Water AirFilter Injection

[danols]

This is to anyone that has ScanGaugeII or some other way to monitor fuel economy. I have been experimenting with water injection and can not come up with conclusive numbers. I calculate my fuel economy by using the 'fill up' method, and I don't even have a cruise control to keep the speed constat.

I would like for someone do a simple test for me. Drive the car on highway at constant speed and monitor the fuel economy, than drive the same road but after soaking the air filter completely i.e. in bucket of water. 5-10km should be fine.

This hopefully is either going to confirm or bust the idea that one gets better fuel economy on a cold rainy day. All I have been able to determine that wet filter WILL reduce air temperature compared to ambient and increase my hp/torque a little.

I am hoping that this increase in power results in less throttle being open (to keep same speed) which outweigh the extra fuel added by the computer to keep the same air/fuel ratio; hence resulting in better fuel economy.

Anyone interested in doing this ?

Daniel S.

[GasSavers_Red]

Give me two weeks to get through finals and I'll give it a shot

[zpiloto]

Not to the extreme of wetting the element but I have put a wet sponge in the airbox to reduce the IAT. On 2 different cars(Madza,Daewoo) the sweet spot for IAT is anything under 115 degress. At this point the ignition timing is retared and the FE goes down. I don't think that you get better FE on a cold and rainy day because of the decrease of rolling resistance, longer warmup times and increased drag and electrical loads required in that kind of conditions. I can't quantify the FE improvement(less than 2%) but the sweet spot was between 100-120 IAT. I'm sure other will chime in.

Some cars a high IAT work great others not so good depends on the engine setup. Look at the gaslogs the FE start dropping when the temps do. YMMV.

Welcome to the site. If you get a chance tell us about your car and commute on the intro forum.

[repete86]

I don't know if this is a good idea. I had some problems with my old Honda because the front end was ****ed up and the filter would get soggy. I couldn't even normally start it in the morning.

[rh77]

I use the wet sponge method as well -- primarily to reduce IATs through evaporative cooling. The trick right now is to 1) to keep it wet, and 2) to fine-tune the flow over the element. It's getting to 130+ since the airbox still pulls a bit of hot air from the engine compartment.

Also, if you have a water injection system far from the intake, by the time the water gets to the intake valve, it has probably increased in size instead of the ideal mist -- and you get rough operation.

RH77

[VetteOwner]

wet sponge would be ok but DO NOT soak your air filter unless u wanan buy a new one and if a chink gets loose have to go clean out your engine.
and since its a filter water clogs filters just as easy as dirt .
its only paper. go soak your research paper in water and hold up up to the backside of a fan and tell me it isnt gonna get ripped/shredded to hell.

[diamondlarry]

Some time ago, someone shared with me a way to use a wet sponge and a way to keep it wet. It seems to me that it involved putting a sponge in the bottom of the airbox below the filter. You then would run a tube from a container of water into the sponge/airbox. As the sponge would lose some of it's water, it would be replaced by the container of water. It would basically be an automatic system using gravity feed. Since I have a SG, if I get the time I will have to give this a try.

[rh77]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

wet sponge would be ok but DO NOT soak your air filter unless u wanan buy a new one and if a chink gets loose have to go clean out your engine.
and since its a filter water clogs filters just as easy as dirt .
its only paper. go soak your research paper in water and hold up up to the backside of a fan and tell me it isnt gonna get ripped/shredded to hell.

Agreed, but if you have a K&N with the oil element, the impact is less. It is a concern with the oil diluted, but proper sponge placement and getting a feel for minimizing water pass-thru, by frequent inspection, could prove worthwhile. For me, it's still in the testing phase -- but with reduction in IATs thus far, it seems to work.

I tried this last year and found no dust or oil beyond the filter.

[GasSavers_maxc]

Better off with hot "316" stainless steel wool.

[danols]

Originally Posted by Red

Give me two weeks to get through finals and I'll give it a shot

That would be very helpful, and thank you very much in advance.

The only thing I have been able to determine for sure is that 94 high actone saved me fule compared to 87 octance.

94 octane 151.7km stretch in rainy day at 120KM/H was 100km/4.71L
87 octane 151.6km stretch in sunny day at 120KM/H was 100km/5.57

But I already knew that.

In terms of the air filter ripping it has NOT been a problem and I doubt it will be; the material is more like fabric. One can always use K&N filters.

I drive a Hundai Accent 96 5-speed with 240,000 KM that I bought for 260$ (well 90$ to be exact as the same week I got 150$ from being hit by a car and 20$ found the same day, it was a sign to buy it) and it has been the most trouble free car ever.

I have also been toying with the idea of auto off system like in hybrids.
See thread http://www.gassavers.org/showthread....1331#post51331