Two days ago I took my OEM intecooler to a local shop to be cleaned, and tested. I received a call about an hour later telling me to come pick it up, and that it was junk. I called Harry at PDR and he was very helpful. This morning I received my new intercooler via Fed Ex. The instalation was very smooth and everything fit very well. When I finished up I couldn't wait to go test it, since I new there was a pretty bad leak in the old one. I also replaced all the boost hose, and O-ring while I was in there. When I left the house, I new right away something was wrong when my EGT's were 250* hotter than normal and my boost had dropped about 6 psi. There is also a strange roaring sound coming from the turbo under boost. I have since removed the unit from the truck, and inspected the inlet/outlet. Is it possible to get a bad intrcooler from the factory? I have seen bad radiators right from GM.


Any info would be great. Thanks

 

Anything's possible. You could pressure check it with some plumbing bits. My guess is that the o-ring on the turbo outlet is not seated right, that happens an awful lot.

 

sounds more like an air leak

 

Double checked the O-ring this morning, its brand new along with the boost hose I got by the foot at napa. One thing I didn't mention is that the turbo is XXXXXX-tra slow spooling and there is alot of low end smoke.

 

It will spool slow when there's a big leak.

 

I get the feeling theres something wrong with it, I have seen a new radiator with half the tubes stopped up with solder.

 

Here's some info on my site about making the PVC stuff to test with

http://dens-site.net/Dodge_CTD/Intercooler/

And you get to see my scary but functional intercooler

Den

 

The official Cummins test is to run 'er up to 30 psi and see how long it takes to lose 7 psi. If it's more than 15 seconds, it's OK by them. Minor leaks are not considered a problem.

 

Thanks for all the great info. I just got done inspecting the inside of the cooler with a mirror, and I couldn't find one thing wrong wih it. I think yall are right; there has to be a leak some where. First thing in the morning I'm gonna pressure test it.

Thanks, James

 

This morning I checked it and there wasn't a single leak, so I went ahead and put it back in. I noticed that the turbo outlet looked slightly off center, so I reclocked it just to be sure that I had a good seal with the outlet pipe. I also double checked the O-ring, everything was flush and tight. I didn't even make it down the street before I new it was still doing the same thing. The turbo lag is not quiet as bad, but the temps and boost are still poor. Everytime it hits about 24 psi its like its hitting a wall and the roaring sound is still there. Its kinda frustrating that I can't seem to find any problems.

 

So did you figure out what was going on?

Chris

 

lil jim Where are you located? Maybe some one from this board lives close to you and could help you out. Have you checked your turbo? The fins aren’t rubbing the housing are they?

Stomp

 

Yesterday I pressure tested the entire system through the turbo inlet. With the guage on the inlet side reading 20psi, I sprayed every single fitting, hose, clamp, etc. that I could get to and there wasn't a single leak. I was reading 20psi on my boost gauge also. I had just about given up when I thought about taking another boost gauge and installing it on the high pressure side of the turbo. Fired it up and made a test run, these are the results.

Turbo / Manifold

5psi / 2psi

20psi / 11psi

30psi / 19psi


The spare boost gauge on the turbo side was only good to 30psi, but it was pegging it at approx. 3/4 throttle. I called Harry this morning to give him the results and they are sending another one in its place. That's one good thing about dealing with the people at PDR, thanks for the help!

 

Dang! Must've been the first day on the job for the welder who made that one.

 

He just stuffed his McD's garbage in the end after lunch

I opened the side door in a big server we got when I worked at the university as a sys admin, and there were empty dorito bags stuffed in there


Den