questions about the stock intercooler

[mysterious]

Hi all, the stock intercooler can handle 7-8hours of drive on a fairly hot day right? I have to make trips from San Francisco to Riverside back and forth because of college.

The stock intercooler should be able to take that kind of abuse right? i dont have the money to get a fmic right away, so i might be stuck with the stock intercooler for 2-3months and i'll be making at least 2trips down to Riverside.

Thanks any input will help.

 

[mountjonas]

yes. if it couldn't handle that, something is fundamentally wrong. my question is, what kind of abuse do you plan on doing on your 8 hour drive that would kill your intercooler? i don't know s*** about turbo systems, but if your driving was messing up your intercooler, i think you'd have bigger engine problems other than the intercooler.

 

[DiscreetSpeed]

it will handle anything....you just wont have the same power as you did when you first start your journey...due to heat soak.
but it wont harm the intercooler, its just not efficent enough to hold up nice and cool for a long time.

 

[MikeyK 5]

Your car will be fine. It'll just have a little bit slower turbo. If it's just daily driving, your need for turbo shouldn't be too intense. I wouldn't go out and get a FMIC just for going around town all the time. Now if you do anything on the track/strip, it's all a different story.

 

[KyRaceFan]

the i/c WILL not heat soak on the high way.
it gets enough air flow to keep it cool

The i/c just cools the air before the throttle body... it has little effect on the temp of the car..

 

[richelesro]

I noticed heat soak when I did a trip to Tahoe from OC after about 5 hours. The car runs fine, but the power isn't the same in fifth.

 

[mysterious]

so the turbo and engine should be ok right? i'm gonna get fmic maybe 1month after i get the car, anyways, thanks for your inputs!

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

ok so how long would it take the stock i/c to heatsoak while driving on my normal hot humid florida day? ive noticed that it dont take to damn long

 

[Striker187]

your turbo and engine are fine. you can run a turbo without an ic and still be fine, though it won't make much powerwise cause the air will be so hot. the ic is there to cool the air once again after it passes through the hot turbo, thereby getting you cool, dense, pressurized air to the engine.

 

[MSPDAVE125]

An intercooler will get heatsoaked while the car is standing still.

While the car is in motion, air passing over/ through the cooler will remove the hot air from the surface of the fins, that are now soaked from standing still.

Think of it like this.

100 degress out. Stand still for 5 minutes and your skin gets hot.
You are now heat soaked.

Start waliking or running around. Air (which offers resistance) will pass over your skin and will push the heat (hot air) away from you because the cooler air is denser.

Pretty simple explanation right? I'm not a technical guy by any standard but I think this will help explain. Either that or it will prove that I need help.

Bottom line is that your intercooler will not get heatsoaked while the car is motion. It may get warmer, but not soaked.