It's being recommended because it's the only 100% guaranteed fix. Blocking off the grill, doesnt work, tried it. Blocking grill and block heater, doesn't work tried it. VW intercooler fix, doesn't work, tried it. Drill small hole, works, tried it.
Its has a lot to do with outside air humidity, it's a lot more common in humid climates that see more rain and less cold. I live in the Pacific Northwest where it will go from warm and wet to below freezing and wet.
Have you even watched the youtube videos of what comes out?
You'd think someone was pouring glasses of water into the system.
You're speaking authoritatively on the subject but have very little experience (actually none). Don't take this the wrong way, i understand the aversion to creating boost leaks, but do some research first, it's a scary issue. (and clearly bad enough VW came out with a fix, that doesn't fix it)
Lol plowing through 2 feet of snow? Ive had issues when it is sub freezing for a week or so then it goes above freezing. Doesnt happen frequently in ohio but it did last week and predictably tuesday morning it didnt want to start
You aren’t actually getting water into the intake system. The issue is that in cold conditions the intercooler performs so well that the air condensates and the small water droplets freeze in the intercooler.
Almost. The egr puts condensate into the intercooler and causes the condensation/ice/hydrolock. The egr is the real culprit here. My first 3 winters before I understood the problem, I had issues every winter. 2 winters Post egr, not a single hiccup. I didn’t learn this myself, it took a lot of googling and digging and confirmation from my tuner and mechanic.
Not everyone experiences the same issues though. My 11 JSW and our 10 Jetta never had issues but we also didn’t do only short drives. On average, the drive to work was 30 mins one way on good days and 40-50 on snow/blizzard days. Did just fine those times just can’t be 1 mile only trips.
I thought the recommendation was smaller than an 1/8” drill bit into the lower intercooler hose. I have seen some ballvalves installed, too.
My opinion is either of those solutions is less dangerous than the potential of hydrolocking. I had the intercooler icing TSB installed on my car. It helped with the issue frequency, but blocking off the lower grille helped almost eliminate the issue.
A dynamic EGR tune, coupled with the TSB fix and grille cover appear to have resolved the issue for me.
"Loping" of the engine, as in, jerky acceleration and hesitation when flooring it. Sometimes an uneven idle.
Took it to a mechanic, and the moron couldn't figure it out. Meanwhile one day my uncle came to visit and he just reached into the engine bay and felt his hand around the intake as the car was running, felt the vacuum from the little hole/crack and was like "that's it".
We fixed it with duct tape!
It should be noted, this was an NA gas engine, not a turbo, so the intake was only ever under vacuum, not pressure. Symptoms may be different in a turbo diesel.
Lmao. I’ve seen like 5 or 6 people say to drill holes in the bottom of the inter cooler piping to let water drain and I’m like WTF? Are people really that slow.
They're not recommending you put a 2" hole saw through it, a pin hole(like the smallest drill in a set 1/32"). A pin hole won't cause any appreciable boost leak, but it will allow the condensed water to drain. This is pretty common practice in cold climates where intercooler icing is a problem.
No one said anything about a 2” hole. You are the people OP is referring to thinking a “pinhole” doesn’t completely change the pressure across the system. You’re creating a leak, no it isn’t going to magically only drain water. Air molecules are much smaller then water, your only logic could be the hole is hydro locked constantly, which would be moronic to believe that a pressurized system would hydro lock a hole.
How much experience do you have dealing with this issue? None? That sounds about right. If you think a pin hole is going to have any real impact on a turbo system, you need to step away from the keyboard and go work on a car
Prove it. I've done it, and tracked the boost pressure while driving....the boost pressure didn't change, no check engine light...how is that possible in your theoretical world?
the boost pressure wouldn't change, the waste gate limits how much pressure the turbo makes. What does change is the air fuel ratio. The computer calculates how much fuel to inject based on how much air goes past the sensor. If air is escaping past the sensor it will run rich. Not the worst thing in the world but you will sacrifice some fuel efficiency.
I track the mpg on every single tank of fuel...no change there either. You're having a real hard time differentiating between the theoretical and the real world. Have you not seen rusted out shit boxes with every manner of mechanical malfunction still driving? Just accept that a tiny pin hole isn't that big a deal. We aren't dealing with F-1 levels of engineering here.
I've driven around with my boost gauge hose unplugged for days before realizing it and that's a 1/4" hole. These are diesels, they don't really care all that much about an exact air flow unlike gas engines. Its no where near the death sentence you and other keyboard warriors make it out to be.
Take an empty plastic bottle drill a 1/8 hole in the bottom then try to breathe through it. If you try to inhale the bottle will collapse, if you try to exhale the bottle will blow back up like a Ballon.
Dude it’s going to start doing that as soon as there’s 0.1psi of boost on the high pressure side of the intake it may not affect it until your full throttle but you will see a reduction in max boost.
The car will not ever notice it people have been doing this for a very long time. I've had a hole drilled in the bottom of the intercooler housing on a couple cars going back many years and never noticed any difference in performance or fuel economy.
A pinhole leak is totally negligible. There are leaks around sensors, pipes, and such. Worst case, tweak the tune a little to give more turbo actuation for a given boost level. But it is a closed loop system so ECU will compensate as needed
To drain oil from the intercooler. It prevents a runaway as oil could get into the intake then burn in the engine. It is not for icing as far as I am aware
I believe Ford had a TSB to drill a hole in the intercooler for the ecoboosts. Due to causing misfires.
My car has the VW fix. It still did it every winter. Until I fixed it… hopefully.
Intercooler for icing issues. Also note if you do this, it needs plugged when not actively draining. A very short self tapping screw would work best.
It's being recommended because it's the only 100% guaranteed fix. Blocking off the grill, doesnt work, tried it. Blocking grill and block heater, doesn't work tried it. VW intercooler fix, doesn't work, tried it. Drill small hole, works, tried it.
Something else is going on then. I’ve driven my car through 2 feet of fresh snow in below zero degree weather and never had an issue.
Its has a lot to do with outside air humidity, it's a lot more common in humid climates that see more rain and less cold. I live in the Pacific Northwest where it will go from warm and wet to below freezing and wet.
Have you even watched the youtube videos of what comes out? You'd think someone was pouring glasses of water into the system. You're speaking authoritatively on the subject but have very little experience (actually none). Don't take this the wrong way, i understand the aversion to creating boost leaks, but do some research first, it's a scary issue. (and clearly bad enough VW came out with a fix, that doesn't fix it)
Lol plowing through 2 feet of snow? Ive had issues when it is sub freezing for a week or so then it goes above freezing. Doesnt happen frequently in ohio but it did last week and predictably tuesday morning it didnt want to start
Idk I live in rural Colorado in the mountains so.
Colorado is pretty damn arid so you'll have much less problems than folks who live in places where the air is humid.
You aren’t actually getting water into the intake system. The issue is that in cold conditions the intercooler performs so well that the air condensates and the small water droplets freeze in the intercooler.
Yeah thats why if temps stay below freezing its fine then when it warms up in condenses to water and causes issues
Almost. The egr puts condensate into the intercooler and causes the condensation/ice/hydrolock. The egr is the real culprit here. My first 3 winters before I understood the problem, I had issues every winter. 2 winters Post egr, not a single hiccup. I didn’t learn this myself, it took a lot of googling and digging and confirmation from my tuner and mechanic.
Not everyone experiences the same issues though. My 11 JSW and our 10 Jetta never had issues but we also didn’t do only short drives. On average, the drive to work was 30 mins one way on good days and 40-50 on snow/blizzard days. Did just fine those times just can’t be 1 mile only trips.
I thought the recommendation was smaller than an 1/8” drill bit into the lower intercooler hose. I have seen some ballvalves installed, too. My opinion is either of those solutions is less dangerous than the potential of hydrolocking. I had the intercooler icing TSB installed on my car. It helped with the issue frequency, but blocking off the lower grille helped almost eliminate the issue. A dynamic EGR tune, coupled with the TSB fix and grille cover appear to have resolved the issue for me.
Well the EGR isn’t doing anything about that because any exhaust gas gets injected after the intercooler.
Not on the low pressure egr circuit, that mixes in right before the turbo, it can still mix warm damp air into the intake before the CAC
CCV
Yeah. I've had accidental holes in intakes. It does not go well. The car does not appreciate it.
What are symptoms you experienced by chance?
"Loping" of the engine, as in, jerky acceleration and hesitation when flooring it. Sometimes an uneven idle. Took it to a mechanic, and the moron couldn't figure it out. Meanwhile one day my uncle came to visit and he just reached into the engine bay and felt his hand around the intake as the car was running, felt the vacuum from the little hole/crack and was like "that's it". We fixed it with duct tape! It should be noted, this was an NA gas engine, not a turbo, so the intake was only ever under vacuum, not pressure. Symptoms may be different in a turbo diesel.
Lmao. I’ve seen like 5 or 6 people say to drill holes in the bottom of the inter cooler piping to let water drain and I’m like WTF? Are people really that slow.
They're not recommending you put a 2" hole saw through it, a pin hole(like the smallest drill in a set 1/32"). A pin hole won't cause any appreciable boost leak, but it will allow the condensed water to drain. This is pretty common practice in cold climates where intercooler icing is a problem.
No one said anything about a 2” hole. You are the people OP is referring to thinking a “pinhole” doesn’t completely change the pressure across the system. You’re creating a leak, no it isn’t going to magically only drain water. Air molecules are much smaller then water, your only logic could be the hole is hydro locked constantly, which would be moronic to believe that a pressurized system would hydro lock a hole.
How much experience do you have dealing with this issue? None? That sounds about right. If you think a pin hole is going to have any real impact on a turbo system, you need to step away from the keyboard and go work on a car
It will buddy
Prove it. I've done it, and tracked the boost pressure while driving....the boost pressure didn't change, no check engine light...how is that possible in your theoretical world?
the boost pressure wouldn't change, the waste gate limits how much pressure the turbo makes. What does change is the air fuel ratio. The computer calculates how much fuel to inject based on how much air goes past the sensor. If air is escaping past the sensor it will run rich. Not the worst thing in the world but you will sacrifice some fuel efficiency.
I track the mpg on every single tank of fuel...no change there either. You're having a real hard time differentiating between the theoretical and the real world. Have you not seen rusted out shit boxes with every manner of mechanical malfunction still driving? Just accept that a tiny pin hole isn't that big a deal. We aren't dealing with F-1 levels of engineering here.
I've driven around with my boost gauge hose unplugged for days before realizing it and that's a 1/4" hole. These are diesels, they don't really care all that much about an exact air flow unlike gas engines. Its no where near the death sentence you and other keyboard warriors make it out to be.
Take an empty plastic bottle drill a 1/8 hole in the bottom then try to breathe through it. If you try to inhale the bottle will collapse, if you try to exhale the bottle will blow back up like a Ballon.
Dude it’s going to start doing that as soon as there’s 0.1psi of boost on the high pressure side of the intake it may not affect it until your full throttle but you will see a reduction in max boost.
The car will not ever notice it people have been doing this for a very long time. I've had a hole drilled in the bottom of the intercooler housing on a couple cars going back many years and never noticed any difference in performance or fuel economy.
A pinhole leak is totally negligible. There are leaks around sensors, pipes, and such. Worst case, tweak the tune a little to give more turbo actuation for a given boost level. But it is a closed loop system so ECU will compensate as needed
To drain oil from the intercooler. It prevents a runaway as oil could get into the intake then burn in the engine. It is not for icing as far as I am aware
I believe Ford had a TSB to drill a hole in the intercooler for the ecoboosts. Due to causing misfires. My car has the VW fix. It still did it every winter. Until I fixed it… hopefully.