[jme.73]

I have taken the intercooler off my Turbo Diesel to clean it out and see if there is anywhere for improvement.

Firstly the tools I needed were 7mm, 10mm and 12mm sockets, 12mm spanner, flat bladed screwdriver and snips

Let the engine cool down before touching it as these parts can get very hot.

It took me about 2 hours to take apart and put back together again.

 

[jme.73]

First remove the boost sensor multi plug and then undo the 10mm hose clip guide loctated near by.

 

[jme.73]

Take off the 4x 12mm bolts holding the Intercooler to the engine mounts. You may need to use the spanner for the hard to reach ones.

 

[jme.73]

Loosen off the 7mm pipe clips on both the the inlet and outlet sides. this allows you to slacken off the pipes and remove the intercooler. Then I took off the pipes and made sure nothing could get into the turbo or inlet manifold.

With these pipes off I cleaned them out in a bath of watered down Gunk and coca-cola, great for getting rid of grease and oil. Just think what it does for your insides
Then wiped them and left them to dry

 

[jme.73]

Next I worked on the intercooler itself. I undid the four 10mm bolts that hold the top cover on, this looked a bit worse for wear so will think about painting it at somepoint. Its pretty easy to take off when on the engine.

 

[jme.73]

Then I undid the inlet pipe which is held on by 2x 12mm bolts.

there is a plastic gasket that attaches here so be careful.

Finally undo 2x 12mm bolts holding the boost sensor on the intercooler, be careful of the sensor tube that sits inside the cooler.

 

[jme.73]

Then I flushed through the cooler from the outlet side with more coke. I let it fill up and sit for a while to help loosen off any deposits inside.
Then run clean water through for a few minutes and left it drain for while.
Then I wiped everything dry that I could, don't worry too much about the remains that can be left as I have read quite a few posts on other forums that the small quantity left gets burned up when the engine starts.

Put the whole thing back together in reverse order, double checked all bolts and connections. Then started it up with no problems. Some excess water did appear on the drive after a few moments but i think this was due to build up in the nooks and crannies dripping off with the engine vibrations.

Hope this is of help to people with the Turbo Diesel.

Jamie

 

[Cliffy]

did doing this make any difference??

 

[jme.73]

Well a lot of oily muck came out and this will block the fins and cause the cooling to be not as efficient as it should be. It is recommended to do this clean out every now and again in both the manuals and by Nissan mechanics. The leak is still there on the inlet side of mine, andysve is looking at getting his welded and I am waiting for some replies and prices for a replacement aftermarket version.
If you look at the other thread viewtopic.php?f=15&t=386, we are trying to find out if there is anyway to improve the turbo/intercooler problems that is the xtrails achilles heel.