intercooler?

Question

How does an intercooler work /what does it do, on a turbo car do they need regular ceaning i.e. at service intervals??

Answer 1

The intercooler is basically a radiator to cool the air before it goes into the cylinder. Cool air is denser, and so more air will go into the cylinder, therefore giving more power. Because gasses heat up when pressurized, and turbochargers are hot anyway (since they are also part of the exhaust system), they then need to be cooled back down before entering the cylinder. Running the air through a radiator (with a good supply of outside air going through it) cools the pressurized air in the same way the main radiator cools the engine's coolant. The only cleaning this type of intercooler needs (it's called an air-to air intercooler) is to make sure the cooling grid doesn't get full of leaves and dirt, etc.

Answer 2

They work by transferring the heat in the air that a super/turbocharger has compressed to a different material (In air to water intercoolers, the different material is water; in air to air intercoolers, the different material is the metal around the outside air). And like [wayforwardhow] said, this makes the air denser and in total creates more power.

Answer 3

An intercooler cools down the air that enters the combustion chamber. After the air has passed through the turbo it heats up & therefore becomes less dense so less fuel can be injected (which means less power) to keep the air/fuel ratio correct. Cooling the air makes it more dense which means more fuel can be injected (producing more power).

Check your handbook for servicing.