No power until I hit 12-15 psi, then it still is not great, so I checked for a leak. Yup, I can hear one. I charge the system to 20 psi and can hear the hiss coming from a impossible place, of course. It is near where the intake pipe meets the intercooler itself, hard to tell exactly, but I know it is not the rubber boot. If I charge the sysem to 20 psi, it takes about 1 minute for it to go to "0". Same if I go to 30 psi. Is this a big leak? I can hit 35+ on the gauge.
IF I have to remove the intercooler, which looks like a pain, are there any tricks to it?

 

I would be worried about the hole in intercooler getting bigger over time. If its a weld thats cracked might be a simple fix. Can you put soapy water on the area to better determine the exact location of the leak?

 

You are right about the, they rarely fix themselves. I thought about the soapy water but the hiss seems to be in a really hard to see place, natch. I will try it because I have nothing to lose.
If I have to replace the intercooler, are the aftermarket ones any better?
The price difference is huge, are they worth it? I don't notice many on other members sigs.

 

Most aftermarket intercoolers are way better IMO. They flow more air (less restrictive) They preform the heat exchange better (lower EGT's) and they are rated at higher boost lvls. All I can suggest is to pull the intercooler and then leak test it where you can see where exactly its leaking from. I dont remember how long it took me to pull mine but I pulled it with alot of front end damage (hit a ELK) so I was really just yanking stuff since I had to replace with new parts anyways.

 

Guys say you dont need an aftermarket intercooler until 600hp or more. IMO its not worth the money. You have to remember your intercooler is 12 years old. Its nothing more than a glorified radiator.
I had a leak on mine and I replaced it with a performance radiator one for $400.
Performance radiator is just a builder of oem radiators, condensors and intercoolers.
Heres the one I purchased.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DODGE...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Just a lil question,,,, if he can still get 35 pounds boost on the guage,, it cant be a big leak can it? I am starting to think I have a leak, but I can easily get 38 psi on my guage,, but my egts are very high, I am thinking boost leak or my timming slipped,, as I had it set a few months ago,, and just lately its getting "hot" very easy.

 

When mine was leaking I could still get 35-38 psi on the gauge.

When I did a leak test it wouldnt even hold a pound, thats how big it was. The leak was on the bottom two rows of the intercooler, where they are pressed and welded to the end caps.

 

Mine had a hole in one of the tubes sealed it with epoxy.

 

Outlaw if the egts are getting hot in rupper rpms and your running a stock charger I noticde when I had the stock charger that over 32psi (more or less) that the egts just went thru the roof, Basically I was told that over 35 psi that the HX35 just pushes heat and thats why egt's go so high. You can check your entire system for boost leaks by making the tool listed in the tech here. I would post a link but im at work.

 

Dieselman:
It sounds like your leak was worse than mine.
How was your truck behaving while you had the leak? No bottom end? Slow spool up, then it would take off? More smoke @ low RPM?
That is pretty much how mine is now. The turbo will shove a LOT more air than any shop compressor will using a 3/8" line, so you, like me, will get the 35+psi, the turbo just has to overcome the leak first.
From the sounds of it, I will have to remove the intercooler and deal with it, bummer, it doesn't look easy. I hope it solves my problem.

 

YES, YES and YES.
I didnt even think of a boost leak until my brother said that maybe we should do a leak test.
Sure enough MONSTER leak.
New intercooler and intercooler boots and the thing spools about 300 rpm sooner.