Air to water intercooler repair

[2rods]

I think if you can get down to where it is cracked you would destroy a lot of the fins. My son left water in it this winter. Need I say more? It appears there is 2 or 3 leaks as we pressure tested it and they are down in the middle of the core which is 4 1/2" thick. I thought running some rad sealer in it would be the answer even if I had to heat the water up for it to activate.

[bowtietillidie]

Here is a thought take the inter cooler off the engine , check if it can be opened to expose the tubes.  With an air hose, plug one end of a tube and apply air to the other end of said tube.  Listen closely when you find the leaking tube you will hear it.   Next make some plugs that have a taper .
take two plugs and drive them lightly into the leaking tube.(one on each end of offending tube) now mix up some epoxy that can live in a wet enviroment . Finish reassenbleing the inter cooler and test drive.    PS:the tapered plugs work best if they they are cut on a 7 degree taper      

[2rods]

Can't open it without destroying it. I sent pics to Wayne and maybe he will post them so you can see what I am up against.

[wayne petty]

i resized the pictures with graphic converter so they will post...


does any body thing that the paste they use to braze aluminum radiators might be sloshed through the unit... then drained out carefully.. and the intercooler heated in a precision oven to melt the paste that it might seal the holes without changing the thermodynamics.. or block the passages...


http://www.lemkesoft.com/download.html   graphic editing software... allows a lot of changes easily.. including... sizes.. resolution, and file types...

graphic converter...is what you want... also does neat slide shows... and if you open your image folders with it..  it will make photo icons for every photo if you select that option...     and it is mostly free..

[bowtietillidie]

I looked at the pictures but there is not enough definition for me to tell how the inter cooler was constructed . I retired from the Boilermakers union in 02
and inter coolers and heat exchangers were a big part of our work.   I have worked on them from smaller than the one in the picture to one's that are 40 ft long and 30 ft wide.   I have never found one that could not be cut open and fixed.   BUT money will dictate weather you want to go ahead .
 Question:  are the tubes shaped like a regular radiator or do they use round tubes .   The flat tubes are much harder to work on than the round tubes.     Also I have found that any attempt to repair from the outside
may get you by but the amount of efficiency lost is just not worth the hassle!!!!!!

[wayne petty]

i just ran across this link....  seems they are the intercooler people.. sizes.. shapes...  tons of intercool stuff..

http://www.bellintercoolers.com/index.html