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Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 17:29
by ninja.turtle007
The charge cooler has been losing coolant and I thought it would just be a small leak from a hose somewhere. I have just discovered coolant in the intake pipe. :(

Is there any where London or Surrey base that can repair this ASAP or would something like rad weld work as temporary fix?

I need to have this solved by Tuesday due to holiday.

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 18:05
by lloydy
Long life exhausts in carshalton do ally and s/steel welding, can you see the hole for them to fix it?

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 18:17
by ninja.turtle007
I can't see the leak. I presume it is the core inside the intercooler that is leaking.

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 18:28
by lloydy
times not on your side is it, have you thought about removing it for your hols and just joining the pipes together?

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 18:31
by ninja.turtle007
lloydy wrote:times not on your side is it, have you thought about removing it for your hols and just joining the pipes together?

I could drain it. Would I risk damaging the engine with high intake temps?

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 18:38
by lloydy
cant see how, Kieth (and quite a few others) ran his for a fair while with no chargecooler. Would think you would notice slight power drop and maybe a CEL if the inlet gets too hot. Maybe confirm that with someone like max and caddy/ syncroandy.

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 19:15
by keith
I ran mine without when in the process of fitting......not for long mind....and not at full boost for long.....i do think its a safer bet than radweld...dont want that getting into the inlet.

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 19 Aug 2013, 17:21
by syncroandy
I think it'll just soldier on without the i/c, then if inlet temps go over 60 or something it'll start to back off fuelling a bit. I wouldn't worry too much about it so long as ambient temps are moderate.

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 19 Aug 2013, 21:20
by ninja.turtle007
With hindsight it may have been leaking since I bought it. I never really checked the levels until I could see the really high intake temps after I had fitted a scan gauge. So I think it been running with and without enough to circulate coolant for a while. :oops:

Thanks for the help, I'm going to run it as is and hope I have no major issues. Break down cover in place.

I found a company locally that can either repair it or build a custom one once I'm back as it can take 2-3 weeks.

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 19 Aug 2013, 22:12
by max and caddy
What was the highest intake you saw out of intrest? And what's everyone else peaking at? My missuss s mk4 AGR runs about 45degs on a hot day on a long climb at about 70 mph...that's standard tdi..

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 19 Aug 2013, 22:37
by ninja.turtle007
max and caddy wrote:What was the highest intake you saw out of intrest? And what's everyone else peaking at? My missuss s mk4 AGR runs about 45degs on a hot day on a long climb at about 70 mph...that's standard tdi..

On a hot day just over 50c, with low coolant up to 90c.

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 20 Aug 2013, 06:45
by lloydy
Ive had it touch 60 on sustained max boost going up a long steep climb(talking 50mph, 4th gear, full throttle for around 5 mins). Normal motorway driving inc up down hills its around 35 to low 50's

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 21 Aug 2013, 22:25
by mazz
We see avg temps of 60 to 70c on modern cars when driven hard Tom. We had a customer bring in a Golf 4 not so long ago and someone had removed intercooler and replaced it with drain pipe, it had been like that for years apparantly.
Have a good holiday Tom

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 02 Sep 2013, 14:44
by andy1300gt
Its about time we got to see some temps from somewhere. Now I know mine are in the correct range. Max 52C flat out up hill in fourth an the M5 towards Exeter racecourse

Re: Urgent! Charge cooler leak!

Posted: 10 Sep 2013, 22:59
by max and caddy
So what's the maximum safe temp and does the ecu start backing of fuel delivery if a danger level is reached...or will the engine just melt instead...