service my intercooler?

1996 disco 300 tdi
got my disco in AUGUST it has 66k on clock had sat in owners garage for five years unused due to family bereavment
a few problems as you would expext blanked EGR changed oil and all filters new timing belt fuel lift pump and performance and power improved slightly after each procedure
but it still lacks a bit of grunt especially when towing next task is to have a look at intercooler but never having done anything to one before what should I look for as far as "bad news" is concerned and what and how do I clean it/service it

cheers

Just take it out, pour some petrol in it, swich it about for a few minutes then leave for a bit, drain it out. make sure its dry and you get rid of all the old petrol vapour from it before starting your engine, blow it through with a hair dryer or compressed air or something. if the EGR was knackered then you might wanna take ur inlet manifold off to flush it out as well, but obviously you'll need to remove the exhaust manifold as well to fit a new gasket.

as for the outside, just blast it with a hose/pressure washer to get all the crap out of the fins. make sure you plug the ends to you dont actidently fill it with water.

if the bottom of the incooler has any amount of oil more than a smear then your turbo seals might be going, dont worry about the pipes/inetcooler having a tiny bit of oil in them but too much means you could have spotted a potential problem.

Sorry to butt in! out of interest does the intercooler have a drain tap at the bottom like me volvo digger has? that collects quite a bit of condensation over a week or two of work!

Mine don't discoade, would be a pretty easy mod to put on...if you wanted to. Don't get any condensation in mine though.

Ahh i just wondered! when i drain the one on the digger once every couple of weeks i get about a pint o water out of it! but then the intercooler is about 3ft by 5ft! Thanks anyway!

Take intercooler out, lay it on it's back and fill with parafin, leave overnight.

what does that do regards performance?

RAZ8550TDI said:

what does that do regards performance?

Click to expand...

Quite a lot if you forget to drain it before refitting it!


CharlesY

i meant cleaning it out/servicing it not leaving ****e in it sorry

Cleaning the intercooler makes it more efficient at cooling the charge air...
the turbocharger, heats the air, by virtue of it being a compressor..

Cooler air is more dense, therefore there are more air molecules to explode inside your engine.

Cooler air means a bigger bang inside your engine.The bigger the bang, the more power goes down to your road wheels.

ever driven on a cold misty morning and got a sensation there was a tad more poke from your engine, it just maybe true?

some cars have even been fitted with a mist spray which bursts a mist of water onto the intercooler, the rapid evaporation of the water draws even more heat from the charge air through the intercooler giving the engine a momentary power boost.

am not that stupid

battenberg said:

Cleaning the intercooler makes it more efficient at cooling the charge air...
the turbocharger, heats the air, by virtue of it being a compressor..

Cooler air is more dense, therefore there are more air molecules to explode inside your engine.

Cooler air means a bigger bang inside your engine.The bigger the bang, the more power goes down to your road wheels.

ever driven on a cold misty morning and got a sensation there was a tad more poke from your engine, it just maybe true?

some cars have even been fitted with a mist spray which bursts a mist of water onto the intercooler, the rapid evaporation of the water draws even more heat from the charge air through the intercooler giving the engine a momentary power boost.

Click to expand...

yer dint gert explosions inside yer engine. least ways yer ding want them
what yer want is a controlled burn to release the energy slowy ( comparitively) so that max cylinder pressure is acheived just before TDC. this way you get a continuious push on the piston rather than a shock blow which will cause untold damage.

detonation in a petrol engine is a form of explosions and the noise that goes with it come from the shock waves bouncing around your combustion chamber.

and as fer yer turbo heating the air because it a form of compressor, well to a point thats true but the main reason for it heating the air is it proximity to the exhaust gases and the fact that the heat from the exhaust conducts through the turbo and is picked up by the air.
you have to compress air a shed load more than a bog standard turbo will to significuntly raise air temp.