Intercooler Paint Peeling

[XR6Turbosonator]

On my BA XR6T, the top intercooler part is painted black probably from factory, well after 9 years it's really looking old and the paint is chipping off on the inside.

I am going to clean it out, scrape the old loose paint off of the inside, is it worth it or just replace it?

I just ripped the turbo off to replace the cartridge, seized bearings, there seemed to be sufficient oil getting to the turbo, the fins on the front compressor wheel were heavily chipped, some debris seem to have gotten into the turbo.

Could this have been from paint chips off of the intercooler top piece?

[Kroozin]

I had a similar prob a while ago with the turbo only it was the rubber joiner on the front of the turbo broke up and a piece of rubber went thru bending the blade. I never saw it as it was hiding on the bottom where I couldnt see it until it was too late.

I highly doubt that the flaking paint on the outside of your cooler would cause what you are saying.

If I were you id be checking all the intake piping from the turbo all the way to the filter box inc. the filter you should find something..

[XR6Turbosonator]

I highly doubt that the flaking paint on the outside of your cooler would cause what you are saying.

No the paint is peeling off on the inside.

Thanks, yeh I will check all the rubber hose clamps, probably something came off.

[XR6Turbosonator]

Ok, so I got the name of it now, it's the dual pipe crossover (above the manifold) I am talking about, paint is peeling off on the inside, thinking about scraping the paint off and respraying it black again.

[Wenier]

If its the factory crossover its most likely pieces of the plastic crossover as I'm pretty sure they don't paint inside any of the piping. And those plastic pieces would damage the compressor blades at the speed they would end up hitting at.

[discostig]

I've read on here about people having the crossover on top of the engine sandblasted inside to remove the crappy casting burrs (maybe what broke off and ruined blades) as well as avoid the paint peeling off later on as described. It seems to be powdercoated inside or something? Mine's not plain metal inside either from memory.

Edited 20/08/11 12:19 PM by -SteveR-

[XR6Turbosonator]

Yeh another bright idea from Ford, I know lets freakn paint the INSIDE of the crossover and when the paint peels of it will f*ck the turbo, here comes the cash cow.

[XR6Turbosonator]

Ok so I took it off and applied paint stripper, buffed it back, problem solved.

[discostig]

I assume you did inside the crossover, was it difficult to get all areas?

[XR6Turbosonator]

Nope, wasn't that hard really. Contact a stripper and use some sandpaper.