Interesting. I have some additional questions
1. On an air to water intercooler. How do you monitor the temperature of the coolant? If the pump fails, I imagine the EGT will increase.
Temperature sensor, and a separate gauge.
EGT is mostly governed by combustion conditions. If the intake charge air is hotter, it will have some effect on EGTs, but it's not the main thing. You're more likely to see an impact in engine coolant temps.
On both air to air and air to water systems. Are the auxiliary fans for the intercooler activated manually and/or activated automatically and/or deactivate at a certain temperature automatically with a temperature sensor?
Set them up with a thermal switch. You can get switches that are activated at different temperatures, it may take some trial and error to find one that works for you.
Does having the intercooler mounted in front off the vehicle's radiator, A/C condenser and transmission aux oil cooler hinder with the vehicle's cooling efficiency?
Yes, to some extent. BUT, intercooling also means the engine is more fuel efficient, you get a denser intake air charge, a cleaner fuel burn, and lower combustion temperatures, so with more power output. so, there's less heat going into the coolant system for a given power output.
If either system fails, would the EGT's just revert to the EGT temps of the vehicle prior to the intercooler install?
Depends. Intercooling can give you the opportunity to tune more fuel into the mix, and make more power.
Take the intercooler out of the system without adjusting fuel settings back down, EGTs are likely to rise.
EGTs really only matter when squeezing the last 10-15% of power out of your engine in a given moment. If you're working the engine hard in a high gear pulling a boat over a mountain, you'll see EGTs peak. In normal driving, 95% of the time, EGTs don't matter at all. In normal driving, you'll almost never see EGTs hit a dangerous peak.
Watching EGTs all the time is an exercise in curiosity, or paranoia, depending on your own mindset.
If you had to bypass an intercooler to drive home, just don't flog it all the way home. Have some sympathy on it, and you'll be good
I appreciate everyones info. Maybe I'm just over thinking it.
It's kinda simple, kinda not. And what works for a gas engine isn't necessarily going to be ideal for a diesel engine.
Google "Dale Banks" and "intercooler"
He had a lot of great content out there related to turbo diesel performance.
There's also a good thread on intercoolers in the diesel tech section here in mud.
Water to air is suited to gas engines where they tend to make high boost for short bursts at a time.
Water absorbs heat fast, but sheds it slowly. In a gas engine, the turbo is not boosting most of the time. This gives time for heat to be exchanged from the intercoolers radiator, back to the air.
In a slow moving vehicle in a hot desert situation, once the water to air intercooler is heat soaked, it's going to struggle to shed heat and will stop being effective.
A diesel is making boost almost all the time it is being driven ( boost varies though). Air to air is better at shedding absorbed heat without getting heat soaked as fast (unless it's sitting on top of the engine and exposed to all the radiant heat within the engine bay).
In a desert scenario, an auxiliary fan on a front mount will help prevent heat soak for longer.
There's some advantages to water to air, but IMHO not enough in a diesel to justify the extra complexity, the extra cost of set up, and the added maintenance.
Are intercooler systems just install forget and play??
front mount air to air, yes, (particularly if you don't use an auxiliary fan), apart from the basic maintenance like checking hoses and clamps are in good order every now and then.
Top mount air to air, you need to keep fans and electrical system in good working order. This can be problematic due to being directly over a hot engine, turbo, exhaust etc.
Water to air adds a whole lot more complexity. You now have a modified intake test, a 2nd coolant system & pump, and electrical system to run it ask, and moving parts that you don't have with air to air. All this needs maintained. All this adds potential failure points.
Check out the long running thread in the diesel tech section
