Broken intercooler?

[soulberg]

Hello,

What are the best ways to tell if a intercooler needs replacing?
I have alot of black and gray smoke when accelerating and my mechanic (my brother ) stated that the intercooler looked "kinda beaten up" when he looked under the car. But none of us has worked with these cars before so who knows what they are supposed to look like. The IC is not leaking oil. In VIDA the intercooler seems to cool the air about 3-4 degrees celsius when accelerating by reading the intake air temp from the MAF and comparing it to the temp at the TMAP. After 20min of driving the IC-temp was about minus 70 degrees celsius. So it's working, but could it still need replacement?

It's a V70, 2,4d from 2007.

[Kev0607]

I’m assuming your brother must have spotted something to say its “beaten up”.

A bad intercooler can have oil patches on it & they can sometimes bow (as in lose their shape). Sometimes an engine management light can come on. Acceleration can also be poor with a bad intercooler.

Maybe take some pictures & upload them so we can have a look?

[apersson850]

If the intercooler is leaking air, in reasonable amounts, you'll not notice much difference. A higher fuel consumption will be the result, since the controller thinks more air is going into the engine than really is.

If it gets excessive, you'll get an error message if the motor is exposed to high load conditions. That's what happened to me, towing my caravan up a steep hill.
In my case it was not the intercooler itself, but the air tube from the turbo assembly to the intercooler (under the engine) that had developed a hole.
After getting new parts in the fuel consumption decreased by a whopping 15%.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by soulberg

After 20min of driving the IC-temp was about minus 70 degrees celsius. So it's working

I would say that a minus 70°C reading shows that the sensor is not working correctly.
What is the temperature reading before starting the engine from cold?