Truth about aftermarket intercoolers when towing heavy.

[CUMMINZ]

Your true experience with aftermarket intercoolers if you tow heavy.

 

[CKelley1]

we tow very heavy. truck used was a 2006 test run on a multi run long haul. mpg, egt before and after change compared. we used a bd based on independent revues. the egt dropped about 20* no detectable gain in mpg.

 

[Bob4x4]

I believe testing has shown Afe's cool the best,another brand flowed slightly higher but cooled less

 

[CUMMINZ]

we tow very heavy. truck used was a 2006 test run on a multi run long haul. mpg, egt before and after change compared. we used a bd based on independent revues. the egt dropped about 20* no detectable gain in mpg.

With those results it does not appear to be worth the investment.



Thanks

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

My results with the BD, and those of a friend, are better than C Kelley's. I don't have hard numbers handy, but with twin turbos, maybe 100 deg. and 2-3x that with most singles.

 

[AH64ID]

I haven't used one but I am skeptical of any gains, and what CKelly saw is inline with what I presume one would see.



The reason is that the IAT temps are just not high enough to give big EGT drops. In stock form (stock cam/turbo) I would see at most about +40° over ambient pulling long grades at 30+ psi. So assuming the intercooler was able to drop the air back to ambient the EGT drop would only be ±60° which is not enough to justify the cost. We also know that an intercooler cannot get the air temp back to ambient, so the drop would actually be less.



Now with a cam/turbo change (mainly the turbo) and a Home Depot CAI I only see +30° over ambient at 80-100% throttle.



Maybe if the OEM intercooler didn't do as good of a job, or the truck had a open filter element sucking HOT engine bay air, but with a good OEM cooler and sealed airbox the IAT's just aren't that hot.



I am purely talking at heavy towing hp levels. On a 600+ hp rig they may benefit from the enhanced cooling and flow, but you cannot sustain 600 hp when towing heavy based on oil/coolant cooling so it's not really a factor for towing.