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Water in the Air Intake tube going to Throttle and Intake?

5K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  NEXinthesky 
#1 ·
I poke and prod my X when I have time to monitor it's overall health since I have only had it for over a month and I bought it used at 127k miles (02 SE). Today after driving home from work (15 miles drive going 60mph) I let it sit in my driveway to cool down for about 2 hours before going over it. I checked spark plugs and electrical connectors, hoses and all that jazz but I was startled after I disconnected the Air Intake tube that connects to throttle body. It had a bit of liquid pooling in the crevices and on and around the MAF sensor! I stuck my finger it and smelled it, odorless but kinda filmy and dirty I assume from the carbon behind the throttle plate.

A week ago I did a seafoam throttle spray treatment that sprays all into the intake manifold versus the liquid seafoam going into the vacuum lines. I immediately assumed the dirty and slick water was due to this treatment a week ago but it wasnt just a slick on the walls of the tube, it was small pools. I do not go off roading yet but we did have 4 days of non stop rain but my air filter was dry! So there is this water hanging out but its not getting to or from the filter! I have cleaned it up of course, no noticeable issues.

Is this just condensation seeping out of the intake manifold past the throttle plate leaking into the air intake tubing after I shut off the engine? Because its not coming from the air filter reservoir so that leaves 3 other places water could get into the tube, I just do not know a logical reason how since it is not coolant (I run coolant only) and the resonator was dry as well. It has to be coming from the throttle body or intake manifold.

Any guesses?
 
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#3 ·
Was the air filter soaking wet? sounds like leftover from the spray you did. coolant does flow through the throttle body and could be leaking but unlikely.
Air filter was bone dry! It's quite bizarre to me. I honestly want to say it was condensation seeping out past the throttle plate, here in Georgia we have had a very rainy season already causing huge swings of humidity. I honestly do not know how long the little pools were hanging out since the treatment was done which was exactly a week ago today. Logically this would occur if water was being sucked through the Air Intake Reservoir or resonators and even a vacuum leak sucking in rain water getting under the hood but the air filter is dry leading to the throttle body.

I use coolant, not water in my radiator and this standing water in the air tube was really just dirty water.

.......
 
#5 ·
There is a foam pad at the bottom of the box just for this stuff. Essentially, rain/puddle splashes CAN get sucked into the intake inside the fender/wheel well area...and the box is designed to let the water fill the bottom of the box first, so it doesn't always first send a slug of water down the plenum, etc.

So, you can cleanup/dry out the box, and probably be fine.
 
#6 ·
Yeah that makes sense, I forget about the box in the fender. I am thinking about taking out all the intake resonators after watching that engineer in Ghana do it to his Frontier. I know everyone likes to do it for their own reasons and I get weary of taking stuff out that was put there by the factory for their various reasons that can be way more technical than some of us care to understand but when I see an engine engineer say "take this out for better performance if you off road or your daily driver" then I can finally say, well OKAY!

Here in Georgia, we have had non stop rain that is the envy of the West Coast and my X was in a fender bender by the previous owner so the fenders are not factory aligned and the hood gaps are larger on the passenger side causing rain water to breach the fender paths that I assume help guide water out of the engine bay. I guess a little water breaching the throttle is somewhat okay, I am sure my pistons are clean now haha.

Cheers!
 
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