Well my car is down for the count....(long)

[BADASS03SVT]

finally happened and I cant say it was a beautiful event while I was going down the track either....

went down to Maryland Friday night with a couple friends with intentions of racing at Cecil County Dragway on saturday test and tune and then on a track rental on Sunday. woke up saturday morning to 20 degree temps and the track being closed. so made the best of it. woke up sunday and the track was open.

so Im unstrapping the car thinking about what I need to do and I get that feeling through my body when yo uknow something is wrong...like when you get bad news...and I knew I was f'ed.

I use ice in my intercooler...lots of ice..drain and add ice....drain and add ice...been doing this for 3 years now and Ive NEVER had issue's. but down in Maryland...the car say outside without running for a day and 2 nights....can you guess?? lots of ice and draining over time make the intercooler 100% water. been like that for at least 2 years and I park my car in the garage over the winter and its always been fine. this was the LAST thing on my mind until I thought about it. so I open the hood and grab all the rubber lines....HARD AS A ROCK....so I start packing it up.

The really nice guys next to me say oh cmon dont give up now!! and offer to put my car in his enclosed trailer with a 5k btu heater. start it up and get it into his trailer. car is in there for about 2 hours and all the lines ae soft but sounds like there is still some ice in the pump when i try it out. so I decide to just go home with the losses I already have (2 nights hotel, gas for 800 miles towing) and be home for dinner time. start the car up and now it runs rough...giving it a lil gas results in it almost dying. get it on the trailer and come home.

get home and try the pump again and now it works...water starts flowing but something sounds funny si I unplug it. open the ic resovoir and im down about a quart of water from where it was when we left....where did it all go??? and with a quick thought I pull the oil dipstick and its WHITE....lol....guess the intercooler cracked....

Im kinda glad something major happened instead of something little and stupid. now the question is can i get around this without tearing the whole motor down? and when/if I do..does the Eaton go back on it? have all winter to figure it out.

 

[IronTerp]

Sorry to hear this Jake! I've seen this happen three times now. Your intercooler cracked most likely. All 3 times I've seen, the blower was removed, the IC was taken off the blower and repaired, (one time it was replaced with a new one from Steve at Tousley...expensive.), the the oil was changed 3+ times = No internal engine damage. Sprayed Daily ran a 10.30 with a ported Eaton and spray after going through this procedure.

 

[CobraBob]

Oh wow, that sucks! So sorry to hear this. After hearing that Dwight has seen this happen 3 times before with his Cobra, one has to wonder how many others have had their IC crack.

Dwight, what recommendations do have for preventing this from happening in the first place? Is the drain/pack ice procedure a ticking bomb, or does it more become an issue with colder outside temps. Since it's happened 3 times to you, it would seem that preventing it might be tough other than to stay away from packing ice in your intercooler as much as possible. Would air in the system be potentially a factor? Any comments that might help others who use this track trick themselves?

 

[webleedorange61]

so basicly you used water as you IC fluid and it frooze.... thats sucks man.

 

[Jomo1994z71]

Sorry to hear, that's horrible...I'm glad I went with 40 coolant and 60 distilled for that reason, even in Florida...but now I'm paranoid...could I freeze at 20 degrees?

 

[Juruense]

There was a thread here just the other day, same problem using straight water in IC and it froze and cracked the assembly below the Eaton. Parts counter price for parts was reported to be in excess of $1000.

 

[MVD]

Dwight, what recommendations do have for preventing this from happening in the first place? Is the drain/pack ice procedure a ticking bomb, or does it more become an issue with colder outside temps. Since it's happened 3 times to you, it would seem that preventing it might be tough other than to stay away from packing ice in your intercooler as much as possible. Would air in the system be potentially a factor? Any comments that might help others who use this track trick themselves?

Using ice or straight water at the track is irrelevant. The recommendation to prevent the problem is simply not to leave your car in temps below freezing when you are running straight water in the IC system. Same applies if you use water in place of engine coolant.

Simple mental mistake, and I am sure Jake is bummed because he forgot to take precaution.

 

[Posi]

That reminds me........

Good luck Jake.

 

[IronTerp]

Oh wow, that sucks! So sorry to hear this. After hearing that Dwight has seen this happen 3 times before with his Cobra, one has to wonder how many others have had their IC crack.

Dwight, what recommendations do have for preventing this from happening in the first place? Is the drain/pack ice procedure a ticking bomb, or does it more become an issue with colder outside temps. Since it's happened 3 times to you, it would seem that preventing it might be tough other than to stay away from packing ice in your intercooler as much as possible. Would air in the system be potentially a factor? Any comments that might help others who use this track trick themselves?

Bob, it hasn't happened to me, (although last year I forgot to put anti freeze back in the IC system until Christmas!!), but has happened to 3 MACA fellas. The drag racers just need to remember to do this when the season is over, or if they're anticipating a cold front while they're still running their cars.

Jake's case was a fluke in that it's unseasonable cold up here right now and it's a simple mistake to forget that there's no antifreeze in that system.

 

[heywaitfourme]

get a used one from someone going turbo....save you tons. OEM from factory are $996.48. Buddy of mine did the same thing. I got him a used one off here for 250 shipped in two days. Only have to take the supercharger off to do it. Make sure you clean it up real well though.

Since your intercoolers messed up...you could always just go TURBO!

 

[Smacked_in_ATL]

Just curious...

But how much of a 1/4 mile time difference do you expect from running only water through your IC?

 

[BADASS03SVT]

Using ice or straight water at the track is irrelevant. The recommendation to prevent the problem is simply not to leave your car in temps below freezing when you are running straight water in the IC system. Same applies if you use water in place of engine coolant.

Simple mental mistake, and I am sure Jake is bummed because he forgot to take precaution.

exactly...my fault...but it was the LAST thing on my mind. ive run straight water for 3 years now and leave the car in the garage all winter (not heated) and its fine. just drove down getting ready to run some sick times and bam. the temps this weekend were way below average too...owell...I will deff remember next time!!! and see I already reminded Brian!!

 

[BADASS03SVT]

so basicly you used water as you IC fluid and it frooze.... thats sucks man.

yes..with constantly dumping ice into it it slowly turned to water anyways...so I just left it like that

 

[BADASS03SVT]

Just curious...

But how much of a 1/4 mile time difference do you expect from running only water through your IC?

none but like i said..constantly dumping a bag of ice into it before every pass and then letting some drain out to make room for another bag...it slowly turns to straight water anyways.


was an oversite and hope people read this to prevent it happening to them. with any luck Ill be back on track this week.

 

[BlownAway03]

You should be fine with just repairing/replacing the intercooler and draining your engine oil.

 

[x NOODLES x]

does that water wetter stuff have any sort of anti freeze factor in it???

 

[T-Pain808]

1000 bucks for an intercooler, damn.

 

[F8LSNAKE]

Damn Jake, hate to hear that. That is the very reason I took my car off the trailor and put it in the garage when I got home on Sat night. It was in the 20's here a few nights in a row. I had even put a little heater in front of it in the garage just as a precaution. Easy mistake to make though, hopefully you can find a used one reasonable, unless you're going turbo. Good luck bro.

 

[MVD]

does that water wetter stuff have any sort of anti freeze factor in it???

No, it only provides the lubricity that antifreeze does.

 

[94-98 Trans Am]

I swapped an intercooler on one that froze. Its very easy and can be done under 2 1/2 hours easy. We changed the oil and it was good as new. I recommend that you change the oil twice or three times like stated but its your call.

Shit happens, I always make sure after coming home from the track when its cold to drain the i/c fluid and replace with antifreeze and jump the pump right away to get it into the intercooler.