Drilling a drain hole in the intercooler plumbing

TDI57 · Mar 15, 2017

I did the drill job too, no issues whatsoever. Piece of mind to see water on the ground instead of in the tube.
But, now that I have committed to give the car back to VW and getting a simple 14 year old Tacoma 5 speed with crank windows, no intercooler, no HPFP, no turbo, no DPF, no exhaust valve and too may other pollution control devices to mention, of which still is not enough to meet our standards. Ugh. Nice feeling actually to leave all that behind.

ihatespeed · Mar 15, 2017

well, add me to the list, while deployed car would not start for my wife. had her leave it parked in driveway, glad it happened at home. 45 days later I pulled the hose and found a chunk of ice filling the pipe about 2/3 full. let melt out (hair dryer and lightbulb, its still only 25 today) and started car with hose off to heat soak the inter cooler and hopefully get any other ice out. Drilled an 1/8" hole in the plastic pipe just past the rubber hose as others have done, hope that fixes it until vw tunes/ repairs this thing so I can strip out the emissions. My tuned and deleted car had 0 water issues in the inter cooler.

ricks · Mar 18, 2017

When I used to drop the bottom engine cover, air flow thingy, to change the oil, it was good to see about a tablespoon of water flowing from the hole I previously drilled when warming up the motor. Now I know every time I start the car it self purges.

Top tip: I now change the oil by sucking the oil out of the dipstick tube using an Oilbox brand oil pump extractor and leave the bottom cover intact. Makes changing the oil an absolute breeze and less than half the time. Also use it to pull oil from lawn tractor, pressure washer, etc. great tool, no affiliation.

neldom · Feb 12, 2018

Sorry to resurrect somewhat of an older thread, I have 2009 TDI, and I definitely have the icing issue, I have had it stall, stumble, etc. various times under various winter driving conditions. I did not know that this was a common issue, but I am going to try drilling the hole after reading the thread.
However, I also have the same issue - every time - I go through an automatic car wash, doesn't seem to happen with the wand wash, where, obviously, the car is not running. It always stumbles and has troubles for the first while. I have seen a good cup of water and oil built up in the cooler hose so I assumed this was the cause. Any ideas if this would remedy both my headaches?
Also, does this work in the great white north, where we're a currently experiencing multiple -30°C mornings/evenings? Or does the hole ice up too badly?

JasonG · Feb 13, 2018

The general thinking is that the residual engine heart will allow it to drain.
The water from the car wash spraying on the CAC would cool it and cause condensation. I always leave it running.

Wilkins · Feb 18, 2018

I drilled the hole last summer and only one issue since. Uncertain as to the cause since I had had the battery disconnected, but it wouldn’t crank, lights dimmed. Redid the battery connections and it started,but then I noticed a pool of water collecting under the car. It was pissing out of the intercooler hose after starting even though it had been above freezing in the garage. Maybe the hole plugged?

I rarely had trouble in cold weather, mostly when it is just above freezing.

Mark1331 · Jan 22, 2019

Forgive me for resurrecting an old thread, but I had the intercooler problem for the first time the other day and I read most every post in this thread tonight for the first time. All new to me, and very entertaining and informative

I'm hoping the drain fix is still working well for everyone that did it. I'm going the winter front route but if I still have problems I may try the drain hole.

I do have a suggestion that I don't think i saw, apologies if I missed it:

This might be difficult to get just right, but why not cut a dime shaped hole in the belly pan right below (or as close as you can get) your drain hole (assuming you put the drain hole in the bottom of the pipe)? That way hopefully most of it would just blow directly onto pavement instead of collecting in the belly pan. I know the belly pan is for protection, but seems like this might be an acceptable option.

Thanks for everyone who posted on this thread, you guys have some great ideas!

SilverGhost · Jan 23, 2019

Mark1331 said:
Forgive me for resurrecting an old thread, but I had the intercooler problem for the first time the other day and I read most every post in this thread tonight for the first time. All new to me, and very entertaining and informative

I'm hoping the drain fix is still working well for everyone that did it. I'm going the winter front route but if I still have problems I may try the drain hole.

I do have a suggestion that I don't think i saw, apologies if I missed it:

This might be difficult to get just right, but why not cut a dime shaped hole in the belly pan right below (or as close as you can get) your drain hole (assuming you put the drain hole in the bottom of the pipe)? That way hopefully most of it would just blow directly onto pavement instead of collecting in the belly pan. I know the belly pan is for protection, but seems like this might be an acceptable option.

Thanks for everyone who posted on this thread, you guys have some great ideas!

Great idea.....when you are stopped. The rest of the time the wind turbulence will just blow the drips all over the place.

Jason

PRY4SNO · Jan 23, 2019

I'm just going to posit this is a stupid idea.

There are proper fixes to this issue that don't include damaging the integrity of the intake piping.

YMMV

ihatespeed · Jan 23, 2019

Do tell what the "proper" fix is? Based on the inter cooler ice threadzilla people have continued to have issues after having the TSB performed. Crude as it may be, the hole is cheap, effective, and more legal than removing the source of the water (EGR delete) . Stupid is a little harsh in my opinion.

Mark1331 · Jan 23, 2019

PRY4SNO said:
I'm just going to posit this is a stupid idea.

There are proper fixes to this issue that don't include damaging the integrity of the intake piping.

YMMV

What are some of these proper fixes? I know about the VW dealer fix, which as the previous poster stated seems to not fully taking care of the issue. What are some of the other fixes?

PRY4SNO · Jan 24, 2019

Well at the very least install a petcock to drain, so there's no hole in the intake tract piping.

I believe others have had success with the S3 intercooler, but that's not a cheap solution.

Mark1331 · Jan 24, 2019

Thanks! I got my winter front in today, so maybe it wont even be an issue.

ytjetta · Jan 28, 2019

I experienced the IC problem last week. After a couple sub-32F days and snow, car wouldn't start during the evening the following day when i tried to go home from work. I was parked in the underground parking garage. I got the car towed to the dealership I bought it from. According to them, they diagnosed and found no codes and also checked battery and starter motor which passed test. They also said that they checked the intercooler and found nothing. However, they found that the fuel filter was clogged (job doesn't say what clogged it) which starved the engine. Fuel filter was replaced (not covered by warranty). However, i still think it is the IC freezing and thawing which caused the problem.

Another cold snap/snow is coming our way so I decided to cover the front in the hope that IC won't freeze again. Just stuffed 1/2" foam pipe insulator ($2.97 at home depot) using black UV-resistant cable ties. Doesn't look nice but as long as it does the job...

img_1495.jpg

DSIre · Jan 28, 2019

You don't want to have a petcock threaded into the pipe because it will not fully drain the pipe if it protrudes inward.

Drill a 1/32" hole. And if the spray bothers you, plastic weld a 1/4" hose barb over the small hole and attach a piece of tubing through the belly pan.

Miser_TDI · Nov 14, 2019

PRY4SNO said:
Well at the very least install a petcock to drain, so there's no hole in the intake tract piping.

I believe others have had success with the S3 intercooler, but that's not a cheap solution.

Maybe when my engine finally blows up (covered by dieselgate warranty) I can have VW install an S3 intercooler then?)

97B4TDi · Nov 14, 2019

I picked up a '13 JSW recently and live in WI. I haven't experianced any hard starting issues yet but am considering this mod as a preventative.

Anybody else in the Midwest complete this mod with ill side effects?

FJ40Jim · Nov 15, 2019

Tiny hole, Works great

Several months ago, while doing other services, the lower intercooler plumbing was disconnected and found to have water & schmutz inside. Everything that was accessible was cleaned out. A .050" hole was drilled in the lower pipe. After driving the car for a week, the bellypan was removed for more services and found to have an oily, wet mess on top of the bellypan, directly underneath the hole. A 1" holesaw was used to make a drainhole through the pan. It's been working great since then. Most cold mornings after the car pulls out of the garage there is a little puddle of water under the drainhole. Occasionally there is a drop of oil.

Operation has been a complete success so far.
Thanks to whoever originally suggested it.

wolf1389 · Nov 15, 2019

or be smarter and get a DPF delete and tune....

SilverGhost · Nov 15, 2019

wolf1389 said:
or be smarter and get a DPF delete and tune....

Please see this post in that thread about this very subject.

Jason

FJ40Jim · Nov 15, 2019

Delete? Not right now.

I would like to delete & tune mine, but it is running fine in stock, pre-dieselgate tune. Once it starts coding and the cat rusts off, then it's off to the races.

jesus_man · Nov 20, 2019

I believe I am commited to this setup for my drain. Drilling the plastic tube, tapping it with 1/8" NPT and threading in the elbow until flush on the inside, sealing with JB weld, then installing the 1/4" tube to the needle valve located somewhere I can access without dropping the skid panel down.

Now to remember to dump it for preventative measures.

97B4TDi · Nov 23, 2019

SilverGhost said:
Please see this post in that thread about this very subject.

Jason

Yes deleted cars are adding to the pollution but man made pollution is not speeding up climate change..

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Bradm · Nov 23, 2019

97B4TDi said:
Yes deleted cars are adding to the pollution but man made pollution is not speeding up climate change..

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE
Right on

I’ve had mine drilled for a year now. Haven’t had a problem. Live In the Midwest

wolf1389 · Nov 28, 2019

SilverGhost said:
Please see this post in that thread about this very subject.
Jason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJdmnMtpAwI

look i found out how the EPA trains to reduce climate change!

piotrsko · Nov 28, 2019

I got into an argument with a stealership mechanic who said that this would kill my DPF. When I asked him how he knew that, he replied "because I have replaced several DPFs on cars with intake leaks". OH REALLY?

winks · Nov 30, 2019

massive thanks to the OP for coming up with this fix!! A week into it, the car starts great and seems to be draining well ?

SilverGhost · Dec 2, 2019

piotrsko said:
I got into an argument with a stealership mechanic who said that this would kill my DPF. When I asked him how he knew that, he replied "because I have replaced several DPFs on cars with intake leaks". OH REALLY?

From a technical or engineering side I agree with the technician. These cars are very picky on ANY air leaks. I have replaced DPFs on one or two cars several times while hunting down some tiny little leak. One was small pinch in a charge air hose seal that had a tear. Seal was intact but would leak under boost. Another was a split in the hose just before the turbo. Best one was a crack in the end tank of charge cooler - body shop fixed the car and didn't noticed the hairline fracture around the mounting stud.

In practice you probably won't notice a problem for thousands of miles, or until the ECM gets pissed off for some random reason. But once it happens you have to plug the hole. In the mean time not ingesting water and hydro locking an engine seems like a good trade off.

Something MrCHill said at a tech presentation sits in the back of my head - "you can have two identical cars and they drive totally different. Tolerances between two could both be in, but at different ends of spec"

Jason

FL_BeachBum · Dec 2, 2019

Stupid question being I don’t have this issue and wouldn’t actually drill my intercooler as boost is important but couldn’t you drill and tap and put a release valve in place like on water separators in diesel fuel filters? I would think that would be more ideal and you could have a larger opening to drain any sludge buildup in there too.

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jesus_man · Dec 10, 2019

My mods are complete:

And first test:

Drilling a drain hole in the intercooler plumbing

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