Just wondering about hydrolocking with ram air intakes

[Gangsta SV]

I've been seeing allota sport bikes with the ram air intakes and I was wondering do they hydrolock when you ride in heavy rain ? Because I heard about cars with ram air intakes / cold air intakes hydrolocking their engines from running in heavy rain.

[legalspeed]

No.

1. Is that a real term? I know about vapor lock in fuel lines, but hydro lock?

2. Ram air on our bikes does not take effect until around 140mph+; if you're going that fast in heavy rain, sell it before you die.

[oreo_n2]

i have often wondered about this as well... being that water is an incompressible fluid i was worried about what would happen if i accidentally sprayed the hose in the nostrils when i was washing it.

[Gangsta SV]

Yep , hydrolock does exist , didn't know that the ram air doesn't activate till over 140+ mph. I think it wouldn't matter though , cause I just asked my friend and he said it wouldn't matter cause the Bike's ram air intake is located so high , it's almost impossible to get water in there or something.
Heres a article for those who are interested , http://www.prepsparkplugs.com/hydrofact.htm

[benVFR]

You'd have to ride your bike through 5ft of water to hydrolock it. Rain alone isn't going to be enough. It sounds like you literally have to fill the airbox with water.

If you open up your airbox after a heavy storm chances are there will be a little bit of water in the bottom of it, but not much. Either the ram air intake or the airbox probably has something worked into it's shape to get the water to flow to the lowest point, along with a drain that you can open up. (Kind of like the bend in a sink drain to trap hair, etc.. )

I had opened mine up last spring after riding like 200 miles in heavy rain and there really wasn't much water in the airbox. I opened the drains but it would have evaporated ina day or so. (SVs don't have ram air though)

I'd open up your bike and check it out. My guess is the ram air pressurizes the airbox, but then the air has to go up to the top to get forced down into the air filter and then down to the carbs/FI. Not much water is going to get through all that.

Spark plugs in the rain can be more interesting. At least on a twin.

Cars are a different story. A lot of fancy cars have the intakes down in the airdams, etc.. to get colder air and pressurize it more. Most of these have the intake several feet lower than a bike. My dad bought a used car that had been hydrolocked and then the dealer had installed a new engine. That was a BMW. I bet the kids with the Hondas with aftermarket cold air intakes are pretty susceptible to it. If you look at the military Hummer it has the periscope air intake to prevent hydrolock. That way it can drive through water that will fill the cabin. (Just gotta keep the drivers head above water)

Ben

[beet]

Originally posted by needabike
I've been seeing allota sport bikes with the ram air intakes and I was wondering do they hydrolock when you ride in heavy rain ? Because I heard about cars with ram air intakes / cold air intakes hydrolocking their engines from running in heavy rain.

i dont think it could rain that hard. ive used water injection on cages

[PinHead]

This may sound strange but a little water going through the engine isnt a bad thing. A small amount of water can turn into steam and accually clean inside a bit. There is a BMW M3 at my buds shop right now that has a water injection system installed to keep the 500hp motor cooler when its reving hard. Fucking car is sick!

[KevinB]

I have heard of it happening to jet skis.

[TLRMan]

Yup..Hydrolocking is usually an over abundance of fuel.
But the way the airboxes are set up the rain won't go straight into the engine. I could se the airbox filling up a bit, but I guess that's why they have drains in them. As for water injection in the cars, it quells detonation to a point. It does also clean the engine of carbon build up. I used to mist water into my engines to clean them out.....

[SWEET_Z]

I've never had any problem riding in rain at high speeds. My bike has a pretty decent air-scoop on the front too. I never checked the air box after though.

[Rye]

Ram kicks in above ambient.....and that's different for all bikes. Kawi's, at least the 7 and 9, kick in at roughly 80mph (a very low mph...you can thank the aircraft division for that one). It has to do with how well the airbox pressurizes. Some bikes will show a startling graph (peaks and valleys) of pressurization of the airbox because of engine pulses (more typical of twins), even though it is a claimed "RAM" setup. Sportrider did a fantastic write up a few years back regarding ram systems, I'll try and dig the rag up. I believe they also ran exhaust tests on a fuel injected gixxer in the same mag. Those results were interesting also.

[TLRMan]

it's more of a resonation thing.......but what do I know?

[beet]

Originally posted by Rye
Ram kicks in above ambient.....and that's different for all bikes. Kawi's, at least the 7 and 9, kick in at roughly 80mph (a very low mph...you can thank the aircraft division for that one). It has to do with how well the airbox pressurizes. Some bikes will show a startling graph (peaks and valleys) of pressurization of the airbox because of engine pulses (more typical of twins), even though it is a claimed "RAM" setup. Sportrider did a fantastic write up a few years back regarding ram systems, I'll try and dig the rag up. I believe they also ran exhaust tests on a fuel injected gixxer in the same mag. Those results were interesting also.

p.s. wait till the zx10 comes back

[Degsy]

Originally posted by benSV
(Just gotta keep the drivers head above water)

Ben

Why, can humans hydrolock also?

Degs

[legalspeed]

Originally posted by Rye
Ram kicks in above ambient.....and that's different for all bikes. Kawi's, at least the 7 and 9, kick in at roughly 80mph (a very low mph...you can thank the aircraft division for that one). It has to do with how well the airbox pressurizes. Some bikes will show a startling graph (peaks and valleys) of pressurization of the airbox because of engine pulses (more typical of twins), even though it is a claimed "RAM" setup. Sportrider did a fantastic write up a few years back regarding ram systems, I'll try and dig the rag up. I believe they also ran exhaust tests on a fuel injected gixxer in the same mag. Those results were interesting also.

Now that's what I'm talkin' bout Willis!

Yup, one of my friends, pg_ryder, had to ride his old R1 ....track here in NH. Upon riding .... with his friends (all on ram/fuel inj. gixxers, non of which were 1000cc) I remember him complaining that he could have read War and Peace between 140 -160mph, as his buds walked away from him.

See Mark for a more in-depth technical expaination, from all I've heard from the man, he is dead on.

I think the bottom line is don't worry about rain through your intakes, If you're going that fast in heavy rain, you may want to back off. Not for your engine's sake.

[Rye]

Your friend Pgrider is Paul Gilbert right? I know him too. he was also a member on our zx7 group when he was winning on the ZX7 in 2k. Haven't heard from him lately. Last I heard he moved to LA and started racing Willow. In fact he moved there as I came back.