I recently bought a AEM V2 CAI and the filter is sitting scary low to the ground under the bumper. My car is also lowered so its actually lower than the side pannel of the bumper.
see...



I don;t have a splash guard on that tire as well...

My question are...

1. Should I be worried about Hydrolocking while driving in the rain?
(I know im going to do my best to avoid all puddles even minor. But I was driving yesterday and I got home to check the filter IT WAS SOAKING WET ALL OVER,!!)

2. What are the SYMPTOMS of a Hydrolocked ENGINE?
(How would I know if I have Hydrolocked it? If anyone has had first hand experience with a hydrolocked engine.. what did you do as to why did it get hydrolocked in the first place??)

FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE WITH HYDROLOCK OR WHAT>>>>>
I was driving in the rain one time when all of a sudden my car started dying on me.. I thought it was running out of gas but it was 1/4 tank. I wasen;t driving fast either. My speed was around 40MPH. It slowed down by itself to almost 20MPH even while I downshifted and hit the gas. Then when it got around 20MPH it started to respond to me hitting the gas again...and drove normally the rest of the day.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED UP THERE ^^^^!!??

 

True hydrolock means you sucked water all the way through the throttle & intake manifold, & the water got into the combustion chamber. When the piston comes up to the compression stroke, everything stops with a big bang. If the RPMS are high enough, you might put a broken rod out the side of the block.

Did you drive through a puddle & get the filter wet? What happens first is when the filter gets wet, it's a lot more restrictive to air flow. So it's kinda like covering up the air intake & smothering the engine. Acts like the throttle doesn't really open when you step on the gas.

Downshifting & stepping on the gas was the wrong thing, but looks like you lucked out. If you were unlucky, what MIGHT have happened is the wet filter collapses & gets sucked in. Or just tears up & allows water to get through into the engine.

I can't really tell what kind of filter that is.
K&N has wire mesh on both sides so it doesn't easily fall apart & suck in. But it's supposed to be oiled with their red oil, and I don't see any red color.
Some filters might start fraying, coming apart on the inside. Since it's been wet, I would take it off the tube & look inside the filter is starting to get frayed & fuzzy on the inside.

Most CAI makers offer a "bypass valve" you install in the engine bay. When the filter goes under water, the suction opens this bypass so it sucks air from the engine bay. That's better than sucking the filter & water into the engine.