D5 Needs a New Intercooler

**v70torslanda** · Friday 29th August 2008, 23:13

GLUMS!

Friggin' car sounds like it should be painted bright yellow and have 'Ingersoll Rand' stencilled on the side!

BUMS!

On a brighter note it blew after some particularly enthusiastic driving on a 'Route Touristique' near Perigeuex. The guy in the Peugeot 207 was desperate to lose 'l'Ainglaise' to the extent that he was putting it on the grass in the right handers.

Total mileage for the holiday was 3100 @ 42.1mpg

You know - If someone had told me 25 years ago that one day I'd drive a Volvo, with a diesel engine, an automatic gearbox and that it would be capable of annoying boy racers I would have politely asked WTF had you been smoking?

You get older you get meaner. . .

J

**Justin** · Saturday 30th August 2008, 08:08

Common fault on the D5's, loved the write up on "tout le France troll" though

**v70torslanda** · Monday 1st September 2008, 20:17

Had it fixed today. There were nearly a dozen leaks in the old intercooler. To quote Billy Connolly 'It would need a clarinet player to show you how to hold it!'

It would seem to have been leaking for some time judging by the amount of oil that needed to be cleaned off the condenser, radiator and front panel. Also replaced the intake hose onto the turbo as that was ripped.

Big 'thankyou' to Rob at:

Trevor Burgess Independent Volvo Specialists.
Hyde, Cheshire.
0161 368 9911. (SHAMELESS PLUG!)

This seems to have failed as a combination of age and a 1000 mile drive which served to clean all the carbon and oil from the pipework in the system. Combine that with a good dose of enthusiastic French mountain road driving and it let go in several places all at once.

The car is now smoother, quieter and more powerful than I can remember at any time in the 3 years I've had it.

Go figure...

J

**Justin** · Monday 1st September 2008, 20:45

Do you mind saying how much the job cost you all in?

Shameless plug but if they are doing the job right why not. The wifes car has just been done (by its former owner) so no cost to us thankfully, I had heard it was about £600 including parts. The pipe split is common too, ours had all of them changed at the same time

**v70torslanda** · Monday 1st September 2008, 21:19

Originally Posted by Justin

Do you mind saying how much the job cost you all in?

Shameless plug but if they are doing the job right why not.

Don't mind at all.

Using a second hand intercooler - pressure tested - for round figures £400.00

I think this is a true bargain as I believe a genuine part is over 300 quid on it's own. The intake hose is 50-something and the labour time is around 3 hours. For those that don't know changing the intercooler involves removing headlamps, bumper, a/c condenser (no need to disconnect) and the radiator.

In addition the car was scanned and fault codes downloaded and erased and the coolant was changed.

I'm dead happy

luv'n'stuff

J

**Justin** · Monday 1st September 2008, 21:22

Great price and good find on the 2nd hand unit.

Its a fiddly job as described by many and 3 hours easy.

Thumbs up to Trevor Burgess then

**doug kyle** · Friday 29th January 2010, 01:57

Brand new D5 intercooler fitted today at Stirling Volvo on my 54 plate S80 = £449.26

**Jaseb77** · Friday 29th January 2010, 09:53

My D5 has done 147k now, am I looking at this happening to me soon ?

**Liddo** · Friday 29th January 2010, 10:49

At what mileage are they expected to go??? Any symptoms to look for???

Mine's just on 105k now, but feels fine

**v70torslanda** · Friday 29th January 2010, 11:50

There appears to be no hard and fast rule to this. Mine went at 102k others have gone earlier, lots are soldiering on without a sign of a leak.

It seems that diesel intercoolers are the same as the petrol units but the diesels run much higher boost and therefore suffer more from premature failure.

Brand new for 449? That's a damn good price for job done!

**Redbrick** · Friday 29th January 2010, 12:19

I now have a second hand T5 intercooler fitted to my D5. Only difference is a pressure sensor on the 'out' pipe of the intercooler. We have incorporated this into a metal pipe cut into the rubber pipe back to the EGR valve.
Having watched this being fitted it is very straight forward, no need to drain any coolant or touch aircon. Will attempt it again if needed. My second brand new intercooler lasted less than two years...

Boost is the killer for these intercoolers, they are made of very thin metal, only just up to the job- if you then up your boost it is inevitable that they will split.

**Liddo** · Friday 29th January 2010, 13:53

Originally Posted by Redbrick

Boost is the killer for these intercoolers, they are made of very thin metal, only just up to the job- if you then up your boost it is inevitable that they will split.

So does that mean re-mapping isnt a very good idea on these motors??

**v70torslanda** · Friday 29th January 2010, 17:47

As long as the map doesn't increase the boost pressures then everything should be fine. That's the problem with tuning, you don't know how fragile the original components are. That's why the manufacturers void the warranty if you do modify them.

**wegal** · Wednesday 10th February 2010, 17:06

Got to say that trevor burgess is a very good indy, i use him to :-)

The intercooler issue isnt limited to the D5's although they are known for it, mines a T5 and my intercooler is bent out of shape from the boost pressure, not leaking yet, but every time i floor it I wait for it to let go !

I looked into an upgraded one..... forget it cheapest i could find was over £1200 + fitting and the fitting involved cutting into the body work.. major hassel.

**v70torslanda** · Wednesday 10th February 2010, 21:54

Talking of modified, somewhere I have a BMW 730d intercooler which, to quote our friend from Oldham, is truly 'mahoosive'

I was tempted to try and fit it when the D5 broke but too much would have to be modified, I might try to fit it to my Passat though . . .

**t5_monkey** · Thursday 11th February 2010, 00:07

My Bell intercooler was £800 plus fitting

Still - a good intercooler makes an epic difference to the way the car drives when tuned, smoother with much more pull past 5000rpm - nearly as bigger difference as the chip itself, especially on hot days.

**v70torslanda** · Thursday 11th February 2010, 08:06

You're doing well if you can get a D5 to rev to 5000!

**smithy** · Thursday 11th February 2010, 10:13

Originally Posted by Liddo

So does that mean re-mapping isnt a very good idea on these motors??

get a custom 1 made stops this problem .i had mine done my radtec racing you will have no problems then

**t5_monkey** · Thursday 11th February 2010, 23:26

Originally Posted by v70torslanda

You're doing well if you can get a D5 to rev to 5000!

5000 is when the fun starts

**Redbrick** · Friday 12th February 2010, 09:12

Thought I'd post this 'how to' link as I did this job AGAIN yesterday. I've got a sneeky feeling the intercooler we fitted a few weeks ago may have been damaged which is why it didn't last. This is a T5 intercooler being fitted as D5 intercoolers don't ever seem to ever come up as second hand parts (I wonder why?!). You just need to make up a pipe to hold the pressure sensor. This IC cost £50 and now I'm running standard Volvo software (1.2 bar max) should last until I can get my FMIC fitted. New D5 IC can be had from Volvo for about £220. It was such an easy job to do and only took 2.5 hours all in.

http://forums.t5d5.org/intercooler-r...ml#entry121538