Welp. This morning my intercooler blew up on my 2010 TC. I've got about 7,200 miles on it.. bone stock no less.

I was accelerating through a light on a straight road and POW! The end tank on the passenger side blew up. I'll have pics when I replace it later today.

So for everyone on the stock intercooler... look into a replacement. Even if you're on stock boost.



Edit: Carnage follows. Total and complete. When I break somethin... there is no half-assed.
Note to MajorCB: Looks like my failure was in the same place but extended all the way to the core.

 

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeez that blows!

 

you sure its the end tank and not just the pipe blowing off?

 

Damn people and bad luck

I've had mine for 12k and no issues yet! guess I'm lucky

 

Nice, join the club... Check out the pics in my post from a few weeks ago...https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-0l...g-boom-238513/

Btw... Zzp is a nice IC

 

ya mine is stock at 14k miles with no issue.....

 

48K miles and @23psi...no issue with stock one

 

I had 54k on mine tuned for 24psi when I replaced it, figured it was due. It saw 30 psi a few times.

 

I cracked three on stock boost. I know you work for a dealer, Mal, but imagine how hard it is to convince a dealer that you did this with stock boost and you didn't bottom it out. That's what we "normal citizens" have to put up with from techs.

 

My buddys blew up about the same mileage the OP's did. What a cheap piece of junk GM made

 

There was another thread on a similar issue that happened a few weeks back to a guy in Maryland. one thing we all took note of was weather conditions at the time... if its below 40degrees and you're heating up and put alot of boost on it (amount is unknown).. (and if your break is in the same area as the other person's IC.... it was described as basically on the plastic portion where the metal meets the piping and goes from flat to round surface and hits that hard curve....there are pictures of his break on here somewhere).. there seems to be a possible inherent weakness in the design (and not on ALL of the cars-- crap shoot maybe?) since the hard plastic may not be thick enough in that area to take all the thermal stresses during the heating process. .. there is no "factual evidence" on this, however it seems to be a logical possibility... hypothesis if you will.. but with more evidence over time of the location of the break, hypothesis turns into something a bit more :-)

sucks though... I been taking it very easy on my 2010 as of late too.. its cold here in SC as well.


***I found that other thread, the link is to the pictures he attached.. maybe its in a similar location to yours...
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/5491719-post31.html

 

And again...welcome to the club.

Here's my experience with the stock intercooler. I was at 34k miles with no issues also until it happened

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-0l...t-open-236825/

 

50k and same as him

 

26k stock boost no problems here.

 

I blew mine on a 3rd gear WOT pull with a HPt/Trifecta combo tune at 21 lbs. Had 13,XXX at the time. And yes, it does go BOOOM! when it happens .

 

i bet it scares the crap out of you. doesnt it?

 

damn that sucks

 

im sure if he said it was the end tank, he probably looked at it and saw the damage

 

No pics yet unfortunately. I have the part at work but didn't get a chance to install it yet. Stupid engine job took me three days... OOooohhh well. Not driving the car though. And yes I'm going to bump a new IC a little higher on the priority list... or maybe save for when this stocker pops again.

Actually when I mentioned that my IC popped, one of the people I worked with mentioned a Sky Turbo that had the IC blow up on the stock tune. No impact damange. It got covered under warranty.I fight for the customer when I think they have a valid claim. Unfortunately my decision isn't final when it comes to what's covered by warranty.

I did consider temperature and structural weak points to be a possibility. It was below 40 degrees today and the car wasn't up to operating temp yet. Plastic certainly does get brittle in colder temps. When I get my old IC removed I'll take pics and be sure to post them. Hopefully I can contribute to the theorizing.

I put it on a lift first thing when I got to work.. Thought I saw a hole the size of my fist or larger on the right end-tank facing the condensor. I didn't remove the bumper but I just knew from the shrapnel sound and loss of boost that the IC blew up before I even got to work.

It was startling, that's for damn sure. Hearing that when you're half awake and haven't even had caffeine yet.

 

Good thing I took mines off at 9000 miles. That stock will be chilling in the garage as long as I own this car. Riding with the ZZP IC, nice piece of equipment compare to stock.

 

dude..we are on css you know..gotta ask these questions also when you blow a ic pipe it makes a boom too so... just making sure.

 

Well I bashed the driver side of my IC on the street the other day coming off a steep driveway and it snapped off the plastic condensation tank clip. So I see a MPX IC in the near future (so far as I can tell, it has more ground clearance than any other model specific unit). Or maybe I'd be better off with something generic I can mount even higher.

If anyone knows of a quality IC with MORE ground clearance than the stocker, 1/2" or more would be ideal, please reply.

Or if you know how to build your own IC, I could use that info too (I just saw some cast end tanks for sale on the Treadstone site).

 

Day 2 of being stuck in a 2011 Regal... Unfortunately its not a turbo. I WANT MY CAR BACK!

 

Could've gone aftermarket and fixed it yourself in less than an hour!

Happened to me too (IC blowing up). Replaced it and I was good. Sounded like a gun when off followed by 3 pops.

 

Treadstone TR8