Has anyone heard of this? I removed the plastic cover that is above the gap between the A/C condensor and the intercooler so I could look at the transmission cooler, and I noticed that about 3/4 or more of my intercooler is plugged up with oil and dirt. I could see "wet" oil along the right (passenger) side of the intercooler. There wasn't really much oil on the transmission lines that go below it, and no wet oil at any rate, so I don't think they are leaking. Also, the wet oil was black, with no red tint.

I took it to the dealer, and was told that the air coming into the turbo picks up a small amount of oil from the tube going into the valve cover. This gets passed through the turbo, through the intercooler, and into the engine. They said that the intercooler has a leak and that is where the oil is coming from.

The engine only has 83000 miles, and the intercooler is covered by the warranty, so they are fixing it for the $100 deductible.

I asked if it was maybe oil getting past the seal on the intake side of the turbo, but he said that the turbo won't fail that way. If a seal goes it will always dump oil into the exhaust.

Has anyone seen this?

Also, if I can get the old intercooler, can they be repaired? The dealer said they cant, but . . . . . ebay?????

Thanks,

John.

 

Some of the guys I know that have put intercoolers on pre '99 trucks have found that the breather lets oil into the intercooler. They've worked around this by installing a catch can for the oil, which they dump every oil change.

 

The intercooler is under pressure, where do you put a catch can? Do they naturally drip? Mine's a 2000 with factory installed intercooler. Shouldn 't leak oil, should it?

 

The catch can I was referring to replaces the hose from the breather into the intake on a pre '99. I don't know if Super Duties are plumbed that way, but the catch can gathers up the oil vapor that would otherwise be sucked into the intake.
This tid bit of information might not be of any value to you if yours is different.

 

I just installed a water separator for an air compressor to eliminate this problem. If you remove the intake hose that exits the filter box you will see a harder piece of plastic that bolts to a mount on the engine. This piece has a small port that sticks up from the bottom. Under this, there is a hose that goes dirrectly into the valve cover which allows oil vapor to enter directly into the intake and coat your intercooler with oil. I placed the water separator between the valve cover and the intake ducting using some fittings and 3/4" heater hose.

 

That sounds like a great idea. I may give it a try after they get the intercooler replaced.

So, the other question about the turbo, is it possible for oil to get into the intake air stream because of a bad seal on the turbo?

 

If the turbo seal lets go you will get oil directly into the intake system of the engine or to the exhaust side depending on which seal lets go. The oil pressure of the turbo is anywhere from 15 to 20 psi at idle to 50 to 60 psi at operating rpm of the engine. To verify which seal is out (if any) you will have to remove the exhaust down pipe and look around in the turbo or the down pipe itself or remove the turbo all together and see if the oil is in the pressure chamber of the turbo. I would think the oil consumption would really be noticable. Probably what you are seeing is the engineered design of the engine eating up the gasses from the internal parts of the engine. Anyway, keep us posted as to the outcome of the intercooler exchange and the install of the bleeder hose mentioned above. Bill