Burned out my intercooler pump... because the system was bone dry. Other damage???

[Fastphil]

I was driving to work this morning when I started to hear a funny whining sound. First I thought it was someone else's car but it turned out, after a quick check under the hood, that it was my intercooler pump. I pulled the cap off my LFP Supertank, and to my surprise it was bone dry inside! So obviously the pump burned out because it wasn't pumping coolant.

I've never noticed any leaks or wet spots wherever the car was parked. I will admit that I've probably only checked the coolant level once or twice in the 3 or so years since I swapped out the tank and heat exchanger. :bash:

In any case, the car was running fine. I have no reason to believe that I did any damage driving it without coolant in the intercooler system, but is there anything I should check for?

I'm on the hunt for a stock replacement intercooler pump. Who has the best price? Or if anyone has a new one laying around they wouldn't mind selling, let me know.

Thanks,

Phil

 

[gabe1530]

Tousley, that's where I got my replacement. Something like 85 bucks.

On a side note, I would put some water in your tank and jump the I/c to see if it still works.

 

[MoKo_03SVT]

well man, the first thing i'd be wanting to know is where the fu©K all of the coolant went. cause even if your pump WAS/IS fried, it isnt going to make your coolant disappear....and i have a hard time believing that it all evaporated, while the lid was on there.

secondly, as mentioned above, i would pour some fluid in the i/c tank, then take the car for a quick drive...after 5 minutes or so, pull over and pop the hood, leave the car running, and take a peek in the i/c tank to see if the fluid is moving/circulating...there MIGHT not even be a problem with your pump. if you check the fluid, and it IS NOT circulating, then yes you need to order a pump as well....but you'll STILL need to figure out where your coolant went/is going.

edit: oh..and you may THINK the car is running fine...but wait until you see how much better she runs, when the i/c system is working. i just got done driving around for about a week with NO PUMP (mine went out too), while i waited for my replacement to get here...and i couldnt believe how much of a difference it made with the i/c system actually functioning...without it, it REALLY does rob you of quite a bit of HP...the thing is, im thinking you have just gotten used to how it feels (no telling how long you have been driving it like that), so it doesnt seem abnormal to you.

 

[Fastphil]

I know the pump still functions, because I could hear it switching on and off this morning. It was all the more obvious because it sounded like the pump's bearings were shot. I'll dump some water in it when I get back to the car next Friday. I mean, where could the coolant be going? Either it's leaking or it's being burned in the engine, right? I've never had any visible sign of smoke from the tailpipe and never smelled burning coolant either. I know what both look and smell like, so I'm sure I wouldn't miss it. I also changed the oil last week and it looked fine, so it's not going in there. And as I said, it never left any puddles or stains while it was parked. It spent 4 months this winter in the same spot without running or moving, and no stains on the floor under the car.

edit: I agree with your assessment on the driving part. Hope it's easy to sort out, then I'll have an even more enjoyable car!

 

[murked99cobra]

Worst case is you have a cracked intercooler. Or it could just be the o-rings on the intercooler manifold.
I'm just starting the reinstall of my blower because the o-rings wouldn't seat properly anymore on the intercooler manifold. If the leak is slow enough you might never notice that water is slowly dripping into your lower intake and being burned up.
Since you haven't checked it in a long time, I would recommend putting just water into the tank and not fillin it up all the way either. Then keep an eye on the level of water. I filled my canton tank, checked it the next week and it was bone dry and thats without running the car. Started the car and it ran like poo, shut it down and instantly knew I had some work ahead of me.
The liquid has to be going somewhere and if it's not on the ground then that's the next place I would guess it went, because I have a hard time believing that much liquid could just disappear out of a closed system like that.

 

[20redfire03]

I know when my intercooler fluid ran out it was due to a pin hole from a rock heating my heat exchanger. I was driving along and thought i heard a teapot going off sound and thought the worse. Pulled over saw the fluid it was out and drove home easily. Next day I filled the system back up and was jumping the pump and started feeling splashing on my leg from the stream of coolant coming from my heat exchanger.

 

[Fastphil]

I know when my intercooler fluid ran out it was due to a pin hole from a rock heating my heat exchanger. I was driving along and thought i heard a teapot going off sound and thought the worse. Pulled over saw the fluid it was out and drove home easily. Next day I filled the system back up and was jumping the pump and started feeling splashing on my leg from the stream of coolant coming from my heat exchanger.

It's not at all impossible that there is a very minor leak in my H/E. It is pretty rough. I'll be paying close attention to the whole coolant circuit once I swap out the pump and fill it up.

Until I have a chance to work on it, should I just remove the pump relay to keep it from self-destructing?

 

[evers86]

Murked99cobra--- how did you realize it was the o-rings?. I just had a similar issue where my car over heated and next thing i know is that the intercooler fluid was pouring out behind my motor. after taking off the blower i can see the coolant stains where it was dripping down in the front and rolling back. if its not the intercooler or the o-rings can it be the gasket between the intercooler and that front inlet cover?

 

[20redfire03]

You could probably pull the fuse to the intercooler pump but I don't know for certain which fuse that is. When I had my issues the furthest I drove the car besides the rest of the way home was 2 blocks from my house to the shed with the tools I needed to remove the heat exchanger.

 

[murked99cobra]

Evers86- after I had the blower out and intercooler off the blower I stuck the 2 cylinders that have o-rings on them back into the intercooler and then put the manifold over those. I filled it with water and saw that the o-rings werent sealing. It would drip pretty quickly and the way they felt when I put them into the I/c just didn't feel right. The intercooler manifold gasket could let some liquid by if your o-rings are leaking and it fills the lower up enough. My gasket looked alright but when I got a new one from Tousley I realized there is a piece of rubber that is attached on the inside of the intercooler manifold gasket that was not on my old one. I think the I/c manifold gasket is there to help with vacuum seal, Because once the liquid is passed the o-rings its in your lower intake. The 2 cylinders with the o-rings are the only place water flows through the i/c and back. It sucks that something as small as a o-ring can cause big problems like this.
I can tell you that the new o-rings seal 100% better.
Also sorry about the giant paragraph, I'm on an iPod touch and I hate it.
Hope this helps

 

[evers86]

thanks i ordered the new o-rings and put them on, but ford ordered the wrong gasket so hopefully ill have it tomorrow and see what happens. i wish i knew the o-rings were gonna be regular o-rings rather than paying ford 7 bucks for each one.

 

[Fastphil]

So I got around to working on the car today. I haven't really driven it since this incident happened. I bought a gallon of pre-mixed Prestone and dumped it in the tank when I got off work. I plugged the relay back in (I had removed it to keep the pump from whining away with no coolant) and started up the engine. Sure enough, the coolant was leaking outfrom the right front corner of the car. I should have put water in, but I'm a dummy. I fiddled around a bit where the leak was and discovered by feel that one of the two hoses leading to the heat exchanger was rubbing on the K&N air filter, which occupies the same space behind the bumper. The metal mesh on the filter cone had rubbed right through the heater hose.

Once I got it into the garage, I pulled the wheel and fender liner off. The visible part of the leak didn't seem so bad because the air filter was soaking up a good portion of the coolant that was leaking out!

The fix was simple enough. I drained the coolant, and then replaced the heater hose that runs from the stock metal line from the tank to the heat exchanger, and I cut it a little shorter than the one that was on there before. I then tie-wrapped it in a couple of spots and ensured it wouldn't be rubbing anywhere else in the future. I then refilled the coolant, ran the pump a bit, opened the petcock on the heat exchanger to release any trapped air, and closed everything back up.

So far everything seems OK. I'll be keeping an eye on things to see if I've fixed the problem completely or if there are any other issues.

Phil

 

[MoKo_03SVT]

glad you got er' fixed up!

thanks for posting an ending to your thread! wish EVERYONE would do that! soooo many incomplete threads out there!

 

[Fastphil]

More info... after adding the coolant and running the pump, I think the pump is still good enough to run a bit longer. My father just called and told me he received my new pump today. If I had known that earlier, I might have swapped it out today while I was working on the car. (I have stuff shipped to my parents because they're always home and I'm never home. Having stuff returned to the shipper because you weren't there to receive it really sucks.)

How do you know when the pump is dead or dying? Does it make a nasty sound or does it just stop working?

 

[MoKo_03SVT]

when the pump dies it will quit pumping fluid all together. but, if you have a new pump, you might as well get it installed. it takes a whole 10 minutes to swap out. your current pump (if it is still stock) is 7 to 8 years old...even if it is moving fluid, i can assure its not moving it anything like a brand new one will move it. i couldnt believe how much a brand new pump flowed. i was like, HOLY SHIT! i had new clue these little pumps could/can pump like that.

 

[Nosdog2]

Does anyone know the size of the o-rings? I need to replace mine, I hope that is the source of my leak as well since it is a brand new intercooler.

 

[murked99cobra]

Does anyone know the size of the o-rings? I need to replace mine, I hope that is the source of my leak as well since it is a brand new intercooler.

Call tousley, they should have them in stock. They might be a little expensive but you get the peace of mind that they are the right part.