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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

What happens if your intercooler isnt efficient?


neilp9876

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You wont lose power like you would if, say, the air filter was clogged. An intercooler is just a heat exchanger, so if you would run it on high boost for a long time you might see raised intake temps ad therefor EGTs, and in the worst pssible case det. But depends on the spec of the car.

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The car is a j-spec BPU car, dyno'd at just over 400bhp at 1.2 bar boost. Its a 93 model and the intercooler will be original.

 

The reason I'm actually asking the question is whenever its used on full boost for an extended period of time, i.e. Track day. The oil temperatures rise significantly followed by the water once the oil is above 120 degrees.

 

I need to identify the issue and the intercooler is currently my best guess since if it was inefficient, then I guess the turbo temps will just get hotter and hotter but I dont know. I cannot measure the EGT temps.

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The car is a j-spec BPU car, dyno'd at just over 400bhp at 1.2 bar boost. Its a 93 model and the intercooler will be original.

 

The reason I'm actually asking the question is whenever its used on full boost for an extended period of time, i.e. Track day. The oil temperatures rise significantly followed by the water once the oil is above 120 degrees.

 

I need to identify the issue and the intercooler is currently my best guess since if it was inefficient, then I guess the turbo temps will just get hotter and hotter but I dont know. I cannot measure the EGT temps.

 

Google "how an intercooler works" and have a good read. I reckon it'd be the intercooler and that's why I'm waiting for a better condition one to come up for sale (mine's the original '94 one) before I fit the boost controller and up the boost.

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Its quite normal to see 120 d/c oil temp with hard use, if you`re using quality oil like silkolene pro-s 10/50 then thats fine, water temp shouldn`t really exceed 100 d/c with track use, an oil cooler will definately help. If your charged air gets to hot( bad i/c) the car can missfire(det) normally as the 2nd turbo comes in, water injection is a good safety feature after upgrading your i.c.

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Its quite normal to see 120 d/c oil temp with hard use

 

What about it getting to 135? The water temp increased at that point as well.

 

Not keen on getting an oil cooler as that may hide the symptoms without actually fixing the fault. I can get a new SMIC but I would like to be sure it will help first.

 

It didnt missfire at all which is a testament to the engine, but its certainly not ideal running conditions for it.

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If it were me I'd be fitting a bigger stainless radiator, some ducting and an oil cooler.

 

You could easily take your IC off though and see how it looks . A visual inspection should tell you all you need to know - I doubt it's got a hole in it if you're still seeing normal boost. Have you upped the boost from stock at all?

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Is the car stock as far as the ducting and all of the undertrays are in place? These are v important

 

Radiator in good condition with good air flow through it? I've had several trucks/cars in the past that when put under load would get very hot. Tried new pumps/thermostats etc with no effect. Changed the rads which looked ok and this fixed them.

 

Last coolant change?

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Not sure about the radiator since the water temp is fine until the engine temp gets very excessive.

 

Boost is at 1.2 normally, lowered it at the track to around 1.0 but it didnt make any difference.

 

How easy is it to get to the SMIC, can you see it from underneath the car, are they hard to get off?

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Is the car stock as far as the ducting and all of the undertrays are in place? These are v important

 

Radiator in good condition with good air flow through it? I've had several trucks/cars in the past that when put under load would get very hot. Tried new pumps/thermostats etc with no effect. Changed the rads which looked ok and this fixed them.

 

Last coolant change?

 

 

Car is stock and everything is in place. Dont know when the last coolant change was.

 

I was ignoring the radiator since the water temp stays at 100 whilst the oil temp rises to around 130, its only at that point when the water temp rises so i have been assuming the rad is fine. I was thinking that i needed to find the cause of the ever increasing oil temps.

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With the stock cooling system water and oil temps go hand in hand, i` would drop a 19 row oil cooler stat controlled then take it from there, if you`re going to be doing a few trackdays then its best to keep the oil cool anyway, trackdays sure show up weak points in any car, this is when you need to get your chequebook out i`m afraid;)

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With the stock cooling system water and oil temps go hand in hand, i` would drop a 19 row oil cooler stat controlled then take it from there, if you`re going to be doing a few trackdays then its best to keep the oil cool anyway, trackdays sure show up weak points in any car, this is when you need to get your chequebook out i`m afraid;)

 

Track days are fun though so worth the expense. Had a good laugh yesterday and was surprised by how easily I could get past the numerous M3's out there. A viper unsettled me though and caused me to spin, the Supra had been pretty evenly matched against it up to that point. :)

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The intercooler won't be causing the biggest problem causing high oil temps. If you're driving hard, it's quite conveivable that you're just overwhelming the stock oil cooler, in which case you'll need an aftermarket oil cooler and preferably a thermostatic control valve.

If you have a look on the Opie oils trader section or their website, they have some very good information about choosing the right oil for particular temperature ranges.

 

If you're into your track days, then fitting an aftermarket front mount intercooler can be more hassle than it's worth, as you then stress the cooling system more (because the intercooler sits in front of the rad). If you're marginal as it is, personally it would be one of the last things I would do.

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It's an oil - water cooler. It's part of where the oil filter mounts. A bit of a token effort to be honest.

 

I think it does a pretty good job when the cars are used for what they were designed for, Not sure mr T thought of trackdays

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