Wet air filter, help!

My air filter gets wet every time I drive in rain, heavy rain or not. I don't want to kill my bug. How can i prevent this beside not driving in the rain. This is my commuter car and I get caught by unexpected showers sometimes. Will removing the snow box help? We don't get much snow here, once a year maybe an inch. I have gotten a code concerning my MAF sensor recently and my fuel economy has suffered.
2004 new beetle
I can't recall offhand what the code was, I'll check on that too

Is your fender liner and snorkel pipe in place?

There are a couple of things you might check.

First off, there is a cold air intake, which personally, I think is a real problem. It goes from the engine compartment to the top of the left wheel fender. If your wheel fender skirt is missing, or if you have a break, especially toward the back of the fender skirt, it will direct water directly into the cold air intake.

As an additional warning, NEVER drive into water that is deep enough to splash over the front fender. We have seen engines hydro-lock from the water thrown up into the air intake.

There is also a vent at the bottom of the air cleaner that can become clogged. Be sure it drains correctly.

The last element that can cause you this problem is the 'snow screen'. Personally, I think in most cases, the snow screen is actually a bug trap that gets clogged up with bug debris.

It's a bit of a bother to remove all the items to get the whole air intake off and checked, but in your case, make sure you do not have a broken fender skirt or a skirt that is missing screws that should keep water from running directly into your air intake.

Remove the battery box, the air cleaner, noting there is a vacuum hose connecting to it. The fender skirt, if removed or ill-fitting should be re-installed correctly with all the screws needed.

If you read a MAF code, and it's a VAG-COM cable, you can read in a section the value requested and actual MAF reading. The MAF is subject to failure and will cause the engine to go into a 'limp' mode. Particularly, if you turn the engine off then back on and the limp mode goes away, it is very likely your MAF. We do carry all the replacement parts, if you need that MAF.

My Fender skirt is intact and I checked my snow box for debris. It was clean. I do not have a belly pan, middle or either side. I believe the car was in a wreck at some point and these items were not replaced. I have been looking into getting one but Im not sure how it attaches in the front and the lower portion of the radiator support is broken off. I assume that it would screw into that missing brace. The fitment between the snow box and the downpipe from the air filter box is fairly loose and I thought that might be where water is getting in. It looks loose like it just rests against a seal on the snow box. I didnt see a way to fasten it securely.
I thought about removing all of the ducting and just letting the air filter box draw air from the engine compartment. It would be hot but here shouldnt be any water in there, lol.
The codes the guy at the parts store gave me are:
P0102
P0727
I have a VAG COM cable but I couldnt get the lite software to recognize the cable. It is a KKL VAG-COM for 409.1
The guy I got the car from used this cable periodically without fail, he said.

I had a MAF issue, bought MAF cleaning spray at autozone and sprayed it down. Waited for it to dry and pluged it back in, I definitely noticed a difference.