stx550 intercooler failure

I put up all the pre/post intake temps of the stx550 when they first came out.

ill try and find all the graphs. From memory was only like 140deg @ 27psi.

Ive never seen a cooler tube blow up like that. I would almost consider pulling it out to see if that one tube was blocked at the outlet end to cause such a failure.

30 seconds at 2500rpm full throttle.

Longer tests were done but the temp basically stayed the same from this point on.
At higher boost the temp didnt rise as fast as I expected.

Least its not as bad as this patrol

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJGaVELp2bE[/YT]

DieselTuner said:

Least its not as bad as this patrol

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJGaVELp2bE[/YT]

Click to expand...

At least the hose clamps are on good and proper.

Jesus!! That would be enough to pop a front bumber off!!

You have to admire those hose clamps - they are certainly doing a right proper job..

I'm guessing a Hard Pipe made a world of difference..

DieselTuner said:

I put up all the pre/post intake temps of the stx550 when they first came out.

ill try and find all the graphs. From memory was only like 140deg @ 27psi.

Click to expand...

my bad, i thought they ran a lot higher boost than that.
thats temp sounds fairly decent, i know of older turbo's that output that temp at almost half the boost pressure.

Goold old worm drive hose clamps They can hold lots more boost than people give them credit for.

There is roughly 3psi drop across the cores in question here which is around about average for a part that is designed to meet a price more so than a performance figure.

The outlet temps of late model turbo's are pretty good to be really honest. Most of the time they will not exceed 180-200deg even at very high boost pressure due to aerodynamic advances in the compressor wheels.

3LtFlogga - Didnt tryn increasing the boost on the 550's actually. I just though 27psi was high enough already back then.

With new upgraded units under construction though, the possibility of getting these things to spool up faster and be much more efficient at the high boost they run is a very exciting and Im looking forward to testing once they are ready.

I have been a member for 18 months but haven't posted before - there is so much fantasy on some sites, you can look silly when you know the real facts ! We have been building intercoolers for over 15 years & have done an incredible amount of R&D which involves real world data logging. We did a big project on Patrol Upgrades & do a D22 YD25 upgrade. There are allot of pics & details on our site Patrol page (most information) - http://www.are.com.au/Inter/topMountIntercoolers.htm & Navara page which is not finished http://www.are.com.au/Inter/NavaraTopMount.htm
The wall of a Nissan 4x4 intercooler is 0.14mm thick. They are a tube & fin construction which I have never liked as their strength depends on the bond of the internal fins (much more important than the bond of the external fin) which can easily not touch the side wall of the tube, so no bond at all & this can not be checked. An extruded tube can never have this problem.
I enlarged the pic. but can not tell if the marks on the tube from the fin is from the flux or if there was some bond there. The broken fins in areas on the bottom of the tube show that there was proper bond there. Regardless of external bond, there has to be no internal fin bond in this area. The two outside tubes are the weakest part of these intercoolers as the side band is just a thin flat strip & gives little reinforcing
Looks like I may have to build up an intercooler for my V6 so we can use my tanks to be able to supply an exchange assy. They will start playing up, they're much to thin to live with this much boost for a long life.
As an aside, I love the towing of my truck. A 1400kg race car, tandem trailer, 4 spare wheels, 100l. of av. gas & our tool boxes & spares, I had to go back to 4th gear over Cunninghams Gap (damn shame) & returned just over 11L/100k for the Warwick return trip. 9.2 around town.
Sorry for the long post. Regards Richard

The main thing I dont like about bar and plate style coolers I see is their big lack of through flow to the radiator and lack of instantaneous heat dissipation that the tube and find gives.

Alot of shops and people with race car and petrol experience dont understand that a diesel can be under full boost for huge amounts of time. This doesnt just stress the intercooler setup but also the radiator, engine oil cooler, transmission cooler when applicable etc...
Having freezing cold air temps is next to pointless if your coolant is being vapourised due to lack of air flow through the radiator.

The B&P works really well on petrol and other short on boost time setups.
Tube and fin works better on pretty much everything else, especially diesels.

Of the thousands of turbo cars I have tuned over the years I have never once seen an aftermarket tube and fin or bar and plate intercooler fail.
I have seen factory units that are built even cheaper and nastier than the chinese knock off units fail but that is about it.

I have had race cars running 45-60psi of boost on simple tube and fin ebay coolers and they have survived without any dramas.

took the navara to nissan dealer yesterday..

they have taken some pictures and sent them to nissan tech line. dealers servive advisor was non commital as to replacement ....has to wait for the answer from nissan.

Should have said to them.

Now that is has been sighted and reported. Its assuring to know that potential engine damaged caused if/when this tube explodes will also be covered under warranty.

So is there an aftermarket inter cooler you can buy for the 550's?

I dont believe there are any available just yet. To be honest the stock one is massive and pretty efficient.

Ive seen alot of these since they have been released and the OP's problem is not something that I have ever noticed before.

If a kit was produced probably the best solution is to relocate it higher and move the oil coolers and what not under it.

dealer called and said nissan has approved a new cooler to be fitted. they have ordered the part and when it arrives they need a day to fit it. I may have to remove the arb bullbar as it isnt a standard part.???...will find out when booking it in

Bah, standard schmandard. I'm not removing my BFG A/Ts for my next service just because my car came with Contis.

I think Nissan understand that bars go on. There's a plate underneath that gives them access from there, the grille comes out and they have access from the top. Removing the bar wouldn't change much except that bottom plate - 4 bolts - they'd have to be complete tools to bitch at you over that.

Just had my intercooler done under warranty due to a leaking end tank. Two friends are also getting theirs done... new intercooler is silver not black so hopefully they changed suppliers.

Mine gets changed next week, the "hot end" leaking if that makes sense.
Oil coming out under the bash plate, using more fuel and pretty smokey were the symptoms

BMGTZ said:

does anyone else with a 550 notice a boost bleed off noise when they lift off the gas. Im am wondering whether the intercooler actually has a hole in it as well as swelled up

Click to expand...

YES! This has been driving me mental since I got it, yet to get a dealer to acknowledge the sound even exists

dealer replaced the cooler on thursday....different car!! actually has power now. Must have been leaking a fair bit

was a pretty pain and hassle free experience except for the impersonal way the dealer service staff conduct business. I had the car serviced as well....sort of here are you keys...money...see ya.