Kenne Bell high IAT issue

[G8-4-Speed]

Have a intercooler 2.8 on a 2010 Camaro with a LS9 cam running 10 psi. My problem is even though everything is connected, flowing, and full, there is a bad IAT climb with a quick WOT pull. Today with 60 degree inlet temps, 108 IAT, 180 coolant temps, during a 2800-6700 third gear pull, IAT jumped from 108 to 159 degrees. Even on quicker 2nd gear pulls, it will rise 30 degrees no problem.

The only thing I have noticed so far is the intercooler should be a double pass and I don't see the welds that should secure the divider plate in the intercooler.

The plan is to drop the intercooler and check it. If it checks good, I will use a coolant vacuum system to evacuate and recharge the coolant to get rid of any air pockets that my be causing an issue.

This is just a "feeler" question as since this hasn't been investigated enough to say eveything has been check. KB didn't have any answers for me. So I am just throwing it out to see if anyone else ran across this......

I have scanned plenty other intercooler blower setups without seeing a climb like this. I can't imagine how bad it would be when it is 90+ outside...

[GMRULZ]

I would guess air pocket first. I had to use a wet dry vac as a suction on one end to get the air pockets out of my Whipple system before the pump would circulate the water properly. the other option i had was leaving the retunr hose off make sure the resivior stays full turn the pump on and let it push all the air out and that final burst of coolant...lol..

[mikepage0007]

just dyno mine a couple weeks ago, get used to it..i also run that high...tried to run 50/50 meth and that is not haelping either..

[mikepage0007]

On the base no meth run, at 6000 RPM we saw 59 degrees Celsius (138*F). I would say pretty typical KB. On the run with the meth spraying and the 10 nozzle making it quite rich, the IAT was 65 degrees Celsius (149*F) at 6000 RPM. Again we know the meth is working because it went way rich and actually lost quite a bit of power. On the run with the 5 nozzle, I saw 62 degrees Celsius (144*F).

Now compared to a very similar TVS2300 car we did earlier in slightly warmer conditions, we saw an average of 45 degrees Celsius (113*F) at 6000 RPM on every run and we did 6 runs is 75 minutes. This was with no meth. Shows how good the heat exchanger is on the TVS2300 versus the KB.

[stanwilliams]

Would adding some water wetter to the coolant help? That stuff makes a difference on my race car and the Whipple instructions say to use it in the radiator and in the IC tank.

[stanwilliams]

Pure water works a lot better than antifreeze as well if its warm out. Stick a red hot piece of metal in water and then try to grab it right away with your bare hand. Then do the same thing with antifreeze and see what happens. You won't hold on very long. Pure water or at least a lighter mix of antifreeze with some Redline Water Wetter and I bet you see some improvements.

[bigsquirrel]

Originally Posted by GMRULZ

I would guess air pocket first. I had to use a wet dry vac as a suction on one end to get the air pockets out of my Whipple system before the pump would circulate the water properly. the other option i had was leaving the retunr hose off make sure the resivior stays full turn the pump on and let it push all the air out and that final burst of coolant...lol..

I did the same at GMRULZ suggestion. Also when my intercooler is running you can open the tank and look in to see if it's flowing.

[NS]

Originally Posted by stanwilliams

Pure water works a lot better than antifreeze as well if its warm out. Stick a red hot piece of metal in water and then try to grab it right away with your bare hand. Then do the same thing with antifreeze and see what happens. You won't hold on very long. Pure water or at least a lighter mix of antifreeze with some Redline Water Wetter and I bet you see some improvements.

The car is running prestone dex-cool 50-50mix, I do not think this is the problem.

[G8-4-Speed]

Of course tonight when I go to vacuum down the intercooler system, the donut adapter to seal the tool is cracked so I could only pull 17 inhg. It did still pull air from the system and made a 15 degree difference but still had a climb from 100-149 but it was from first to the top of third, so much better and it recovered to 108 IAT within 15 seconds. Tomorrow the new vacuum seals should be in so maybe I can try to get 28 inhg on the system. If this turns out to make a big difference then they need to redesign the cooling system so an average installer can get the system purged of air without a special tool.

[MARZ]

Originally Posted by G8-4-Speed

...KB didn't have any answers for me.

What?! No suggestions? No answers? Nothing??

[sting808]

KB suggests using 30/70 dex/water mix. My 2.8LC averages 30-40* above ambient when normal driving and moving. After idle/stop long durations or power runs, temps can go up to 45-60* above ambient, but get back down to 30-35* while vehicle moving.

On tonights 1/2 throttle on road data logs, I saw 129*IAT, 198*ECT, and ambient was about 70*.

[mikepage0007]

Originally Posted by sting808

KB suggests using 30/70 dex/water mix. My 2.8LC averages 30-40* above ambient when normal driving and moving. After idle/stop long durations or power runs, temps can go up to 45-60* above ambient, but get back down to 30-35* while vehicle moving.

On tonights 1/2 throttle on road data logs, I saw 129*IAT, 198*ECT, and ambient was about 70*.

now u tell me..lol..will have to bring down to 30/70 and retune @ later date..

[sting808]

Originally Posted by mikepage0007

now u tell me..lol..will have to bring down to 30/70 and retune @ later date..

don't think it's going to make a huge difference, but WTH.

[G8-4-Speed]

Well, it is a bit cold out but I think it is as "fixed" as it will get. I ened up pulling the front nose off and went thru it all.

Started by putting the intercooler tight up against the bumper support, changed the coolant routing to pull hot water in thru the top and cool out the bottom of intercooler, pull the fittings off the resevoir and removed the restrictor plug, verified pump was spinning the correct direction(it will pump either way but only one with good volume), and purge all air from the system.

Now IAT's will only climb @30 degrees going from 60-120mph. This is half of what it was before going twice as long on a pull. We'll see what it looks like on a warmer day. Still far better than before.