Early info for you to see, I have some preliminary data to show you, but for now here is a picture.

This is one side of a failing unit that has lots of FACTORY rework. Note the hand work to touch up leaks, seems to be labor intensive and what if there are joints that were close to leaking but did not fail enough to show.

Hummmmmmmm Woody


004-14.flv video by 1bdsrt - Photobucket

 

I'm one of the unlucky ones Woody. It's a bad thing to have happen. The boost is entering the I/C and hurting water flow. I can't wait for more info and more pictures.

Les

 

Subscribed. It is discouraging to think that many of us may possibly be heading for the same dilema. What's up w/ the factory REFURBISHED charge air coolers??

 

Im watching.

 

subsribed, supporting an upgrade to the weak link

 

That is utterly shocking, as I have all the original docs on the car and the I/C was never serviced.

Worth noting, the intercooler is the only part on the motor so far that I've seen with a "made in Mexico" sticker.

And as I have learned at Nissan, Mexico's definition of QC is a good bit different from the ROW... especially the Germans.

With the "spare no expense" nature of the motor, I'm shocked Daimler trusted such a vital component to chance.

Sobering indeed.

 

Love your work Wood...

It would be interesting to see if we can find a fabricator out there willing to target a $500/piece group buy in an improved design. Maybe even do the fins in copper - hang the extra 3kgs

Silly question - but you didnt happen to bench it and run a manometer across it? Be interesting to know baseline dP's - air at least - even water.....

 

The rework was at the factory, which means that the leaks were ""fixed"" before assembly. Looks like a bad process to me.



It is interesting to note that the water is in a racetrack circuit, which means it goes in and out several times - in three passes thru the air stream. The coldest "new" water goes across the air as it exits the I.C.

The warm water goes across the warm air in the middle of the I.C.

The heated water now goes across the Hottest air at the inlet to the I.C.

This is called counter flow design heat exchanger (its the I.C. Iam talking about here) and the coldest water cools the outlet , then the middle and the beginning before exiting the I.C. If I can get the photo to show up, youll see it easily as I drew lines on the shell of the I.C. case.

I feel that it may be possible to rework these things, all depends on the COST of a new one.


What are new ones selling for and where are they being made??? Is quality of the new ones better - has a replacement been found to leak?? Let me know.


I want to try some woody stuff and rework the case to reassemble it for more tests- just have to get friendly with the tig torch. Its always a good day when you have an opportunity to do some tigging, like suduko it improves your mind.....

If the photo does not up load I will get it again at home, Woody

 

The new ones are about $920 and are also made in Mexico.

 

best to make it single pass if possible!

Rudy changed my I/C last week in Valk's garage, much thanks for putting up with us past midnight!

 

I have had no problem with Mexican coolers, tequila coolers are just great.

 

What are the symptoms/signs of a leaking IC?

 

When you've got a spare $600 in your bank account you could spend somewhere else..

 

I first noticed when I took off the upper manifolds to instal the Needswings dual CAI and saw the goo. I decided to ignore it until it got worse. Another symptom is the AIT's run hotter than normal. The problem is, what is normal and if you don't have an way to monitor the AIT's you'll never notice unless it's so severe that your coolant level goes down noticeable or the supercharger shuts off. I separated the intercooler circuit from the engine coolant circuit and didn't notice coolant loss with the supercooler. But, when I reinstalled the stock intercooler with a reservoir that won't hold pressure I started pumping water out of the cap under continued boost situations. (road racing) If I wasn't racing I'd continue to ignore the leak until it became more than a small leak.

Les