Thought it was the MAF but it was a cracked Intercooler!

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 17 May 2008, 19:01

Good strategy...I wasn't loaning the car but it was close to a loan...I was driving a 240 back from Chattanooga to Knoxville where I bought it and needed someone to drive my car back for me. I asked the guy to drive, so it's my fault really for taking the risk. Anyway, that's the story.

I found a used intercooler at a junk yard today and have the radiator, fan and intercooler out of my car...I've cleaned up everything...used brake cleaner in the intercooler to get any oil residue out and flushed the radiator with water from a hose and then distilled water. It'll all go back in tomorrow and hopefully I won't have any more issue with the car...I'm thinking my MAF is fine.

The skid plate from IPD saved my oil pan and engine...also transmission and probably the hard A/C lines and no telling what else:

However it does not extend in the front enough to cover the intercooler lip which is under the plastic "air dam" but the plastic is no protection if you hit something hard enough. If you're ever in a no-start predicament after you go off the road with a turbo car, get the air dam out of the way and take a look, your intercooler could look like mine. The only way to get home (if you're not leaking oil, transmission fluid or coolant) at this point is to unplug the MAF Sensor and limp home. Here's a picture of my cracked intercooler:

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 18 May 2008, 18:14

I really wanted my car to be fixed before the weekend was up so I bought a used intercooler yesterday from a junk yard...they had me over a barrel...paid $180 for it...way to much. Anyway, I got it all back in following the instructions for radiator removal on www.volvospeed.com Bay 13 Repair and Maintenance section...it really wasn't to bad. While I had everything out I did some more maintenance....replaced a few more vacuum hoses that were hard to reach before with silicone and this fixed a small leak I apparently had that I didn't know about earlier...now I'm boosting about 17PSI and at idle, I'm under 20 hg's....before I was at about 17. Also straighted the skid plate and installed it back in with a few pieces of rubber between it and the chassis...no more vibrations from it!

Just don't know why Volvo made an intercooler with a plastic bottom. I'd like to see a place make just the bottom section out of aluminum that an owner could replace themself...it wouldn't be that hard to pull all the tabs up, take the cracked piece off and then put the new piece in and push the tabs all back....the replacement piece would need to have a gasket on it or you could use Super RTV to make your own. It would also cut down on pollution- no more pitched intercoolers into the garbage just because it's cracked on the bottom. Anyway, I'm tired, and my back aches but all is good!

chuckcintron · Post by **chuckcintron** » 27 May 2008, 12:12

Way late on this thread...but can a crack like that be repaired with a high quality epoxy?

-Chuck

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 27 May 2008, 15:03

I doubt that an epoxy would really hold under the pressure (PSI) going through the intercooler but maybe so....I'm tempted to take the bottom off and have someone "plastic welding" it which I understand is much more durable- actually fusing everything together with a brad of it on the outside to act almost like re-bar to further strengthen it. What you don't want to do is restrict air flow.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 23 Jun 2008, 18:21

Since I last posted on this thread almost a month ago, I did some searching and some emailing. Today, a guy from S. California called me who is familiar with IPD (actually done some business with them about 2 decades ago) seems willing to fabricate the lower section of the intercooler with aluminum to be a direct fit. No more taking the intercooler out of the car if you crack it like I did...instead, you pull the crimps out, pull the plastic piece off, fit in the aluminum piece and push back the crimping pieces for a direct fit replacement WITHOUT dropping the radiator or intercooler like I had to do. Stay tuned! This might be a very economical solution to this issue in the future....still wish the IPD skid plate had another bend in it and was about 6 inches longer in the front to cover the intercooler.