Well. I just thought I should share! I just cleaned about my IC after 50k miles (note, I bought the car used, and I'm preeeettty sure the previous owner never cleaned it). Anyway, it's kind of hard to tell, but I thought that was a lot of oil (second picture, ~3-4" of oil). My IC went from a yellowish-brown oil color to a shiney silver color inside.

I waited 3k miles (got the car at 47k) to clean it because, well first...I wouldn't dare touch my MINI when I got it! I was too scared of breaking something. This is the second time I've had my IC off (first was OCC install) and it was much easier this time to get the IC back on than it was the first time. I also have an M7 OCC coming, because my ebay OCC leaked air. My IC should now stay nice and clean, and of course...more efficent!

BTW: I used Mopar Combustion Cleaner and a lot of air from a compressor for ~20min drying it out. I started the car, reved it and let it sit for ~2min. It didn't stall or anything, shudder, etc. so I guess I got it dry enough!

Pics:





-Cody

 

Best example I've seen for reason to get an oil catch can

 

There needs to a warning on this thread.
The pictures may be too graphic for some

 

Wow! That's a huge ammount of oil...

Could I ask you how you cleaned it? With brake cleaner?

A quick how-to would be great!!

 

Oups! Never mind about the How-to... I just saw it at the bottom of your post...

 

I clean mine every 10k, some spare Air filter cleaner and/or Carb and Choke cleaner from both sides until I see it come all the way through clear Let dry for a bit then re-intsall. At least thats how I do it, not quite that much and NEVER anywhere near that dark, graphic images indeed.

 

Ok, I figured it was bad, but not that bad! Thanks guys!

I took it off a sprayed it down with a whole can of combustion cleaner (works VERY well) through one side of the IC. After that, most of the oil drained through to the other side, and went out. I then used another half of a can of more combustion cleaner and sprayed the fins on the front and back, then sprayed down the inside again, making sure ALL of the oil was out. After that, I got my air compressor out and went at it for ~20min drying it off.

-Cody

 

I just took delivery of a 2006 MCSa and superchargers/intercoolers are a whole new animal to me. But I love knowing how things work. I'm kind of confused as to what part is actually the "intercooler"? Is it the radiator looking thing on top of the engine with the 4 bolts? It connects to the engine via that silver (aluminum?) "duct" on the left of the engine, correct? It's got a rubber connector, I would assume that is to allow some independent movement of the two parts.

How does oil get into the intercooler? I thought it sucks outside air through the fins and then into that duct and into the intake manifold? Am I getting this right?

Sorry about the naivety, I'm learning. Now, since that radiator looking thing is open to the outside elements, it obviously can ingest a certain amount of water (like during a torrential downpour)...so where does the water go?

Thanks a lot for the lesson in how the IC works and what exactly it is.

Rock on,

-boognish

 

We have a TMIC (Top-Mount Intercooler) on our cars. It works by sucking in hot air and then cooling it. The Silver fins you were discribing are the SC inlet and outlet. The SC is right under where the IC sits, so when your SC is screaming down the road, the IC is taking the hot air from outside and cooling it down, making it denser. The denser (colder) the air, the more HP we get from our SC and engine.

The black cover you see on top of the IC is called the IC divertor. This is used to *I believe* seperate some of the air so air goes throughout the entire IC.

If I were you, I would order an OCC now to help the efficency of your IC, and you can view my OCC-How to that I wrote for a VERY easy install. Both ALTA and M7 have OCC's. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=75360

www.m7tuning.com
www.altaminiperformance.com

I'm not exactly sure how the oil get's into the IC, but by installing an OCC (Oil Catch Can) the oil goes into the OCC instead of into the IC, keeping it clean and more efficent.

And someone please correct me if I made a mis-statement anywhere.
-Cody

 

I also recently got my Mini used (an 04 with 18,400 mi) and asked about an oil catch can at the dealer when I took it in...They told me it was a waste of time...HA Your excellent graphic is Proof enough for me...Now to get up the courage to Remove the IC...
There is a thread around here on how to do it...will have to search...Thanks for sharing...will have to take an Ambien CR tonight!

Thanks again!

 

Take a look at my OCC-How-to that I wrote. It shows how to remove the IC.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=75360

Oh, and another valuable piece of advice from me. Don't go cheap on an OCC! I bought one off of ebay for $25 shipped and it was aluminum, off brand, etc. piece of junk. Well, I installed it and drove to work. I was half way to work, and through an EML light and it through me into limp mode. Turns out, ALL of the seals in the OCC were leaking air. Figures....so the techs at MINI took a look and re-sealed everything with 3M weather sealant. Put it make on, nothing....still leaked. With that said, I went home and ordered an M7 which is CNC machined and polished. I haven't recieved it yet, but as soon as I do it's going on!

-Cody

 

Although I am a fan of cleaning the intercooler, these pictures are a little misleading.

The vast majority of the liquid "oil" shown in the photos is actually the solvent used to clean the IC. If this was poured into a jar and the solvent was allowed to evaporate completely, you'd see that the oil amounts to no more than a thin layer on the bottom of that jar.

This is similar to how a single drop of food coloring can make a gallon of water turn a bright color.

 

Yes

The supercharger pumps hot compressed air through the intercooler via the left pipe/duct, cools the air by allowing ambient air to move through the fins of the intercooler (which sit in between "pipes" running parallel). The ambient air cools the compressed air, thus making it more dense. The air is then passed through the duct on the right (which is under the right hand side of the black intercooler cover, which is connected by a similar rubber boot. Remove the four bolts you see to take off the cover, and get a better look). Then the colder compressed air is passed through the intake manifold and into each of the cylinders.

The outside air moves through the fins, to cool the air that is already inside the intercooler pipes. The air doesn't actually go inside the intercooler, its just used as cooling. The oil is sucked out of the crankcase via the PCV hose (Positive Crankcase Ventilation hose) back into the intake system. The crankcase builds up gases/vapour, which contains air, and oil, and various bits of gunk, and when the air escapes through the PCV hose back into the intake system, it carries the oil/gunk with it, and that once again cycles through the supercharger, intercooler, (whatever makes up the intake path) and this is what can be deposited (if it's heavy enough) onto your intercooler. If it isn't heavy enough, it goes into the cylinders and is burnt. This will cause a loss of octane number (resistance to uncontrolled combustion), and may cause pinging if the knock sensor isn't fast enough, and will definately cause a loss of power.

An oil catch can sits on any of the two PCV lines, on either side of the crankcase, and will catch the gunk that's suspended in the air.


Everyone's naive about something, nothing wrong with trying to understand how your car works

As mentioned above, since nothing can actually enter the inside of the intercooler, the water that rests on the fins either evaporates or seeps down and drips out of the intercooler. This evaporation actually causes an increase in efficiency of the intercooler, as the evaporation cools down the air that passes over the intercooler. Hence the reason some people hook up water sprayers to their intercoolers.

Phew, now if you have any questions or don't understand anything i've said, PM me or reply to the thread or whatever

 

Man! I hope that's not all oil......

 

The post about it not being all oil is most informative BUT...that stuff looks pretty thick for solvent! Granted I am sure there is solvent in there since it is too thin to be all oil...but I still think a thick coating of oil inside the intercooler would not be a good thing...especially in the 100+ temps we have been having here.

My IC had a bunch of bent fins...being a bit ****...I used a wooden toothpic to restore them to their orig shape...every little bit helps! Been doing that on air conditioning fins for years since it is normal to get very hot here during Nevada summers! While it can reach the lower 100's in the day...it rapidly cools off to the 60's at night (That's the High Desert for ya)...makes for a fast comparison!

I am going to pull it today and have a look see...will also spray some cleaner in to see what comes out...2004 MCS...19000 mi...bet it is not too bad.

On another note...I can definately feel a difference driving on cool nights than driving on a super hot day!

 

I thought everybody straightened their fins?? I know I do

19K miles? It'll be nastier than you think.

 

depends on how you drive really, but yeh as obehave said, it'll be worse than you think.

If you drive with your foot down often, you won't get much oil, but if you use lots of partial throttle, you'll have plenty of oil

 

Going to have at it n a few...Looks easy enough to remove thanks to thoise here!

 

Holy Crap! That's scary!

I think I'm going to have to rethink buying an OCC as an initial mod purchase.

One question. Does a crankcase breather (filter on the crankcase tube that runs to the intake hose, thus removing this hose) offer similar protection to an OCC?

I guess what I'm asking, is, what is the path of travel this Oil makes in order to go into the intercooler???

 

Q1, the hose to the breather should stay connected. This connection allows the crankcase to breath ( when you remove the oil cover you will see a baffle to prevent oil from being sucked out of the valve cover - however there is some minimal vapor that is passed through the intake ).

Q2 The path from the PCV is where the largest amount of the oil to the IC comes from. Polizei has posted a "how to" for the best OCC config.

I have had my IC off many times & never had more than a little wetness.

 

I'm not sure how the oil get's in there, but I also have a breather filter that you are talking about. It just "sits" in my engine bay due to my HAI.

And Gizzer, can you please send me a PM explaining how you re-bend the fins? My IC has a lot of bent fins....but I'm not sure how they got that way. Anyway, I would like to try and bend some of them back!

And Yucca, I did not drop the oil yet. Do you think all of the solvent would be gone after almost 24hours of sitting in that pan? If so, I'll go re-take some pics and see if there is any less-oil.

-Cody

 

I never thought of this part of the equation - most articles deal with the loss of efficiency due to the heavier oils coating the IC. Thank you for the enlightening expose!

 

Well that was pretty easy...In fact it is now part of my 10,000 mi service that I will be doing! No need to purchase an OCC for me.

Just came back from a ride...all is well and even if it was my imagination (it is also cool outside now) The Mini seemed to scream even better than before....supercharger seemed smoother...

NOW:
the attached shows what came out at about 19,000.

About half the junk is Brake Parts cleaner and the rest is oil sludge! The coating was definately there! NASTY STUFF!

See attached

 

Did you notice a difference in power after you cleaned it??

 

Maybe it was my imagination...but it was faster to respond to the supercharger...CRISP.....LIKE NEW.....

I think what happens is that this crud builds up slowly, takes its toll slowly, and we do not notice! Race cars use water jets to cool their intercoolers...any drop in temp should be better!

Tried it in the cool morning and again in the heat of day!

It is so simple to do to....thanks to the original poster!!!
Made my day!