Anyone have a spare intercooler?

painemann · **Joined:** Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:02 pm **Posts:** 607

I have a leak in my intercooler and don't want to spend the $500+ to buy new. Anyone have one they want to sell? I screwed (literally screwed) it up when I put the condenser in with the wrong bolt.. It was too long and put a hole in it! Stupid!
Thanks

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Thu Jun 02, 2011 9:28 pm

In the core or in the tank?
Either one can be welded cheaper than $500.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:28 am

Try a JB weld fix, worked fine for me on my small leak:

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Fri Jun 03, 2011 2:47 pm

Sir Sam points out that JB Weld is even cheaper.
Unless you buy $500 worth :ROTFL:

72commando · **Joined:** Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:47 am **Posts:** 17

I just pulled my intercooler in lieu of my timing belt change, and noticed that I too have a small leak in the corner. Wouldn't a radiator shop (typically fixing aluminum radiators to be watertight) be able to fix this no problem?

painemann · **Joined:** Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:02 pm **Posts:** 607

My leak is in the side plastic part where the consensus mounts to the cac. I did have a bad leak but I put a screw in the hole and jb weld to seal it up. I know it's not leaking bad but I lights have a small leak or I could be hearing things!

kapalczynski · **Posted:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:04 pm

Ok, a couple things. I have some experience in this area (http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=50589&hilit=+intercooler).

A small leak will not hurt your power because the MAP sensor will still maintain the needed PSI for the system, however it WILL cause your turbo to work harder. I.E. If the ECU requests 20PSI, and 20 is being read at the MAP sensor, but 5 psi is being lost then the turbo is producing 25psi and working harder than it should. Obviously this is not good. A large leak and this gets worse, etc, etc.

If you leak is fairly small like mine was you will notice that if you use curise control the vehicle will surge becuase air pressure is being lost through the leak in a rythym while pressure is built, with the higher pressure it leaks faster, then pressure is lost, then turbo compensates and adds boost to maintain the ECU's...over and over. This caused a slight surging of rpms/vehicle speed.

Anyway, I ended up getting an intercooler from someone that bought one to build a salvage jeep and then gave up adn sold a brand new one to me. Welding it can be tricky since it has plastic end caps. I had an offer of one guy to build alumimum end caps, build the outlets, etc, fix the leak for me for $500. I got the new intercooler super cheap at $300 so i swayed that way.

If I had to choose the $700 or 500 for repairing mine and getting metal end caps for a perminate solution I'd go with the all metal solution.

These intercoolers arent really known for issues that I know of, but most people don't notice the surging or think its normal so no one knows till they take theirs out and see a black spot on it. So who knows? There may be a bunch of bad ones out there? I pressure tested the new one to 30psi and it held perfectly so i knew it would be good to go.

Drove like a dream after that...for more on that project see the above linked thread.

- Mark

painemann · **Joined:** Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:02 pm **Posts:** 607

kapalczynski wrote:

Ok, a couple things. I have some experience in this area (http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=50589&hilit=+intercooler).

A small leak will not hurt your power because the MAP sensor will still maintain the needed PSI for the system, however it WILL cause your turbo to work harder. I.E. If the ECU requests 20PSI, and 20 is being read at the MAP sensor, but 5 psi is being lost then the turbo is producing 25psi and working harder than it should. Obviously this is not good. A large leak and this gets worse, etc, etc.

If you leak is fairly small like mine was you will notice that if you use curise control the vehicle will surge becuase air pressure is being lost through the leak in a rythym while pressure is built, with the higher pressure it leaks faster, then pressure is lost, then turbo compensates and adds boost to maintain the ECU's...over and over. This caused a slight surging of rpms/vehicle speed.

Anyway, I ended up getting an intercooler from someone that bought one to build a salvage jeep and then gave up adn sold a brand new one to me. Welding it can be tricky since it has plastic end caps. I had an offer of one guy to build alumimum end caps, build the outlets, etc, fix the leak for me for $500. I got the new intercooler super cheap at $300 so i swayed that way.

If I had to choose the $700 or 500 for repairing mine and getting metal end caps for a perminate solution I'd go with the all metal solution.

These intercoolers arent really known for issues that I know of, but most people don't notice the surging or think its normal so no one knows till they take theirs out and see a black spot on it. So who knows? There may be a bunch of bad ones out there? I pressure tested the new one to 30psi and it held perfectly so i knew it would be good to go.

Drove like a dream after that...for more on that project see the above linked thread.

- Mark

Some good info thanks Mark!
Well I had a good bolt size hole in the right side plastic end so I found a similar size bolt put it in the hole and used some jb weld to seal it up. It seems to be holding for now but who knows how long or if I have a small leak that is hard to hear over engine noise. I could pressure test it but I would want to have means to repair it when I have it out.
So if anyone has a damaged one that I could use the plastic end caps that would work too!
Thanks.

kapalczynski · **Posted:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:26 pm

painemann wrote:

kapalczynski wrote:

Ok, a couple things. I have some experience in this area (http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=50589&hilit=+intercooler).

A small leak will not hurt your power because the MAP sensor will still maintain the needed PSI for the system, however it WILL cause your turbo to work harder. I.E. If the ECU requests 20PSI, and 20 is being read at the MAP sensor, but 5 psi is being lost then the turbo is producing 25psi and working harder than it should. Obviously this is not good. A large leak and this gets worse, etc, etc.

If you leak is fairly small like mine was you will notice that if you use curise control the vehicle will surge becuase air pressure is being lost through the leak in a rythym while pressure is built, with the higher pressure it leaks faster, then pressure is lost, then turbo compensates and adds boost to maintain the ECU's...over and over. This caused a slight surging of rpms/vehicle speed.

Anyway, I ended up getting an intercooler from someone that bought one to build a salvage jeep and then gave up adn sold a brand new one to me. Welding it can be tricky since it has plastic end caps. I had an offer of one guy to build alumimum end caps, build the outlets, etc, fix the leak for me for $500. I got the new intercooler super cheap at $300 so i swayed that way.

If I had to choose the $700 or 500 for repairing mine and getting metal end caps for a perminate solution I'd go with the all metal solution.

These intercoolers arent really known for issues that I know of, but most people don't notice the surging or think its normal so no one knows till they take theirs out and see a black spot on it. So who knows? There may be a bunch of bad ones out there? I pressure tested the new one to 30psi and it held perfectly so i knew it would be good to go.

Drove like a dream after that...for more on that project see the above linked thread.

- Mark

Some good info thanks Mark!
Well I had a good bolt size hole in the right side plastic end so I found a similar size bolt put it in the hole and used some jb weld to seal it up. It seems to be holding for now but who knows how long or if I have a small leak that is hard to hear over engine noise. I could pressure test it but I would want to have means to repair it when I have it out.
So if anyone has a damaged one that I could use the plastic end caps that would work too!
Thanks.

I literally JUST threw mine away before leaving for texas. Cleaning out the basement before leaving for training. I will check the garbage cans when i get home in about a month because i can;t remember if i told the neighbor to put them out or not. I would imagine it would be really difficult to re-crimp the edge to get a good seal again, but if you are willing to try it i'd get mine off and send it to you if its still in the garbage can on the side of the house when i get back.
You might be able to figure out a way to pressure test the whole system (from turbo to intake manifold) with a few parts from lowes or home depot. As you can see in the thread above, i just installed a tire valve stem in a hole drilled through a pvc end cap to create a pressure test system. I would check to see if it is leaking at all before going through the effort of disassembling the end cap on the intercooler.

- Mark

Anyone have a spare intercooler?

Who is online