AEM filter water rejection new vs old (KSTech)

I picked up a KS intake a few months ago and have been loving it since. I got some power out of it (I’d say dyno proven, but I changed a bunch of things all at once) and absolutely love the sound. That being said, it came with one of the old greyish AEM filters, and I managed to give myself a few pretty good scares by getting the MAF wet after a carwash. This sucks!

So I did some searching online and found the pre-filter cover that AEM sells, part # 1-4000 for my intake. I had a good experience with Matt @ KSTech, so I sent him a PM asking if he sold them.

He indicated that he did not sell it, but AEM had re-done their filters and made them more resistant to water logging. He then offered to sell me one @ cost to give him feedback since he lives in a dry area and had just done testing in sinks/showers, lol. As a testament to Matt being a pretty cool guy, he accidently shipped me the wrong size filter (3” instead of 2.75”). I made an adapter out of some cheap autozone silicone coupler, and got tuned with the 3”. When I PM’d Matt afterwards, he immediately sent me out the right size, no charge. That’s good business!

So, as to the effectiveness, basically what had happened before was post-car wash especially, if I got on it any time remotely close to after the car wash, I’d throw a P0103; filter soaked and (at least) a drop of water got on the MAF. That’ll get your attention. Car bucks, dash board lights up/blinks, you get some pretty sweet visions of billion dollar repair bills and new engines dancing through your mind until you calm down and figure out what happened.

No more. The new AEM filter seems to be quite a lot more water resistant. Car washes have been fine, and rainy days are not an issue either (I didn’t test going through deep puddles at WOT since that’s just dumb). No P0103, no dashboard light show/freaking out. I like it! If you’ve been having issues with your filter try the new red AEM.

Thanks Matt for giving me the opportunity to give some feedback on the filter. Hope some of you find this useful.

The picture below shows the new vs the old filter (new is red) and also my elite adapter skills, lol. Note that the old is zip-tied to a vent to dry it off (car wash before doing some work waterlogged it one last time, s.o.b.)

Wanna sell me one of those new filters

Great review by the way.

AEM #21-202DK for the 2.75.

Thanks!

It indeed was a red one, and something I noticed is the actual filter element is a K&N filter. in your picture above of the red filter, the metal strip that is on the filter has the K&N logo all over it.

weird that AEM is using K&N filters...

box says dryflow with no oil (has "OIL" with the red circle and cross over it)

the rubber part of the filter head seemed oily, but i think they just do that do stop the rubber from drying out. the filter itself did not seem oiled.

i'll take a closer look at the box tonight. however, it did not come with oil, or even the cleaning solution AEM usually sells for that matter. i wonder if they are not washable anymore...

Bumping this old thread as I have the and have water ingestion issues only after a carwash (in driveway or automatic).

Mine came with a red filter labeled as an AEM dryflow by K&N so I believe I have the newer filter but wanted to make sure. Also wondering of the OP is still around and had any further water issues? I'm fairly sure that in my case, the water is flowing down under the kstech heat shield below the power steering reservoir.

Bumping this old thread as I have the and have water ingestion issues only after a carwash (in driveway or automatic).

 

Mine came with a red filter labeled as an AEM dryflow by K&N so I believe I have the newer filter but wanted to make sure. Also wondering of the OP is still around and had any further water issues? I'm fairly sure that in my case, the water is flowing down under the kstech heat shield below the power steering reservoir.

Also have the KStech intake with the red AEM/K&N filter. Went through the car wash and threw a CEL due to water. After removing the intake and making some slight modifications to make it fit better I installed AEM's 1-4000 Dry Flow Air Filter Wrap. Went through the same car wash again, no problems! Highly recommend this! Got it on Amazon: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/AEM-1-4000-Flow-Filter-Wrap/dp/B00353G1SY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334635835&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: AEM 1-4000 Dry Flow Air Filter Wrap: Automotive[/ame]

I tested this filter in the sink to see how well it works. Basically just repels the water. Pretty cool. For me, was worth the $25.

Bumping this old thread as I have the and have water ingestion issues only after a carwash (in driveway or automatic).

 

Mine came with a red filter labeled as an AEM dryflow by K&N so I believe I have the newer filter but wanted to make sure. Also wondering of the OP is still around and had any further water issues? I'm fairly sure that in my case, the water is flowing down under the kstech heat shield below the power steering reservoir.

I bought the same filter 3 months ago for the same reasons. I have driven it through pouring rain several times, and taken it the the carwash without any problems. Also, I removed my fogs, so the cone sits about 10" from the opening where the fog light was.

Previously, I had the regular filter from AEM, and used the AEM drysock. While it seemed to help, this set-up still resulted in a wet filter when we had torrential rains.

Bumping this old thread as I have the and have water ingestion issues only after a carwash (in driveway or automatic).

 

Mine came with a red filter labeled as an AEM dryflow by K&N so I believe I have the newer filter but wanted to make sure. Also wondering of the OP is still around and had any further water issues? I'm fairly sure that in my case, the water is flowing down under the kstech heat shield below the power steering reservoir.

I sold the car, bought a BMW 335i and moved to AZ, so I'm not sure how much help I am. I will say that I drove her hard through some pretty nasty rain and didn't have any further issues for several months before I got rid of her.

Good luck.

old thread.... I know

just figured I'd add my comments as winter is coming to an end and I've had a chance to run the AEM red filter through all sorts of slush and wet conditions.

I used to have problems with water getting around the edge of the hood scoop, running down the inside of the hood (above the hoodliner) and dripping onto the filter. With the old grey filter, I'd end up with either a filter partially blocked with ice or a wet filter which would toss water into the maf and cause all sorts of problems. since switching to the red filter I've had no symptoms of a wet maf. I'm still going to add a drip edge on the hood to divert the water that does get in, but I figured I'd share that the red filter has helped my situation a lot. possibly enough that adding the drip edge might be unnecessary. the red filter still gets water on it, it just doesn't get water logged like the grey one.

I never ended up having any luck with mine even with the updated filter.

My first intake was an AEM, and it had this same problem so I replaced it with a Typhoon. I really missed the "cold air" style intake and IATs, so when the KSTech came out I jumped on it. Mine came with the red dryflow filter and I was still getting a wet MAF.

Oddly even the hardest rain wouldn't cause any problem but washing the car in driveway with a hose, or going through the delta sonic carwash caused an immediate issue.

Wet MAF can be detrimental to an engine and I didn't want to take any chances. I finally settled on a Cobb intake with airbox and have never had an issue again. I really do wish I could have made the AEM or KSTech work. As I log 95% of my driving and watch the gauges in real time, I can tell you for sure, these are the 2 best intakes for keeping IATs as close to ambient as possible.

Also have the KStech intake with the red AEM/K&N filter. Went through the car wash and threw a CEL due to water. After removing the intake and making some slight modifications to make it fit better I installed AEM's 1-4000 Dry Flow Air Filter Wrap. Went through the same car wash again, no problems! Highly recommend this! Got it on Amazon: Amazon.com: AEM 1-4000 Dry Flow Air Filter Wrap: Automotive

 

 

I tested this filter in the sink to see how well it works. Basically just repels the water. Pretty cool. For me, was worth the $25.

I've had the red AEM filter and this Dry Flow Air Filter Wrap for well over a year and I have not thrown any more MAF over voltage CELs. I've driven through two rough MN winters, multiple car washes, me washing the car and very hard long rains. It works, for me at least. Unless you drive the car under water .

I gave a thought to running one of those, but the local respected Subaru tuner in the area said this on another forum.

Don't use these:

http://www.aemintakes.com/air_filter_wraps.htm

 

They rob power even on low power vehicles. Even the last restricted rally car I tuned picked up a bunch by removing one and that's got a 34mm restrictor on the turbo!"

http://www.buffaloscooby.com/forums/showpost.php?p=254897&postcount=16

I decided the Cobb would solve the water issue for sure, and was likely the best SRI available at least at that time. I've not looked lately but after buying/scaling 4 different intakes for this car I'm going to stick with the Cobb. It heat soaks a bit quicker, but gets to within 5% of ambient fairly quickly once moving.

^ I did not know that. Well that sucks for me. I'm using a KSTech 73mm. This might sound funny, but when I got the filter wrap I blew through it and it didn't seem to add much or any airflow restriction.

I wonder if Cobb still provides the 70mm MAF tube if one requests it?