Intercooler sanity check needed

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

I think I may already know the answer to this question, but could use confirmation from someone who has been in this situation before. Spotted this this morning:

Confirmed that that is oil, not coolant, power steering, or transmission fluid. Upper CAC hose is dry on the bottom, so it's not a leak from there (I've temporarily bypassed the Provent, which means oil is present in the intake path).

The question: am I about to have to spring for a new intercooler? I'll hold off on giving the answer I got from the Magic 8-Ball until after a couple of folks who have been through this before can cast an opinion.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Sat Jul 11, 2020 2:48 pm

Yup, it's a leak. They all leak there eventually. I beat mine hard offroad and I've replaced them to no avail, as they'll fail again. I bought masshole's old one that he got from ebay, and I'll get installed eventually with the added bonus of the transmission cooler not being in front of the CAC, and it has more volume. Something like 14×22" and solid aluminum, no more plastic seams to seep oil.

Your current leak is harmless, just messy...

flash7210 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 11, 2020 3:20 pm

Same here.

Pulled my leaking intercooler back in December.
Replaced it with an “eBay special.”
I don’t think you can get new factory replacement intercoolers anymore.
If you find one it’s gonna be expensive.
An eBay special is a lot less money but a lot more work to install.

I don’t think your intercooler leak is causing your performance issues.
But if you want to go through the trouble of replacing it, I’ll share my experiences with you.

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Thanks, folks - I appreciate the confirmation.

And yep, new intercoolers are no longer available. I'm all ears for ideas / tales of woe regarding aftermarket replacements.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 11, 2020 7:02 pm

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=90752

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

flash7210 wrote:

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=90752

Interesting. Do you happen to remember what the dimensions on that one were?

For that matter, does anyone have a stock intercooler laying around they could measure?

I've been looking at the following eBay units:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Turbo-Front-Mo ... 3575341882

https://www.ebay.com/itm/REV9-UNIVERSAL ... 2079941138

Other than having to figure out mounting, physical dimensions seem to be the only real constraining factors. My plan is to keep the A/C operational, so finding something that can drop in relatively easily would be ideal.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 11, 2020 8:41 pm

Mine is 23 x 10 x 2.5
The inlet/outlet are oriented horizontal-outbound

For the stock unit, I measured 29 inches across the widest points.
So I bought an intercooler that was 29 inches overall width with inlet/outlet oriented vertically.
Looked great on paper.
Didn’t fit.

Even the one that did fit was almost too wide.
Had to trim back the upward oriented 90 deg silicone elbows.
All the aluminum pipe and silicone joiners are packed in there very tight.

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Having done about as much digging into this as I think I reasonably can, it looks like the first avenue of attack is going to be repair rather than replacement. If repairs don't hold, eBay intercoolers will start coming into the picture.

Checked with a friend who is an aerospace engineer, and he recommended either Pro-Seal 890 or Scotch-Weld 2214 as sealants. Both look fine to me for the intended purpose, but the Scotch-Weld needs a 250°F oven cure for around 45 minutes, and I'm not sure how happy the plastic tanks would be with that.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2020 11:13 am

casm,
just a thought, have you considered "Plastic Welding"?
It may be a much better and stronger long term fix than simply trying to glue or epoxy the plastic if you can get at it to weld it.
May be worth a try, much to gain and nothing to lose. :wink:

Eastwood automotive has two plastic welding kits available for do-it-yourselfers.
https://www.eastwood.com/tpo-teo-pp-pla ... -iron.html
https://www.eastwood.com/airless-plasti ... del-7.html

flash7210 · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:24 pm

Here is my old intercooler.
I can’t tell if it’s the end tank leaking or the core.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:35 pm

I don’t think it’s the plastic end tank

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:40 pm

flash7210 wrote:

I don’t think it’s the plastic end tank

Looks like the metal to plastic crimp gasket is leaking.
If you can find a radiator shop (very rare these days) they may can replace the seal and re-crimp the sealing band.

03black · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:41 pm

That is the way mine currently looks. So to fix it, I removed it and cleaned up all around the area with brake clean, dishwashing soap with a stiff brisel brush to get all the oily gunk out Then with soapy water sprayed the area, plugged the outlet with my hand and blew into the inlet and watched for bubbles. Found a leak at the top "inside" of the cooler fin and bar area.
Cleaned up the soapy water with acetone and used my air compressor to blow it dry. With a tooth pick mixed up some JB weld and spread it in between the fins and bar on both sides. Seems to be holding a small amount of pressure now, but I won't know till I get this engine restarted.

Maybe this will help you
And because a picture is worth a thousand words....

gollygeemister · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2020 11:38 pm

I did the JB weld seal on one that leaked in that area. Started weeping again in a few years. The other CRD I used 3M aircraft fuel tank sealant AC 240B. Comes as a 2 part epoxy in a giant syringe. It stays flexible and tolerates high temps. I degreased the area and cleaned with alcohol. Stood the intercooler up on its side and flowed the sealant all along the aluminum and between the tubes. Mine was not leaking at the plastic or the crimp - it was cracks along tubes. That one is still holding.

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

gollygeemister wrote:

I did the JB weld seal on one that leaked in that area. Started weeping again in a few years. The other CRD I used 3M aircraft fuel tank sealant AC 240B. Comes as a 2 part epoxy in a giant syringe. It stays flexible and tolerates high temps. I degreased the area and cleaned with alcohol. Stood the intercooler up on its side and flowed the sealant all along the aluminum and between the tubes. Mine was not leaking at the plastic or the crimp - it was cracks along tubes. That one is still holding.

Yep, from the looking around that I've done it appears that the problem is not the tanks, but the body of the intercooler itself.

As much as I'd like to replace it with something potentially more efficient, I just can't take the KJ down for more than a weekend at the moment, and it would likely take me longer than that to measure the old one, find a replacement, figure out mounting, etc. Having a running vehicle is paramount, so repair looks like a better fit.

FWIW, I'm suspecting that this is at least a contributing factor to the soot and performance issues the CRD's been having.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Tue Jul 14, 2020 5:28 pm

casm wrote:

Yep, from the looking around that I've done it appears that the problem is not the tanks, but the body of the intercooler itself.
As much as I'd like to replace it with something potentially more efficient, I just can't take the KJ down for more than a weekend at the moment, and it would likely take me longer than that to measure the old one, find a replacement, figure out mounting, etc. Having a running vehicle is paramount, so repair looks like a better fit.
FWIW, I'm suspecting that this is at least a contributing factor to the soot and performance issues the CRD's been having.

FYI, Summit Racing still list new ones available (05143020AA), but they are very pricey! :cry:

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

WWDiesel wrote:

casm wrote:

Yep, from the looking around that I've done it appears that the problem is not the tanks, but the body of the intercooler itself.
As much as I'd like to replace it with something potentially more efficient, I just can't take the KJ down for more than a weekend at the moment, and it would likely take me longer than that to measure the old one, find a replacement, figure out mounting, etc. Having a running vehicle is paramount, so repair looks like a better fit.
FWIW, I'm suspecting that this is at least a contributing factor to the soot and performance issues the CRD's been having.

FYI, Summit Racing still list new ones available (05143020AA), but they are very pricey! :cry:

Yep, I've called a bunch of places that are saying they're available, including Summit. Problem is, they're all drop-shipping from a supplier somewhere, so don't necessarily have an accurate indication of availability. Not giving drop-shipping a hard time, but I suspect that the last of them may have dried up unless it's a supply chain issue due to current events.

FWIW, I really, Really, REALLY want to do an aftermarket unit solely because I'd rather have one that is completely alloy / aluminium - but the time to take the KJ down for long enough to properly figure out what to use and how to mount it in the original location just isn't there.

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

May have found an aftermarket option. NRF 30162 (aka nrf 8718042012715), sold by niparts.com.

https://www.niparts.com/Fac/7598E6/NRF/30162.html

Going to look into this further, posting this largely as a memo to self. No ideas as to quality, etc. but it may be a drop-in possibility.

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

More notes to self: KK CRD intercooler is part number 68003967AA. Investigating if KJ CRD tanks may be able to be swapped to it. Less-than-ideal approach due to reuse of tanks, but would provide for stock mounting.

Intercooler sanity check needed

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