It's been raining here in Ohio for a couple days,anyway the truck started running poorly and missing and then the check engine light came on.So I got it to the shop and there were a couple of codes,one was a lean condition not sure on the other.We took off the filter and it had a lot of moisture in it.Next the blow off valve and the inlet to the throttle full of moisture.So we dried off as much as we could,cleaned the meter cleared the codes and put it back together.The truck seems to be okay but this is the 2nd time I have had to do this in a week.I am just wondering if any one else is having problems.The blow off valve seems like it's in a bad place to close to the wheel well,it gets moisture and dirt and dust in it maybe if we move it further up where the stock air box was it will stay clean. At this point I'am open to any suggestions. Thanks Brian

 

Wow, that would have me plenty concerned too. I have no advise but will give you a bump.

 

Sounds like you're lucky the water just fouled the sensors. I would definitely try to move the BOV up away from anywhere that it will be exposed to water. Not sure what I would do about the turbo inlet. There's a guy on here who ran his intake through the bed and into a bed mounted tool box, but that's a little extreme. Maybe you can find a way to run it up in between the bed and cab or something.

 

Well we contacted STS and actually talked to Rick, he got defensive right away and told us water could not get by the sock on the filter.He suggested my tuner convert over to speed density and turn off the MAF. That sounds like a half *** fix, it does'nt keep water out of my engine.I am starting to question my decision
on getting the STS kit

 

A lot of people run the STS without problem (but this was one of my concerns) I hope you can get it squared away.

 

If your MAF got wet that would cause all those issues. I have had it happen numerous times. ended up moving the filter up into the wheel well out of the water stream or car wash high pressure zone.
dry out your MAF with an air hose, low pressure and be carefull, then use brake cleaner, or something that leaves NO residue and reassemble. Maybe even un hook your battery and let it re-learn the idle to rule out miss calibration issues there.
If your MAF is damaged that could be it to??
Good luck.

 

Water can get by the sock. Converting to SD would be a good thing albeit not a solution to sucking in water.

Do you happen to have an EC or a RC? EC's usually have the luxury of the filter being right where there's a gap between the bed and cab. Regardless of how easy you drive in the rain, water will still get to the filter. Also what environment are you driving in? I assumed it's rain. When you notice all the water/moisture and the sensors going nuts, has it been raining? If its not raining, and its just humidity then I don't know what to tell you. Any time you compress air, it heats up and along with that it usually dries the air out.

 

Honestly, I don't even run the sock anymore (it's also not a DD anymore...).

I have soaked my filter in hard rain in Florida, but that's a transitory condition. I believe all the wetness you are seeing is from condensation from the weather. In Florida, I never had that problem, up here in NY, my exhaust spits water every time I start it...

Water by itself isn't a huge deal -- I mean, you pay about $500 bucks to be able to intentionally spray water through the intake with a water/met injection kit The big hang is keeping the MAF dry, hence the suggestion to run an SD tune. You will have similar problems with any "blow through" maf FI kit -- the big difference with the STS kit is you have a LOT more pipe condensing water out of the air charge.

 

(Warning rant from a guy that has been there too.)

I had the same problem and got the same answers. I eventually got tired of so many various and unrelated suggestions and installed a bigger filter. In my opinion the sock holds in moisture and makes the problem worse. Once the filter gets a little wet it cannot flow enough air to keep up with the engine. It does not have to suck in the water or get the MAF wet, it simply cannot flow air when it is wet. I installed a 14 inch K&N filter KNNRE0820 purchased from Advance Auto. I tucked it on top of the wheel well. It is a tight fit, but since it has such better flow than the LITTLE sts filter, it works well even when blocked a little. I have been in a few storms and not had trouble since installing it. BTW: the MAF can cause the issue because it is so sensative to moisture but it is costly to change. The BIG honking filter is under $60 and better than not being able to get above 1500 RPMs while trying to drive on the highway in a thunderstorm. I REALLY hate that STS filter. It is way too small to get the job done. If you want to stick with your filter, make sure to get the filter all the way on top of the wheel well, or the back wheels will spray water all over it while driving through the rain and consider taking off the sock, so if it does get wet, you still have enough air flow to get it dry again and keep the engine running.

 

I have a STS kit on my truck and have not had any problems with it to date. I do not run a sock on my filter ever but I did buy a cheap air filter guard off of Ebay and that keeps my filter dry. The filter guard covers the filter in a 180 degree radius and faces down so only a minimal amount of water can hit the filter. I live in the northeast and drive my truck daily through rain, sleet and snow and have had no problem so far with my MAF getting wet. I was afraid that it might happen due to the crappy weather up here so I purchased a spare MAF on Ebay for $40 brand new and carry it in the truck just in case. I actually just drove my truck from Virginia to PA in a horrible storm and had no problems.