Water in Air Box Wet Air Filter

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gotago2

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Joined
Sep 19, 2011
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35
Location
Ocala, Florida
I have a 2011 Itasca Sunstar (F53 chassi,) that has a 2? space in the front grill that lines up with the air filter intake. If caught in a heavy rain at highway speeds it sucks in rain water, enough where there is water in the bottom of the filter box and the filter is soaked.
2 questions:
1- Is the filter still good after it dries?
2- Has anyone modified their intake to prevent it from sucking in water?
Thanks for any help or suggestions you may have.
 
I remember reading about water intrusion into air filters and various fixes a few years ago - sorry but I don't remember any specifics  :-[ .  I don't think a previously wet filter that is dry presents a problem as long as it is mechanically intact.
 
Thanks John.  From what I read the old problem was with cone shape filter boxes and filters.  Mine is rectangular.  It has been suggested I put in an elbow and extend the intake 18-24 inches so I guess I"ll be experimenting.
 
I would be very, very leery of a filter that had been soaked. There is almost no way to be sure the adhesives that hold the filter material in place are still sound, and a piece of crumbled adhesive or filter sucked into your engine can do damage. Ford had water ingestion problems with the air intake on their pick-up trucks a dozen years ago and recalled them all to fix it.

Your filter housing may have a water drain in the bottom, but that still doesn't mean the filter medium is ok.

Why not give the Ford Motorhome Customer Assist hotline a call and ask them about the soaked filter. My guess is they will say "replace it". As a onetime thing that is cheap insurance, but if you have to do that every time you drive in the rain, I would be having a talk with Winnebago & Ford about it. I suspect that Winnie is the one who actually placed the air intake where it can suck water.
 
Thanks Gary.  I extended the intake hose about 30" to the corner behind the wall in front of the passenger side taking it away from the direct flow of water coming through the hood area.  I am also thinking of replacing the filter with a K&N type filter to compensate for the loner intake hose.  I don't know if it will work but it's worth a try.
 
Just remember that the K&N requires routine maintenance.

I doubt if the longer hose has an effect unless it has more angles or other constrictions. A long, reasonably straight, tube is no impediment in a low pressure system.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
Just remember that the K&N requires routine maintenance...
Click to expand...
K&N sells replacement air filters and they also sell high performance filters just to split hairs here  ;).  I have a K&N high performance filter on the Rubicon - note to self, it needs maintenance asap!
 
Ran into this exact issue last week while traveling in some heavy rain.  My rig (front opening and air intake to filter) sounds to be the exact match to the OPs issue.  Engine stumbled, CEL came on, and cruise disengaged (would not reengage).  Engine stumbling quit, quickly, drove on to a rest area, about 5 miles.  Pulled in, let idle for 5 min turned off the ignition and checked out the air filter.  Filter was wet and bottom of house had water in it.  Dryed things out, restarted engine and no CEL, cruise engaged and all seemed fine.  I changed the air filter at the next place that had a parts place and continued on without incident.
I bought a 4", outdoor, flexible dryer vent pipe and am planning on installing it to move the air intake away from that front opening in the grille.
Poor design, for sure.
 
I used a 4" dryer hose to reroute the air intake on our 2001 F53, but after several years the flimsy foil started to deteriorate. I recently replaced it with a flexible heavy duty plastic rain gutter down spout diverter. I think this one could outlast me.
 
My pusher had a recall for the issue, which may or may not have anything to do with yours.  The air box drain hole was too small and would plug with dirt allowing water to collect in the air box.  The recall including drilling out the hole and installing a vac valve over the drain to allow better drain flow.
 

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gotago2 said:
Thanks Gary.  I extended the intake hose about 30" to the corner behind the wall in front of the passenger side taking it away from the direct flow of water coming through the hood area.  I am also thinking of replacing the filter with a K&N type filter to compensate for the loner intake hose.  I don't know if it will work but it's worth a try.
Click to expand...
We had a 2001 Holiday Rambler, years ago that did the same as yours. We did similar to what you have done, except with sheet metal. My theory was that the intake being pushed up higher and closer to the corner would probably would create more pressure and might even give some turbo charger effect when up to speed.
 
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