At GT Radiator Repair, our team works with aluminum charge air coolers. Whether your need a repair, replacement, or recore service, we can help. Check us out in Ambler, PA. We're not too far from Fort Washington, PA, Gwynedd, PA, or surrounding areas.
Aluminum Charge Air Coolers are used to cool the air going into the engine after is has passed through a turbocharger. Turbochargers and superchargers are used on today’s engines to force more air mass into the engine’s intake manifold and combustion chambers for increased power and fuel mileage. Compression of this air increases the air’s temperature before being introduced into the engine. Performance gains of supercharging the air is diminished due to decreased air density. Increased air temperature will also increase cylinder temperature which causes detonation, excessive wear and heat damage to the engine block.
Passing this compressed air through a Charge Air Cooler reduces the temperature and increases air density for improved engine performance and fuel mileage.
The Charge Air Cooler is usually mounted directly in front the radiator exposing it initially to dirt, bugs and debris. In addition, by being positioned out in front of the radiator and engine the cooler is exposed to enormous amounts vibration from the road and engine.
This vibration causes the welds that seal the cooler tanks to the core to crack and the tubes and tube header joints to crack. Leaks in the Charge Air Cooler will reduce engine power and allow unfiltered air to engine the combustion chambers.
If the aluminum of the cooler is not too contaminated, deteriorated or damaged some repairs are possible. Cracks in the weld that holds the tank to the core may be repairable. If tubes in the core are cracked or if tube-to-header joints leak, the cooler will then need to be recored or replaced.
In some cases, the Charge Air Cooler becomes contaminated internally from metal debris and oil if the turbochargers fails and the engine is not shut down in time. This debris and oil buildup can be chemically cleaned from inside if the cooler does not have extensive leaks. A biodegradable cleaner has been developed that will consume the oil molecules and allow the metal debris to be flushed from the cooler tanks and tubes.
In any case, we can have the cooler cleaned, repaired, recored or replaced with limited down time to the piece of equipment.
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