AEM bypass valve - no good?

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IntegraRC

Junior Member
hey guys, sorry if this has been posted before or if this is in the wrong section, but i need advice quick!

I had an AEM cold air intake with the bypass valve for about 25,000 miles, and then i open my hood to find this:

AEMBV1.jpg


AEMBV2.JPG


This completely broke in half and is useless. On top of that, the K&N filter's material has been eaten away somehow! Yes, I have used the filter charger before, and I never race or even drive fast. Is this something people have seen before? I mean, it's only been 25,000 miles, and it's been maintained at a honda dealer every time.

The reason I need advice quick is because I am moving to Texas (from Pennsylvania) in 5 days, and I need replacements. My question is, should I replace these with genuine K&N and AEM parts? Or are these going to break again. I've been looking online and found this:

Universal Bypass Valve

and this

Air Filter


I know these are cheap ebay parts, but are they ok to use? I never race or anything anyways, and it looks like the bypass valve is made from metal, instead of AEM's plastic one. A replacement K&N and AEM valve will run something like $100, but if I can get away with getting these cheaper ebay parts while being safe, then I will. Any advice is very much appreciated! Thanks for reading guys. Again, I'm sorry if this has been posted before or if this is in the wrong place.
 
AEM has been tested by several independent (Read: Compact Car mags) testers and found to be mostly junk. The AEM guys report great findings (I remember an NSX at WOT with it's air intake in a tank of water... But I guess that doesn't always work)

I think the whole things are kindofa rip off. If your car needed it, then Honda would have put one in.

If you're running the AEM ground-line intake pack (Which, by saying "K&N" I don't think you are) you should take two steps. One, Remove the entire unit. Two, put it in a box and send it to me for proper disposal.

Only if you're running some whacked out ground-induction air piping would I even worry about it. When it comes to water in engines, I observe the Off Roader guys - They don't use these bypass valves, they've tested them and found them to be pretty bunk.

What's your entire air setup like ?

-> Steve
 
ok, forgive me if I'm being unclear, but I just have a complete stock car with the AEM cold air induction with the bypass valve on it. its been installed like that for about 4 years now, but it's been installed to AEM's specs, and exactly how they intended it to be installed. I didnt have any custom tubing or anything like that done; its basically the intakes that come right from the AEM store (my car is a 96 Integra LS 4 door). Since I have no idea what the ground-line pack thing is, then I think it's safe to say that no, i don't have it. Right now I just took the bottom part of the intake off, and just put the filter on the top half, making it like a short ram intake. Thanks for your reply, BTW.
 
Well, since you're moving to Texas- I would recommend going to a short-ram intake setup... especially if you're going to be anywhere near Houston. Texas rain and flash flooding is killer. Seriously.
 
Originally posted by Calesta@Jul 31 2005, 10:51 PM
Well, since you're moving to Texas- I would recommend going to a short-ram intake setup... especially if you're going to be anywhere near Houston. Texas rain and flash flooding is killer. Seriously.
[post=533777]Quoted post[/post]​

really? i might just do that then. I'm going to be moving to basically the border of louisiana, which is about an hour from Houston, so that's probably a good idea. Thanks.
 
keep it short ram and buy an airfilter from aotoparts store for now. and drive it till it dies! :lol: no just kidding,till you have enough money to buy another k&n or other respectable filter. the same thing happened to me. i hit a bump without my bumper on and crushed my filter and bypass. so bought a ''intimidator'' filter from advanced auto parts kept cruising. Thats till i buy a new AEM V2 system for my lsvtec. good luck
 
Originally posted by Taco15@Jul 31 2005, 11:43 PM
keep it short ram and buy an airfilter from aotoparts store for now. and drive it till it dies! :lol: no just kidding,till you have enough money to buy another k&n or other respectable filter. the same thing happened to me. i hit a bump without my bumper on and crushed my filter and bypass. so bought a ''intimidator'' filter from advanced auto parts kept cruising. Thats till i buy a new AEM V2 system for my lsvtec. good luck
[post=533803]Quoted post[/post]​

yeah, that's exactly what i'm planning to do. I might try some other filter than K&N tho. It doesnt seem right that a washable filter would disintegrate in 25,000 miles in a completely stock car. I'll probably be getting another car in a couple of years, and this time I wont be getting an intake! lol
 
my k&n has lasted about 60k miles, so i wonder if yours was defective or mistreated, who knows, but i agree with Calesta, get the short ram, and intakes won't hurt a newer car if your looking for one, but some new cars have air mass sensors that can sometimes be a pain, good luck bro!
 
Originally posted by 92dxhatch@Aug 2 2005, 03:00 PM
my k&n has lasted about 60k miles, so i wonder if yours was defective or mistreated, who knows, but i agree with Calesta, get the short ram, and intakes won't hurt a newer car if your looking for one, but some new cars have air mass sensors that can sometimes be a pain, good luck bro!
[post=534608]Quoted post[/post]​

well I can tell you that mine was not mistreated at all. My car wasnt modified or driven hard, and it's been maintained by dealership work. But yeah, I'll go with the short ram setup. I'm just hoping the filter I ordered gets here before I gotta leave in 3 days! The only reason I dont want to get another intake for a new car is because I'm probably not going to mod it anyways, and its not like an intake gives ya any real power. Also the dealerships always charge me for full service (including filter change) when they do absolutely nothing to the filter (i'm assuming they at least check it though). After seeing this happen to my intake, I'd just rather not deal with it. I don't wanna cause any fights, but I heard that these kind of intakes don't filter as well as stock intakes anyways. Well who knows.. I might get one depending on the car I get lol. Thanks for your replies guys, I appreciate it!

Haha, oh yeah. someone rear ended me today too! So now I have 3 days to get that filter, and to get my car checked out and fixed before I move! Such luck I have..
 
On some cars, just an intake can actually help quite a bit. I know it does on the 4G Civics- the stock intake is restrictive as hell.

If you're not worried about it, just go back to stock.
 
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