3.0 CRD Intercooler Upgrade?

I have a stock 3litre CRD 2014 Y61.

I've got a dawse & needle valve mod, EGR block and so on.

A few years ago up in Alice Springs, mid 30's and the GU was real sluggish, I put it down to the hot air as everything improved once the weather cooled down. So I'm guessing I was running out of cool air?????

A few years ago I fitted a fan under the IC, but haven't really driven it in hot weather since fitting it, so haven't been able to test it's effectiveness.

I'm wondering, how much benefit is noticeable from fitting a larger intercooler, is it worth the extra money????

On a stock engine, not worth it in my opinion. Even on my old Di which had 25 psi running through it I had an aftermarket, stock sized, intercooler and the thing went great. More cooler air will be beneficial, don't get me wrong, but how much, would be the question....

Mudski is right. I wouldn't bother unless the current intercooler is leaking. Then I would get the current IC modified with a more efficient core welded to the existing ends. Works well and will fit perfectly. Some aftermarket ICs are not a perfect fit - like the one I bought years ago. Bang HeadBang Head

So to ask a dumb question, if I remove the IC, block one end and submerge it in a bucket of water, & blow air into it, that should tell me if it's leaking, correct??

You'd know if it were leaking . There will be gunked up oil stains on it..it's very evident.

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Originally Posted by 10G

So to ask a dumb question, if I remove the IC, block one end and submerge it in a bucket of water, & blow air into it, that should tell me if it's leaking, correct??

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If you do that you are likely to rupture it with too much air pressure - unless you use a regulator. Easiest way is to block both ends and put it in a tub of water and see if any bubbles emerge.

But as mentioned above - you should see oil stains on the IC where it is leaking.

Yep. A crimped end tank intercooler will pretty much be guaranteed a leaking intercooler.


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Originally Posted by BillsGU

If you do that you are likely to rupture it with too much air pressure - unless you use a regulator. Easiest way is to block both ends and put it in a tub of water and see if any bubbles emerge.

But as mentioned above - you should see oil stains on the IC where it is leaking.

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I remember doing the original IC on my ZD by blocking both ends, submerging it in water and using a bike pump with the needle end on it for footballs and slowly pumping air into to that way.


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Thanks everyone for the help.

What about the larger bonnet scoops? What do people think of the usefulness of them?

I'm of two minds. 1, they should scoop more air in, but are they more effective? 2, will the extra scooped in air, be forced through the IC with less force than a std scoop, so therefore create less cooling of/for the IC?

Larger scoop is far better than the useless stock scoop. More air cooling will mean more cooling capacity. On the other forum a while ago there was a guy who did and air flow test using a like a paper string set up and watching air flow hitting the bullbar then pretty much going over most of the OEM scoop. Showing the usefullness of a taller scoop.

It's all about value for money. How much do you want to spend for a very marginal increase in engine output?

checkout the are intercooler site (are.com.au ) . look at the patrol section . they list efficiency in percentages to give you an idea of what they can do .

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Originally Posted by nipagu7

checkout the are intercooler site (are.com.au ) . look at the patrol section . they list efficiency in percentages to give you an idea of what they can do .

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Thats where I got my taller OEM fit scoop from. Bloody expensive though, but now you can get the same thing for far less elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by BillsGU

It's all about value for money. How much do you want to spend for a very marginal increase in engine output?

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Totally agree Bill, that's why I've not done anything earlier.

The A.R.E stats show IC efficiency. I don't know how much increase (HP/kW) in output that equates to. Also, their stats don't show how fast you have to be going to get the desired airflow through the IC. When I require extra HP I am usually travelling slowly (either off road or towing uphill) and I don't know how much the IC - let alone the scoop - comes in to play then.

Again - it all comes down to a personal choice and how much extra cash you have to spend.

I watched a video the other week with a guy from Diesel Tuning Australia. He said that a larger IC was a great idea as, as you just mentioned Bill, as you may need extra power when you're travelling slow & that is when your IC is getting the least amount of air into/through it, so a larger IC should be able to store & retain more air for a longer time, allowing it to cool more, than the standard IC.

Sort of made sense to me.

But then again you're looking at close to $2K for something that's hard to put a figure on how much benefit you get out of.

I just searched for larger scoops for the std IC. There's tons available now. I looked maybe 2 years ago and couldn't find much at all.

Think I'll go that way & keep the std IC.

This site is a great resource for all things IC
https://www.are.com.au/Inter/topMountIntercoolers.htm

I have the standard scoop on a fully welded unit. Will probably get the stealth unit in the near future.

Threw some $$$ down on one of these ...

Attachment 83022

just looked at how much the ARE Cooling scoops are. Holy Chit! I know it was dear but I don't remember paying that much for mine back in the day...

Edit : found an old pic with the ARE scoop... Looks different now though...
Attachment 83023

Yep, they're crazy expensive. That's part of the reason why I didn't do anything when I was looking into this a few years back. Back then there were no where near as many scoops available on eBay.