DTi Intercooler pipe replacement (Thread formalyl called Turbo Hiss)

[Innes]

I had started a thread about a mysterious hiss that sounded like it was coming from the turbo but turned out to be the inter-cooler pipe (front right) split but thanks to the Algerian Hacker wiping out 3 weeks of Vectra-C.com that thread has bit the dust so I'm resurrecting this thread the best I can with my cheap repair solution to my split pipe.

So here is my split pipe



and here bodge repair if duck tape whilst I waited for the silicone pipe and 90 degree aluminum bend to arrive in the post.



I ordered 1 meter (smallest length they do) from ebay of 51mm (2") Blue silcone hose http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/51mm-2-Silicon...es_CarParts_SM
and a 51mm (2") beaded edge 90 degree bedn Aluminium pipe. The leg length of the aluminum pipe was 68mm (smallest I could find) which was still a little bit to big so I had to cut off the beaded edges for a better fit. If I was doing this again I would have ordered the longer leg length which was cheaper (£9.40 as apposed to £17!) and cut that down instead. Here is the link for the longer leg pipe: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...96&mfe=sidebar





The next thing was to cut the silicone hoses. The main pain in the arse was that the bottom part of the original pipe was wider at the bottom than the top so the silcone pipe had to stretch a bit and to make things a little trickier I had to cut a notch in the bottom of the pipe to fit it exactly as per the old one:





Then it was a case of putting in the metal pipe in and cutting the top hose. I bought brand new Jubilee clips and did them up nice and tight. Considering I had to get rid if the beaded edged of the pipe everything went on securely.




There is a bit to much of the top blue silicone hose after the 2nd jubilee clip and I will cut that down later but it was getting dark and about to **** down with rain. A job for another day.

As you can probably tell I did everything by eye rather than using a tape measure. If you are going to do this mod/repair perhaps measure things a bit more carefully than I did but in the end its all working! It was also alot cheaper than buying the silicone replacement off ebay for £63. This will cost about £30!

[AKeeNShoT]

looks alreet doesn't it, i think i might try the 45degree bend, have you got some hose left for me???

[Innes]

I think you would have problems trying to bend the silicone pipe if you go for the 45 degrees bend. Its quite stiff stuff as its reinforced with what looks like white nylon. I'll measure whats left but I reckon £10 plus P&P. I'll find out how much it'll cost to post and PM you how much :-)

[Gortreck]

I need to do this, but not just for one side, i need to replace the left side too. But just a thought, your saying the silicone is tough to bend, so it would probably try and straighten itself out? How about if you got a slightly thinner metal bend and rather than cur the silicone into two small pieces and jubliee them on, use the metal inside the silicone to help bend the silicone? That way you would have the lovely blue silicone from top to bottom without the metal section in the middle?

Did that make sense? I dont always put down in words what i want to say very well lol!

Thanks
Tony

[paul_sri150]

Did you notice any difference in the runnin of engine? Smoother power delivery? Once all hoses were replaced?

[Innes]

I need to do this, but not just for one side, i need to replace the left side too. But just a thought, your saying the silicone is tough to bend, so it would probably try and straighten itself out? How about if you got a slightly thinner metal bend and rather than cur the silicone into two small pieces and jubliee them on, use the metal inside the silicone to help bend the silicone? That way you would have the lovely blue silicone from top to bottom without the metal section in the middle?

I know what you are saying but I dont think you would be able to thread the silicone hose over the metal pipe. I thought the same thing when I was doing it. You'd have to really heat the hose up to make it soft but even then it would be ****** difficult. To be honest I like seeing the metal bend

Did you notice any difference in the runnin of engine? Smoother power delivery? Once all hoses were replaced?

Only in the sense that my hose didn't have a hole in it any more and my MPG improved because of that! Doing this mod/repair wont help improve performance. The only reason I did it was to save money buying the Vx parts and the molded silicone hose on ebay for £65. The side effect of my money saving is that it looks pretty cool

[paul_sri150]

It does look very cool!

Shame you ain't got a glass bonnet lol!

[Tigerfan]

That's fantastic, my hoses go every so often and I wanted something a bit longer lasting than the Vx rubber ones, and they look great! I may as well replace the small ones as well, ( the ones you also have in blue but thinner) what thickness do I need for those ( I have a 2.2Dti auto)

[Jonsey]

I took the small hose off that runs to thturboe and I am sure it measures 41mm Internal Diameter either that or my tape measure is well out, can anyone confirm this.

Regards

Dave

[Jonsey]

Just done this on my 2.0L DTi, still waiting for the vaccum hose, and silicone straight to come to replace the small pipe between the turbo and metal pipe over the engine, then got to work out how to do the lower pipe then.