Hello everyone,

Times are getting better for me as after the Z being sitting in the garage with a blown engine since Feb last year, I have managed to get the funds and all requirements together to put another good engine in it. Dropped the Z off to the garage to get on with it yesterday and found out today that the reason the older engine blew was because my twin HKS intercooler was blocked.

 

What I wanted to know was, what procedures do I get carried out regarding the cooler in order for it to be fine?? and do they blow and if yes can they be reconditioned or is it better to just buy a new one?? Any suggestions regarding a blocked intercooler that blew an engine would be appreciated..

 

Thanks :)

Zee

Oops..think I've posted this in the wrong section. Should've been in the help and advice section. Sorry..

moved for you :)

Blocked with what ? :confused:

Blocked with what ? :confused:

 

Need to find out with what it was blocked with which will do soon as he will look into that. But whatever it is, the problem occurred due to the cooler.

 

Do coolers go wrong?? I've never heard of that to be honest..

Need to find out with what it was blocked with which will do soon as he will look into that. But whatever it is, the problem occurred due to the cooler.

 

Do coolers go wrong?? I've never heard of that to be honest..

 

I presume you or your mechanic mean that your bumper vents were blocked or there was an obstruction (road debris, leaves...etc) in front of your intercooler stopping cold air as you drive passing over the intercooler. In which case then the air exiting your turbochargers would not be cooled sufficiently and the motor would suffer with detonation and that quickly puts a hole in your pistons. Very easy to spot though, would'nt really require investigation, and it would'nt cause any actual damage to the intercooler itself.

Edited July 25, 200817 yr by Yowser

The intercooler itself cant get blocked, everything has go through the air filter, along the pipework, through the turbocharger, through more pipework before it gets to the intercooler.

 

So I presume you or your mechanic mean that your bumper vents were blocked or there was an obstruction (road debris, leaves...etc) in front of your intercoolers. In which case then the air exiting your turbochargers would not be cooled sufficiently and the motor would suffer with detonation and that quickly puts a hole in your pistons.

 

Thats what I can't understand. I've got a Wings West front bumper and you know what the vent on that is like. But the result was the same as you said. Its the pistons inside that are broken. Believe its no.4 and 6. Slight knocking noise at times when the engine is running and thick white/blue smoke if you accelerate. The past year and a half when the car has been parked up, I never thought that the problem had anything to do with the intercooler. Its just today when he called me and told me the its the intercooler blocked or something and why I believe he is right is because I remember when I got the cooler on, everytime I put my foot down, the temperature guage would drop straight down to cold and come back up the sec I got my foot off the accelerator. But that last night when I was out, I gave it some and noticed the temperature guage needle not move at all. Did think that was strange because that really was not normal. End of the night, making my way home I felt a big jerk and smoke all over the place behind me. Oil guage reader dropping and rising. Car running rough.

 

I suppose I'll just get the cooler checked out and get it reconditioned or something if possible. Just wanted to know if anyone heard of a problem like this and could suggest anything for me to check up regarding the cooler.

If the cooler was blocked inside then the performance would be terrible on full throttle. Manifold boost pressure would also be down. If a turbo seal had gone before it is possible for oil (and dirt?)to be in the IC or bits of disintegrating turbo as well but unless you have no airfilter there should not be anything else in it. If it was external cooling to the IC then the performance would still be normal for short term bursts of acceleration but would fall off as the cooler heated up.

 

Your temp gauge issue is nothing to do with the intercooler- more likely a slack connection on the temp gauge sender that moves when you were accelerating hard before - its not uncommon.

 

If you have knocking and serious smoking thats probably nothing to do with turbos then you have a rogered engine I'm afraid. Its nothing to do with your IC.

 

Any decent mechanic can diagnose that one.

If the cooler was blocked inside then the performance would be terrible on full throttle. Manifold boost pressure would also be down. If a turbo seal had gone before it is possible for oil (and dirt?)to be in the IC or bits of disintegrating turbo as well but unless you have no airfilter there should not be anything else in it. If it was external cooling to the IC then the performance would still be normal for short term bursts of acceleration but would fall off as the cooler heated up.

 

Your temp gauge issue is nothing to do with the intercooler- more likely a slack connection on the temp gauge sender that moves when you were accelerating hard before - its not uncommon.

 

If you have knocking and serious smoking thats probably nothing to do with turbos then you have a rogered engine I'm afraid. Its nothing to do with your IC.

 

Any decent mechanic can diagnose that one.

 

Very similar to what you said. He did tell me that there was oil and shite in the cooler. He is going to look into that for full detail on its condition. Also the bit where you said about the car running fine for a short term bursts and then messing up is what happened. Mate (mechanic) and myself at the moment believe the engine didn't get any cooling hence blew. But maybe we are wrong. Maybe the problem was somewhere else.

 

Anyway I have got a good engine ready to be dropped in which should happen in the next couple of days. Just wanted to know if anyone had any similar issues with their intercoolers and if they could be corrected or did it mean time for a new intercooler. Time will tell. Hope it all goes well. Don't wana lose that cooler.

Don't wana lose that cooler.

 

Try reverse flushing it with a hosepipe, then rinse it with parafin or white spirits and blast compressed air through it. But if its totally blocked up tight it might never flow enough air again. Plus you do not want any bits coming loose and getting into the engine once its up and running again. You should be able to see inside the ends once its off the car.

Don't wana lose that cooler.

 

Try reverse flushing it with a hosepipe, then rinse it with parafin or white spirits and blast compressed air through it. But if its totally blocked up tight it might never flow enough air again. Plus you do not want any bits coming loose and getting into the engine once its up and running again. You should be able to see inside the ends once its off the car.

 

Thanks alot WillieO. Thats what I wanted to know how to go around with the cooler if that was the problem. Hope all goes well. Will keep you guys posted. Thanks again..:)