I wanted to start a thread that would consolidate all the Lightning owners with intercooler problems. I am particularly interested in the following:

1) Modifications (chip and/or air filter).
2) Miles on the vehicle when the leak was first discovered.
3) Build # of vehicle.
4) Repairs required.

It is interesting that the problems all seem to occur in the 10-20K mile time frame. What could be causing this? Has anyone heard exactly where the intercooler leak is located.

I have a chip, filter, and headers. First noticed the coolant level below the fill mark at about 17K. Slow leak at first ; then between gas fill-ups the reservoir emptied. Truck build #955. I took the truck to Bankston today for repairs.

Your help accumulating this information is greatly appreciated. If you are not comfortable posting this information, please e-mail it to me at clglenn@gte.net.

Thanks

 

I am just wondering if you left all of your mods. on the truck when you brought it in, or if you removed them. And did they try to blame the leak on the mods.? Or are you just curious? Also, could your dealership come to this sight and check your listing of mods. and use it against you? Just wondering. As for the intercooler problem, I have had none, but I did have a leak from heater hose.

 

16000 added about a quart. 17000 added about a pint. If I get to 2 gallons a week can I get a new engine. Going to the dealer next week and start dialog. No mods. Runs better than others stock, (secret--water injection)

 

Hey sixpipes!
It should be interesting to see where you go (conclusion that you reach)with the data that you collect.Just remember one thing there is at least on individual tha has had their intercooler replaced more than once. Based upon this one example (not very good for a statistical analysis) you may think that mileage is not issue. Also build numbers too may not be an issue since the intercooler would not have been from the same lot. Ah, but wait. Were the lower manifolds replace both times? Could there be a machining issue with the manifolds? Hey I don't know. For that matter there could be an issue with the design / manufacture of the cooler itself. Ask yourself this question is this intercooler used in another application besides the Lightning and are there failures there too. Please share you data / results.

------------------
BABolt
SVT#290

 

Hey Sixpipes, mine started at around 8000 miles, at that time I was running a chip and filter.Repairs were made yesterday,seem to be holding well. The main part that was replaced was the air charge cooler located under the blower. From my paperwork the price for this item was 168.95 total cost for job was 550 bucks. Which was covered under warranty. Hope this helps....

Spiro

 

Caka -

I am being completely open and honest with Bankston on my modifications. I think it important to find out exactly how they percieve the intercooler problem. If I was in their shoes, I would want to know everything about the history of the truck. If they want to blame a chip for an intercooler leak, they will have to come up with a pretty convincing argument (I can't imagine a cause and effect relationship between the two).

As a side note, when I told the service writer that it had a Superchip, he put an asterisk on the bottom of the work sheet the size of a quarter and wrote "Has a chip" in rather large letters. Oh well, somebody's got to take one for the team.

 

Sixpipes.

An intercooler is a radiator. The only things that could "make" an intercooler leak are:
1) Increased fluid pressure.
2) Abrasion from the air stream.
3) Poor design and construction.

Does your superchip increase the line pressure from the intercooler pump ??? NO
Have you removed the airfilter and pumped sand through the engine. NO
Have you played a part in design or QC of the intercooler ? NO.

Like others I am waiting your results....

Good Luck

Doug

[This message has been edited by Silver_2000_! (edited 04-13-2000).]

 

Just thought I'd bring this to the top...

By the way, I was told my intercooler was replaced (moose), and notice it is a slightly diferrent color than the rest of the engine, but it does not leak at all. I have also heard of repair companies just repainting the same part over to make it look like it was replaced. Ohwell, good luck.

 

Mine started leaking around 20K.

I had a Superchip in, but removed it prior to taking it to the Dealer. I'd had it in the #1 (off?) position all winter because of knocking on winter gas. Chip is back at Superchips now being reprogrammed.

From what I understand, the whole top of the engine was removed. Roush brought in a whole manifold, intercooler & supercharger assembly and carefully torqued it down. Seems they think some sort of twisting is causing the failure. The old assembly was sent back to the supplier (Gates?).

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'99 Black Lightning #1212 5/12/99

 

First, my statistics. The intercooler leak began while the truck was still totally stock. By the time I brought it in for service, I had bassani headers, a superchip, and sal's filter kit on. The leak began at about 12K miles but it was close to 20K before it got bad enough to be able to convince my dealer something was wrong. At that point, I had also been through two O2 sensors due to fouling.

Second, from a tech standpoint I want to clear up what is meant by the intercooler. The intercooler that is leaking is NOT the intercooler radiator at the front of the truck in the valence. The leak is the intercooler that is in the induction system that contacts the heated air from the supercharger. I had my system pressure tested and it didnt show a pressure drop. A dye test was done and it was after that point that the dealer decided on replacement. The fluid loss also seems to be directly related to the amount of time spent under boost. I lost more fluid when the SC was working hard.

I'm on my second intercooler and so far it seems to be holding but I'm less than 2K miles into this one. The parts replaced on my vehicle were the intercooler (in vee) and the seals. I would also take BABolt's suggestions to heart and investigate that angle thoroughly.

Third, mine was replaced during the march period where none were available through ford supply channels. My dealer tracked the parts down to ford's supplier and had it special ordered from them before it even hit the ford supply chain. Perhaps a minor difference in specs may be one reason I'm not leaking (yet). There was a new batch of intercoolers which should have hit the ford supply channel in late march of 2000. I would be VERY curious to see whether or not the problem disappears for vehicles built/modified after that date.

Certainly keep us posted on what you find and if you want to discuss this in more detail send me an email. I can track down the original supplier as well as provide better detail on part #s and such that were replaced.

-- Nathan

 

My lightning engine has a build date of mid march, hope mine holds up.

(truck's build date is 3/20)

Daniel

 

Brian from Bankston called today and left a message. Paraphrased, it went something like this. "Got your rearend gears in today and that thing runs like a scalded ape (Is that a good thing?). Noticed one of the pinion bearings was a little suspect so we replaced it also. You are absolutely correct, the intercooler was bad. The part is coming out of Detroit and should be here Friday in time to get your truck back to you Friday afternoon." Sounds pretty promising to me. I'll post more information after I actually talk to the service writer about the repairs.

Thanks for all the information in trying to get this thing nailed down.



[This message has been edited by sixpipes (edited 04-13-2000).]

 

Hey 6, great to hear your getting fixed so quickly, sounds like you have a good relationship with your dealer. being a scalded ape is probably not so good for the ape, or you, if you stand front of him to scald him. i would suggest sneaking up from behind to do the scalding, and apparently they run pretty quick when scalded, or something.

 

Is this intercooler leak thingy specific to the 99's, or does it also occur on the 00's?

Next time I run across an ape I will take extra pains not to scald it.

 

I'm not exactly sure what a scalded ape is, but I found the following references while surfing the net.

"At this point, I let go of the tail and ran like a scalded ape"!

"I've got a VS1400 Intruder that runs like a scalded ape with the drag pipes and jet kit".

"If it's adjusted right, it will carberate cleanly and run like a scalded ape ... and not seize. If it's not quite right, it will run like a semi-scalded ape, and either seize or foul a plug ... depending on whether your 'lean' or 'fat'".

"Just because we didn't buy your article this time doesn't mean we won't go scalded ape crazy over your next one and practically throw money at you".

And my personal favorite........

"So what if I drank everyday, smoked cigarettes like a freight train, and cussed like a scalded ape. I was a soldier. That's what all soldiers did".

The more I read about this scalded ape thingy, the more confused I get or something.