Very Frustrating IC!

[TYRODD]

Who would have guessed with these things, eh? Ive had my Ty since August of 2003 every thing seems to be pretty Mechanically sound on it except for the IC system. I am already on my third stock upper IC, the first two leaked bad enough that i couldnt drive the Ty without fouling plugs. Now Ive found that my third is leaking a little, but not bad enough to hurt. The radiator shops around here (SMALL town pop. 45K) wont try to fix my cores. What can I do? I dont really want to go ATA or have a Goofy huge ATR, kinda want to remain stock/stealth.

Aside from the leak, I seem to have a bad air lock in my IC system. There was a aux Heat exchanger on it when I bought it, its inlet and outlet are both on the bottom-Is this a problem? I also installed a shurflo and ran 3/4 h-hose thru the fenderwell. how much fluid movement should see in the IC? I have very little.
sorry for the long post, but the Ty made me do it! :drinking: [/i]

 

[Trizney]

Re: Very Frustrating IC!

Who would have guessed with these things, eh? Ive had my Ty since August of 2003 every thing seems to be pretty Mechanically sound on it except for the IC system. I am already on my third stock upper IC, the first two leaked bad enough that i couldnt drive the Ty without fouling plugs. Now Ive found that my third is leaking a little, but not bad enough to hurt. The radiator shops around here (SMALL town pop. 45K) wont try to fix my cores. What can I do? I dont really want to go ATA or have a Goofy huge ATR, kinda want to remain stock/stealth.

Aside from the leak, I seem to have a bad air lock in my IC system. There was a aux Heat exchanger on it when I bought it, its inlet and outlet are both on the bottom-Is this a problem? I also installed a shurflo and ran 3/4 h-hose thru the fenderwell. how much fluid movement should see in the IC? I have very little.
sorry for the long post, but the Ty made me do it! :drinking: [/i]

Are you buying new or used upper ICs? I think any good welder could stop those leaks. Even though you live in a small town, there might be someone you can send it to that will get it done right the first time. I have never heard/read about this problem.

I have the jabsco, and with the stock metal lines, when you would pop the cap of the upper IC, you could see pretty good movement with the fluid. I think the shurflo flows better then the jabsco, so you should see a good amount of movement. I just got done routing 3/4 heater hose for my upper IC, so I can't say how well it flows compared to the metal lines.

Trey

 

[bezerk]

why do you think it's leaking? because of the waterlevel in the IC?

 

[Trizney]

He says it is fouling plugs. So my guess is when he drives, it drips on the passenger side exhaust and plugs.

Trey

 

[SY2932]

Re: Very Frustrating IC!

There was a aux Heat exchanger on it when I bought it, its inlet and outlet are both on the bottom-Is this a problem?[/i]

Yes, that is a BIG problem. Because with both the inlet and outlet on the bottom, air trapped inside the heat exchanger cannot escape. Where exactly is the IC leaking from? If it's from the filler neck, it could be a simple fix as getting a new IC cap. HTH's

 

[overboost]

Go down to S&S engine and they should help you out. If they can't I will give my pops a call and see if one of his guys at Keys Energy can fix it for you.

 

[turbodog]

Another thing to check: the stock hose setup LOVES to kink & pinch closed at the top connection to the CCHE. You pull the CCHE, it looks fine. You install the CCHE, it's pinched and very hard to see. Worth a look.

Yes, please explain more about the leak. Do you know this from pressure testing the upper IC and seeing water coming out the throttle-body or turbo ports? I would consider this to be the only sure test. If you're assuming this from constantly finding the IC empty, this could just be another result from your poor coolant flow. The water heats up, and the valve in the cap vents it to the reservoir.

Also, make sure the tube inside the coolant overflow reservoir (from the IC) extends down into the coolant in the reservoir. If it doesn't, IC coolant will vent to the reservoir, but cannot be sucked back in when the IC cools off.

I would be surprised to find that a coolant leak at the IC was fouling plugs. Usually water injected at the intake has a 'steam cleaning' effect on the entire top end.

Hope this is helpful...

 

[GM TURBO]

Head gasket fouling plugs?

 

[TYRODD]

OK, IC is definitely leaking internally, there was coolant present in the throttle body, (this time not bad enough to hurt anything), Ive checked the plugs. I am only using stock upper ICs. Definetly not a head gasket. With the aux IC, would installing a petcock on top of the heat exchanger allow me to vent trapped air? I would think this would work. I actually got the the IC working again last night. Lots of movement, however there is still an air lock present, the IC tries to overflow when I turn the pump on.

Another problem arose this morning. Started her up in the garage this morning and let it warm up everything was fine. ten minutes later when I was leaving to go to work, my stereo was off, int. lights dim, check guages light was on (barely) but the engine was still running (barely). Is this my alternator telling bad things? I had to drive my moms POS 00' cougar :x to work.

Thanks
RJ

 

[bezerk]

So you got water injection!!!!!
:lol:

i have read that you relocated your IC-lines, just fill the System up while the IC isn't attahced to the throttlebody, than put the IC up vertical after you filled it, run the pump.
After a few second, put it up horizontal refill, etc.....

 

[turbodog]

What did you change to get the IC working? The (maybe not the only) originator of the dual-heater-core aux-CCHE is Peter Albrecht. He had his with the inlet/outlet on top as you describe. He went to dual pumps to get the flow he wanted, and reported having no problem purging the air out with that setup. His "how to" is up on someone's site, but I can't remember which. If you have good flow, you may have purged the air. You need a section of clear hose somewhere in the loop so you can tell. The petcock SHOULD work, but hard to tell.

I was concerned about this, so I did my dual-heater-core-aux-CCHE with the inlet/outlet at the bottom... AND I went with dual pumps. Works great.

As to your charging, sounds like the Alternator. If you have a voltmeter you can diagnose it. Should have over 14 volts at alt output at idle. Otherwise, I'd pull it and the battery and take them to AutoZone. They can test both. They can also quick-charge your battery so you don't immediately kill a new alternator. You MUST charge your battery before cranking it up with a new alternator.

HTH

 

[TYRODD]

What Ive been doing lately to remove air from the system is by applying a vacuum at the filler neck, it seems I can put more coolant in when I do this.
Last night, I had the IC off the brackets,turbo to IC hose, and TB to check for leaks, when I tilted the IC, a little coolant dribbled out the turbo side, normally this amount would be on the TB side. When I reattached the IC, the coolant was low. I refilled th IC but when I turned the pump on, no movement in the IC. Did the vacuum thing, Drove it, and did this process a couple of times, it seemed to work.

With the alternator, if it is bad, what kind should I get? I have a fairly mild stereo system (small amplifier) and may want to run electric fans sometime soon. Is there fairly priced alternative?

 

[turbodog]

Sorry, I've only used AutoZone direct replacements (This Ty is my 5th S-Blazer-type vehicle, and I also had a Astro van. Total mileage around 650k mi, so I've replaced a few OEM GM alternators). I'm sure many would say this is a mistake, although I've never had one fail. You might try a search on this and see what comes up.

 

[TYRODD]

Good news! turns out my alternator problem was simple-the weatherproof connection on the drivers side of the alt was completly off! I didnt have time to check everything out before work this morning, so I got a little ahead of myself. Thanks Turbodog for you input anyways!

Back to the CCHE w/input output on bottom, should I just flip it?

Also turbodog, how does your dual pump setup work? It may be easier for me to do this also BC my shurflo is attached to the drivers side bumper support, I could just put another on the other side, and I work at an RV dealership and Shurflos are always in stock.

Thanks a ton!
RJ

 

[turbodog]

Glad your alternator is OK.

As for flipping yours: what is it? dual heater cores? ATR? I guess if you CAN flip it, and you don't see a downside in doing so... go for it.

I use 2 of the stock-type pumps (one Jabsco, 1 johnson). One in the stock location, the other behind the radiator support, under the vacuum ball. My rubber IC hose runs thru the pass side fender, and exits at that point. It draws from the aux CCHE and pumps to the upper IC.

 

[TYRODD]

Its a single core, not sure what brand though, looks aluminum in color.

Yeah, when I installed the the shurflo I originally wanted it in the stock position. Did not even come close to fitting, way too close to the x-over pipe. I used the 2088-244-444 pump, use these in RVs theyre rated at 2.8gpm. Do the two pumps seem to "push" and "pull" more air out of the lines? If it is BC there is more movement involved I can install a variable speed pump that is 5.5gpm.

I really like the location of my pump though. real easy to get to, Has anyone else used this location? I prolly need to make a sheet metal shield to protect the pump from debri from the tires, and to protect the tires in case the pump came loose.

Thanks again.
RJ