. I have a Protege5 which has fog lights. There could be a design difference in the bumper that has more filter exposure than mine. The fogs act like blockers and the fine cracks let in the air. Infact the area in my wheel well is fairly clean. Well my filter is maybe of plastic and I think that makes a difference too probably. I am unsure from the picture as to whether the filter screen rusted too or if it's just picking up the rust from the top part.

I would also take apart the tube and make sure there is no rust or rusting going on inside of the tube. Have you change the oil? This might help get out the junk. Good luck.

Man I've played around with all kinda different variations of oem/cai/sri & mileage or pwr were not noticeably any better or worse so that's kinda where I'm at with it. That pipe in the pic is aluminum, it tarnishes, it will not rust. That is a good example tho of why I don't prefer the air filter down in that area without like you said, the water block thing, & doing anything possible to keep the wheel well nasty out of that area. A cai without throttle body coolant bypass isn't really gonna be much different than having an SRI with the TB coolant bypass being done. A K&N drycharger filter wrap would also be a good idea for a cai filter down there. I use one on mine just to help keep microdust/dampness out. The thing sheds water like a ducks back, you can pour water on it & I doubt the filter would even get wet. Submersed & anything sucks tho. The filter service & inspection hassle thing on cai is also something to consider - outta site, outta mind thing which is probably how his ended up the way it did.

holllllly s***. thats ug.

I say go back to stock and be done with it. Do you need whatever horsepower gain there may or may not be while driving around in the snow and slush anyway?

You should look into an AEM dryflow flilter, the casing is plastic so at least it won't rust.

Thanks for all the responses.

i12drivemyMP5 said:

See, this is where I'm at with this... Does living somewhere where briny salty nasty justify the use of CAI vs. SRI? I would think dealing with this kind of mess would justify just using an SRI where the filter would be away from all the mess & just take the what? .5 hp loss due to the intake air temp being a little higher. I'd have an SRI or oem for winter & CAI for summer. You do it with tire/wheels right? Why not intakes too?

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Good point. However, I get lots of salt water in the engine bay, which is causing my headers to rust (through high temp powdercoat), all my bolts to rust, and even my strut towers to rust.

Magus said:

Well I would say yes, but look at the intake tube. It's metal and not rusting. I think the filter he got is not designed well, or did not have any protective coating on it.

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It's aluminum, so no rust.

Beau M said:

I say go back to stock and be done with it. Do you need whatever horsepower gain there may or may not be while driving around in the snow and slush anyway?

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I mainly drive the car in the winter, and the salt here is terrible. They don't every plow roads, just put down tons and tons of salt. Because of that, I'll consider putting the stock parts back in. I'll also consider converting to a shorter intake, with the filter in the engine bay. I've had cheap filters rust in the engine bay, but never ever like the pictures above.

bucksatan said:

You should look into an AEM dryflow flilter, the casing is plastic so at least it won't rust.

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I'll definitely do that, thanks!

I just bought the AEM filter. Advance had one in stock. What luck! Hopefully without metal, there won't be a rust problem. I'll be better about checking it and cleaning it when necessary.

This still doesn't solve the problem of nasty salty brine getting through the wheel well. I think I'll start with some weather stripping for doors (the foam roll type) at the top of the wheel well. I don't think it will be a problem if the air comes from ahead of the wheel.

Do this

^^ You just wanted to show off your cool, rust proof, ghetto intake again, didn't you?

If you're talkin' to me, Bucksatan, this intake is not bulletproof, nor it is proof that i wanted to show off.

But! This intake as gone in puddles of all kind, snow storm, rain storm, sand on rocky roads, it has eat bugs of all kind: and it survived!

It's not chrome or gold plated or in carbon fibre and it dosen't have a super cone filter created by NASA but it has done it's job!

And for HP gain, as for any intake of all kind, it done nothing but a deeper sound when I'm taking the revs higher than 3K. Anyway, even if I put headers, intake, full exhaust, and all bolt on possible (except for a turbo), this car will always be slower than my RIP, all rotten, black and chrome '93 Altima.

So for the point of rusted air filter, change it for whatever you want except for one made in metal.

Dude, I had a 1995 altima, blue green. Great car till everything started falling apart, engine, body and suspension. It was decently quick and held the road damn well although the steering felt super light.



You can even see the rust at the back and the antenna that stopped going all the way down.

And I wasn't insulting your intake, I think it is pretty cool and resourcesful.

I run a injen CAI w/a AEM driy flow filter all year around... it goes through snow, dirt, rain, salt.bah, blah, blah...clean it about every 2 - 3 months or as needed.

If anything... just get a plastic re-washable non-oil filter and stay on it. Like everything in our car... all you have to do is stay on her.

BTW - that is crazy

Lol your altima doesnt look that bad.

Fisrt thing mine done is
- Rear subrame crumbles in pieces, had to reform it and weld and stuff

- Wheel fenders at the back were so rusted, I got to make some cheap ones with fibre glass and...cardboard

-And what killed it, I don't have pictures damnit, but did a paint thing
The inner suspension tower ripped in 2 cutting one of my brake lines so only the hood and the front fender was keeping the wheel from whatever it could do!

-Other than that: engine,tranny worked as a charm, some pointless things normal to any car but damn it looked sexy all black with chrome and the wing...it was the SE with LSD and stuff




lol..resourceful