S60R cracked intercooler

**s_cowen** · Wednesday 15th February 2012, 23:31

Well today while doing a service on my R I noticed oil around the intercooler to throttle body hard pipe just below the air box & hoping it was a split in the pipe or loose hose clamp I decided to give it a good old clean then check the pipe for splits & also check the tightness of clamp, all seemed well so started the engine & got my mate to rev the engine & I noticed a crack on the intercooler that only appears when on hard boost spraying oil everywhere, the crack is just after where the hard pipe joins onto the cooler!

Are these intercoolers able to be welded or am I looking at a new one as it doesn't seem to be in bad condition apart from this?

Also if I do have to buy a new one are they the same as the T5 ones?

Thanks.

**dtp** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 03:42

Take this opportunity to have a more efficient FMIC fitted. I had this done to mine last year as mine started to balloon and split.

**Santa** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 06:46

I would agree with the above and opt for a FMIC.

I'd offer up my old intercooler but I'm not sure where it is. (I might have already passed it onto someone else).

**smithy** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 09:45

Originally Posted by s_cowen

Well today while doing a service on my R I noticed oil around the intercooler to throttle body hard pipe just below the air box & hoping it was a split in the pipe or loose hose clamp I decided to give it a good old clean then check the pipe for splits & also check the tightness of clamp, all seemed well so started the engine & got my mate to rev the engine & I noticed a crack on the intercooler that only appears when on hard boost spraying oil everywhere, the crack is just after where the hard pipe joins onto the cooler!

Are these intercoolers able to be welded or am I looking at a new one as it doesn't seem to be in bad condition apart from this?

Also if I do have to buy a new one are they the same as the T5 ones?

Thanks.

get an alloy uprated fmic they work very well with a high boosting kkk24 mate

**stribo** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 10:28

Should an intercooler be leaking oil anyway? as I thought only air passed though them.

**rikcougar** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 11:08

Originally Posted by stribo

Should an intercooler be leaking oil anyway? as I thought only air passed though them.

It will do if the turbo seal is letting oil past ????

Quite often though the amount of oil looks a lot worse than it actually is

**Wobbly Dave** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 11:56

There is a small drain hole in the OEM FMIC to allow the seepage to escape.

**wegal** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 12:23

Get a front mount for it. The difference between standard and FMIC is like night and day. Ive never seen an intercooler that doesnt have some oil in it, and when you spill oil, even a tiny amount ends up looking like something from the exon valdese !

**M-R-P** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 13:14

The pcv system will bleed a little oil into the inlet, before the turbo, if it's being atomised through a crack in the i/c, a little oil will go a very long way.

**Al115** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 13:43

How much are we talking about for a drop-in FMIC replacement?

Might also consider one

**wegal** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 15:08

Depends on the car Alistair, the 850's have a load of options, as do I believe the P1 cars. The P2's are a more select market. I paid just shy of a grand for mine fitted, but fitting was by no means a simple job.

**Santa** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 16:02

Mine was also a grand ish....the air con condensing tray had to be replaced if I remember correctly.

**Al115** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 16:23

Thanks guys. It's staying standard for now then, until it fails!!!

**dtp** · Thursday 16th February 2012, 17:22

Mine was a grand as well. But it was worth the money.

**wegal** · Friday 17th February 2012, 15:52

Originally Posted by dtp

Mine was a grand as well. But it was worth the money.

Personally I think that after the remap, the FMIC was the best investment in terms of pounds per smile. No more latent heat issues, no more intercooler heat soak issues, no more retarded ignition cos of knock.

It pulls just as hard after an hour of hard driving as it did at the start. Its one of those things I wished Id done a lot earlier.

**s_cowen** · Friday 17th February 2012, 19:45

Hi where is the best place to buy the s60r front mount intercoolers from & are they a direct fit to original pipes?

**wegal** · Saturday 18th February 2012, 16:43

try tim williams, hes a member on here. look in the members list. if you want his phone number pm me.

**Santa** · Saturday 18th February 2012, 16:50

Got mine and fitted by GRN Motors. Also a member on here.

**sizzlechest** · Sunday 19th February 2012, 16:30

I just had a look at my PayPal history to see what I used for my FMIC:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISA...m=400114028314
2.5" TURBO INTERCOOLER PIPE PIPING DIY KIT 64MM BLUE
£73.99
I have lots of piping left over! I’m sure it would have been cheaper to buy the individual piping/elbows/couplers and not have leftovers.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=230660694065
UNIVERSAL 2.5" FRONT MOUNT INTERCOOLER 610x225x65mm
£77.99

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLACK-63mm...item439915eff7
Blue 63mm 2.5" Silicone Hose 45 degree Elbow Bend
£16.90
I used this to mate the OTE pipe to the 2.5" pipe. It worked well – no kinks/bottle necking.

Total: £168.88

One other piece of silicone I had already was a (poss. 2.75")??-to-2.5" reducer. This mated the cold side 2.5” pipe to the factory piping beneath the airbox, if that makes sense.

**graemewelch** · Sunday 19th February 2012, 19:37

your more than welcome to come to mine and take a look at my intercooler set up. i consider making up some brackets and piping if you wanted to copy my set up. im at chester le street if your intrested