Guys, i have been having some issues with high IAT's lately. With my Supercooler, separated coolant, and Johnson cm30 pump this has not been an issue in the past. About 2 months ago i noticed this and also noticed the circuit was completely dry of all fluid, i was like wtf. I chalked it up to me forgeting to fill it and did so. The problem subsided a bit but not completely. Among rechecking the circuit for fluid i noticed it was never quite full. Next i removed the pump and ran a waterhose through the system to make sure it was free of clogs, and while some debris came out it was clearly free flowing. So i hot wired the pump to come on whenever the ignition key was turned, which didnt help(though i still love this mod). Finally i tested the pump and thought i had it figured out. As you can see in the video our pump will circulate water when primed but will NOT suck it out of a bucket. This is NORMAL as it is not a POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT PUMP. At the time i figured just buy a new pump and see what happens. I bought the Bosch unit and the IAT's were still to high. So finally i removed the sc and what i had dreaded was in fact true, a leaky intercooler. I have posted both videos so you can see what a leaky intercooler looks like and how not to test one of our pumps. I hope this will help someone in the future.

 

240,
Did you have to go to the 60psi to show the leak? I would think if it is leaking water, it should show air at 10psi or 20psi. I recall reading somewhere online about not putting too much pressure into the IC(?). Good video to demonstrate the problem.

I would think you only have two real options, buy a replacement or have yours re-cored. Too bad there isnt a big after market unit available for us.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this up!

 

4 day weekend
If the water side is leaking and you can see it, use acetone to clean it and then GOOD epoxy or JB weld to fix a SURFACE LEAK. IF it is a core leak then youll need to TIG it or get a core/new one.
Get the pressure down, should not go over 15 PSIG on the water side. Epoxy for a non pressurized circuit should be fine. Must be a surface leak though.

Woody, let us know.
4 day weekend Yippie

 

It leaked all the way down to 5-10 psi, its just that the bubbles were less frequent so for the purpose of the video i raised the pressure knowing the core was bad already.

A good crossfire buddy has a spare i/c set aside for me, however i might have another idea all together.

Your welcome. Most of us are do it yourselfers with decent but limited knowledge, i think its important we share our research and findings.



Unfortunately the leak is definitely on the inside of the core. Thanks for the tip on the air pressure, i will remember that.

 

240,
The higher air pressure did make for a VERY good demonstration of the leak! Thanks again.

 

Thanks 240 ,Mike r and Woody, great info for all the 6- ers.Vidio's are worth a 1000 words. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! ILLCYA

 

On the first video the pump is not a sump pump it won't pull water up, it is designed to move water like the old style paddle boats. If you poor water down the feed tube and energize the pump you will then see that it functions fine.

 

What he said!

 

I think he knows guys.....

 

if you decide to take the i/c apart can you post some fotos of the inside? i have never seen the inside and i was thinking maybe a custom radiator shop could do something better with the space inside.
thanx!

 

Haha yea. Thanks bulldogger and tighed1...at first i thought i had it figured out, just to call Johnson pump and be told otherwise. I learn something new everyday with this car and its related projects. Good lesson learned about the way our centrifugal pumps function.

Well i probably wont hack it apart, but on a related note i contacted Bell intercoolers about i/c options about a year ago. Our best idea was to combine 2 of their cores together, but it only added up to 1-1.5" more length, not worth the near $1000 price tag i was quoted. If you or your radiator shop can source a core the same dimensions as ours im sure you could remove inlet and outlet flanges, weld the factory sides on, then reweld the flanges.

 

Vey good demonstration. Thanks for showing it!