K&N Drycharger installation on Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (By Bryan Ellis)

Those unfamiliar with the desert Southwest may assume that we in the Phoenix area rarely get rain of any kind. Let me assure you, this is not the case. We get a summer rainy period called the Monsoon Season that can create severe weather like dust storms, high winds, severe downpours, flooding and occasionally a stray tornado.  The Monsoon season usually starts about June or July and ends around mid-September.

When I had the stock air box on the Jeep TJ, I didn’t really worry about getting water in the intake because it was fairly well enclosed and there was only about a 3” hole in the very front where water could get in. With the AEM Brute Force Intake installed the intake appears to be a little more vulnerable to the effects of large volumes of fluids dancing around the engine compartment. (Or maybe I’m just paranoid.)

With Monsoon Season right around the corner I decided to do something to protect my intake from taking in water. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be fording any streams or anything like unless I head up to the Black River again this summer. I do, however, have a tendency to intentionally hit any standing water and larger puddles at a high rate of speed. (Especially if there are innocent bystanders nearby.)

I have the partition installed in my engine compartment that came with the AEM Brute Force Intake, but just in case I thought I should install a splash guard on the filter itself. Water would have to be fairly deep in order to make it to the intake since I installed the 3” body lift and 33” tires, but as a precaution I thought a splash guard would be a nice addition since they are fairly inexpensive and easy to install.

K&N has what they called “Prechargers” that fit nicely over their aftermarket filters but I couldn’t find any specifics on water resistance so I kept on looking. The K&N “Drycharger” says it is treated with silicone so it repels water and looks like it would work over my AEM filter fairly well. 

Injen has a product called “Hydro-Shield” and their website states they are treated with a “Hydrophobic Process”. (Which may be techie-speak for a silicone coating.) Either way they seem like basically what I need to repel any rouge splashing that may take place in my engine compartment.

These are easy to install and just slip over the aftermarket filter. It probably took me longer to write this article than it did to pop the hood on the jeep and install the Hydro-shield. You just slip it over the aftermarket filter and away you go. Of course you shouldn’t completely immerse your intake in water with one of these aftermarket splash guards, but it should repel the rouge splash from my puddle expeditions this summer during our rainy season.

If you would like to add one of these to your setup you can visit www.motorweb.com and search on Hydro-shield, then search for the best option to fit your specific application.