Now I know where some of the oil is going....

[englishbay]

I had my OEM SMICs replaced with the Evolution Raceworks upgrade and the installer found little more than 1/2 litre of oil in the drivers side intercooler. I'll be checking for this on a periodic basis - just like the cam follower. Had this replaced at the same time (my second one) and it was pretty worn but not worn through after around 20k kms

[djvice]

Ok.

[Greedo]

Are you sure it's not going into the Gulf?

[shoppingcart111]

Zing, it will only go into the gulf if his car was made by BP, horray for alberta oil sands!!!

[Mordaine]

are you sure it's not going into the gulf?

ahahahahahaah!!!!!!!!1

[texasboy21]

its just blow by, thats why you get a catch can

[beantown]

Are you sure it's not going into the Gulf?

Love it lol

[englishbay]

its just blow by, thats why you get a catch can
Yeah I am considering a catch can now. Not sure whether to go wish BSH or Eurojet. I would like to get the Eurojet Valve cover and catch can but with installation it can be around $1000

[WayzataAudi]

dduuuuuuude! i just cleaned out my stock SMIC's and ya there was a LOT of oil in them, i suggest everyone do this cus my car sounded/responded a lot better...plus its real easy.

[TX-A4]

dduuuuuuude! i just cleaned out my stock SMIC's and ya there was a LOT of oil in them, i suggest everyone do this cus my car sounded/responded a lot better...plus its real easy.

What'd you used to clean them, and did you take off the bumper cover?

[englishbay]

The increased pulling is quite noticeable but most of it is due to not having any heat soak anymore. I live in quite a cool climate and have heard that we don't need to upgrade the intercoolers and this is clearly not the case. If you do a spirited drive from 1st to 5th gear you have heat soaked the engine. Also I do lots of highway driving and passing using 4th or even 5th for long stretches seems to bring on the heat soaking.

It would be nice to get an opinion from the more technical minded members on just what the impact is for having all this oil in the intercoolers. I am still looking for a missing 25 horse power from the last dyno that I did.

[Sprode]

I have not checked numbers myself, but I would assume the IC cores are sized matched to the intake piping and having half a liters worth of that capacity gone may cause some restriction, but I doubt it would be 25 hp worth.

[englishbay]

I have not checked numbers myself, but I would assume the IC cores are sized matched to the intake piping and having half a liters worth of that capacity gone may cause some restriction, but I doubt it would be 25 hp worth.
It could be with 1/2 litre on the bottom the core is plugged and not letting any air circulate. Or depending on the pressure, quite a bit of the boost will be pushing the oil through the core.

[texasboy21]

Yeah I am considering a catch can now. Not sure whether to go wish BSH or Eurojet. I would like to get the Eurojet Valve cover and catch can but with installation it can be around $1000

hahah thats outrageous! I have a 1ft tube that dumps everything into the atmosphere, cost around $50 for the blockoff plate and all the clamps and new plumbing

[KiddEng]

I had my OEM SMICs replaced with the Evolution Raceworks upgrade and the installer found little more than 1/2 litre of oil in the drivers side intercooler. I'll be checking for this on a periodic basis - just like the cam follower. Had this replaced at the same time (my second one) and it was pretty worn but not worn through after around 20k kms

have you checked out your turbo? if your finding that much oil in your intercoolers, maybe the seals in the turbo are going... there shouldn't be that much oil coming out your turbo as only the compressed air should be coming out and through your intercoolers.

[RightonRed]

^^ 2x that. I would be worried if you're getting that much oil in your ICs, especially since the air in the IC's is pre-combustion phase. FWIW the catch can wouldn't fix your problem as it collects the leftovers from the combustion, not from exhaust side of the turbo. And if you've got bleed over from the exhaust to the intake side of the turbo, you've got bigger problems.

I'm no mechanic but, that sounds like a lot of oil to be coming from the turbo....

Red

[WayzataAudi]

for those of looking to clean them, i used 3M brake cleaner and capped one end, sprayed it in, then washed out w. water, and let dry in the sun. a noticable diference to me anyway, and yes. you need to take off the bumper, it helps to take out the headlights too.

[williemike]

Saw this yesterday. Today I did an oil change at 50k. Along with replacing the cam follower(almost no wear, but changed anyway), I disconnected the bottom clamps on the SMIC lower hoses. Had about 1/4 qt of oil between the two. Its probably never checked at the dealer so I assume its 50k's accumulation. The comments about turbo probems worry me since my warrenty just expired. I