Blown Intercooler - Not BMW

[Driftit 2078]

So I lent my E87 to my brother in law while we were trying to find an issue with his Holden Colarado.

It's a standard 2.8ltr intercooled TD.  No engine mods or anything like that.

Knew it was a vacumm leak.  Took a while and eventually found this.

I've seen this happen on high powered petrol cars.  Detonation back through the intake.  Maybe on something at the drag strip.

But I can't think of what would cause this on a Diesel vehicle.  As you can see this has been an internal explosion.  Nothing can hit the intercooler where it is located in the car.

Anyone have any idea?

Fixed photo.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Driftit

[E28E30 335]

Your brother is having a rough time of it @Driftit ! 

[*Glenn* 854]

Blocked cat or exhaust ?

[Driftit 2078]

On 9/11/2021 at 7:10 PM, *Glenn* said:

Blocked cat or exhaust ?

Has a pretty open exhaust with no cat.

[Insanecriminal 11]

It looks like a fairly standard failure of a factory intercooler. These things happen especially on high mileage vehicles. I doubt this would be caused by and explosion, just the normal pressure in the intercooler. There is nothing in the intercooler to create such an explosion, and certainly not the amount of heat that would be required. Take the opportunity to upgrade to an aftermarket unit. 

[jon dee 500]

Looking at the basic engine airflow, if all is well it should be impossible to get that much pressure in the intercooler. But there is one possibility that I can think of based on my experience with N.A. petrol engines, and zero experience with diesels If it is a manual and you are slow to disengage the clutch when coming to a stop, you can get the situation where the engine gets pulled down to a very low rpm. If a firing stroke occurs just at the point of stalling, combustion can take place before the engine reaches TDC and without enough momentum to carry the piston past TDC the engine kicks backwards. This is usually accompanied by a decent backfire or cough out the intake as the intake valve is now an exhaust valve !!!  Just a thought.

Cheers...

[dirtydoogle 383]

Pretty common on those. Same with PK/PJ rangers, they just have cheap components fitted to them 

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Over pressuring from the turbo due to a problem with the waste gate maybe? Combined with an older cooler causing it to rupture.

[aja540i 1906]

15 hours ago, jon dee said:

Looking at the basic engine airflow, if all is well it should be impossible to get that much pressure in the intercooler. But there is one possibility that I can think of based on my experience with N.A. petrol engines, and zero experience with diesels If it is a manual and you are slow to disengage the clutch when coming to a stop, you can get the situation where the engine gets pulled down to a very low rpm. If a firing stroke occurs just at the point of stalling, combustion can take place before the engine reaches TDC and without enough momentum to carry the piston past TDC the engine kicks backwards. This is usually accompanied by a decent backfire or cough out the intake as the intake valve is now an exhaust valve !!!  Just a thought.

Cheers...

Not possible in a diesel, looks like an age hardening failure, probably helped along by a bit of corrosion, aluminium tends to fail suddenly like this.