Intercooler removal

[Quinny]

So I've come to the conclusion that after washing down the engine bay at the weekend, the intercooler on my HDi is foobarred, as it has a small hole in the bottom, and is covered in oil again.

Luckily, I've found a guy that is breaking a similar car, and I've bought the intercooler that is on his car, which is bone dry, and very clean.

So hopefully someone on this 'ere site will tell me how to remove and replace.

[GingerMagic]

Piece of cake.

1) remove front grill
2) undo the 4 bolts holding the slam panel in place
2b) lift up and move the airbox out of the way.
3) undo the 2 hoses, one top and one bottom.
4) gently pull back and lift the slam panel, this frees the top of the intercooler
5) unplug the MAP sensor
6) wiggle the intercooler free. ( there are 2 pins in the bottom of the intercooler that sit in 2 holes in the body.

Refit as above, although it takes a bit of wiggling to put the new one in.

Should be 30 mins start to finish.

[Quinny]

That's what I like about this site, a fast response.

Thanks GM.

[GingerMagic]

I did mine twice - the first time I was up to my elbows in oily residue trying to fit a new intercooler from an 806, turned out it was 2" too tall so had to put my oily one back in...

2nd time was easy though

[Quinny]

Second question.

In which direction does the intercooler work?

I've just pulled the top pipe off at the rocker cover end, and that, as expected, has a slight film of oily residue on, but as the leak on my intercooler is at the bottom, and I'm just off to work and don't have time to pull the bottom pipe off, does the air flow from bottom to top? (Unlike a radiator which flows top to bottom.)

The reason I'm asking, is because I can't work out why the bottom of the intercooler is blathered in oil, (See pic 1: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21189) which seems to be constantly seeping out, and I'm hoping that it's nothing serious, and that my replacement will be ok. No point in putting the replacement on if there is something more sinister going on.

[GingerMagic]

Yes mine was bubbling too, under revs. I guess thats where the oil settles inside so that would be where its pushed out? Maybe it also leaks elsewhere but there are no tell-tale bubbles as theres no oil on the outside further up...

I believe it flows bottom to top i.e. in the air filter, over and behind the engine into the turbo, then blown underneath and up through the intercooler and back into the front of the engine.

If you remove the top and bottom pipes you can apparently use Mr Muscle oven cleaner to degrease them before rinsing and refitting. I never bothered, I will clean mine when removing the air-doser.

[Quinny]

What is worrying, is that I pressure washed the engine on Saturday, and paid particular attention to the area surrounding the intercooler, and it is now nearly as dirty as the picture in the link above, but I need to find out why. There is no loss of power, no rear end smoke, and I'm at a loss as to what the hell is going on. I have the second hand intercooler to fit this weekend, and hopefully it might just be that my current one is knackered, and that the replacement will solve the issue.

[Quinny]

So a second hand intercooler with no leaks, is purchased from a guy in Barnsley, (who is breaking a 2000 HDi 110 if anyone is interested.) for the princely sum of 10 of the English pounds.

So the dismantle begins after I have replaced the auxilary belt, and after about half an hour, the old unit is out, and worse than I thought. A small container is put underneath the bottom hose to catch the oil, and about half a cup full comes out, and it's like tar.

Sealing off the pipe under the engine, and another session with the pressure wash to get rid of the crap around the intercooler area, and we're good to go. As GM says, it's a bit of a wiggle to get the 'new' one in, but in she eventually goes, and after about 1 1/2 hours in total, she's fired up. So far so good.

So I trip off to East Yorkshire last night, and after around 170 miles later, we're oil leak free around that area, although I suspect the crankshaft oil seal in gone, as there is a lot of deposit around the pulley, and onto the sump plug, but hopefully that will be done next.

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