Turbo "Charge Air Cooler" hoses popping off

[Wiz.au]

Well, I searched but I can't find my post about the day I was on my way to Oberon, and the top turbo hose popped off the charge air cooler pipe. Engine MIL lamp came on and I lost all power. After spending a few minutes diagnosing from the inside of the car, I could hear a LOT of air every time I rev'ed the engine. So I popped the bonnet and found THIS:


Yup, the clamp had popped off and was still sitting on top of the engine cover... How lucky was that!

So anyway, been a few months since I put that back on and today driving up a steep hill, the Engine MIL comes on again, and I can hear air, again. Oh-No, the bloody hose has come off again. Or worse, I could hear some air 'whisting' during my Easter trip every time I had the window down. Maybe I have split a bottom hose or something. However when the last hose clamp came off, I discovered I ALREADY HAVE Silicon hoses, courtesy of the PO. Something to be thankful for, considering the mess of the wiring he left me.

So, pop the bonnet, nope, hoses still connected.... Give it a good pull/push... Umm, hey that's REALLY loose! I can see movement at the bottom of (what I now know is called) the "Air Charge Cooler Pipe". Oh, bugger, I bet the plastic part has cracked, and that was the whistling, and now it finally completely broken off. Nurse the car home and get stuck into it.....

And I find..... The LOWER hose has blown off the "Air Charge Cooler Pipe". I just couldn't see properly on the side of the road. So I check part numbers out of interest sake, to see just what the hell this plastic pipe is, and do I need it. Well, it appears part number 55038014AB "Charge Cooler Pipe" has ALREADY BEEN REPLACED on my car. The manufacture date is 02/05/2016!


I find it very interesting that the label specifies checking the torque values of each clamp. So clamp tightness is VERY important. I also note that it has NOT been marked as 'checked' on this part label either.... is there more to this story than I know?

Does anyone know how I would find the correct torque value for this clamp?

But importantly for others, I started googling this part number, only to find more than half of the places listing it, advise "No Longer Available"!! To me, that means that a LOT have been replaced, in order the exhaust all spares. I've yet to find out if there's an alternative part number, but if there's not, what are ppl doing? Do you NEED this part, or would a straight piece of steel pipe with flared ends be just as good (maybe even better??) Why would the PO replace this part, maybe when the silicon hoses were installed, if a straight piece of pipe is better?

Anyway, had enough of hose clamps coming off (Even if they are good quality 'Norma' brand, 'Torro-WF' stainless worm drive clamps, with constant tension bands).


Thinking about getting some Spring Loaded T-Bolt high pressure turbo clamps now before I put it all back together.....


Oh, and I discovered I'm missing one of the air cleaner housing rubber grommet mounts to the body (53013357AA). Wondering if that's what my 'knocking noise' at idle is? Dealer has none, and advises there's none in the country.... and none in the Dodge system either.

[Wiz.au]

OK, found out through Norma, the Torque Tightening value for a plain band 60-80 Norma Torro WP 12mm wide clamp in W3 material (which is what my clamps are), is 5Nm +/-0.5Nm. (Page 22 of the Norma Catalogue)

Good thing I have a 1/4in drive torque ratchet that goes down to 2Nm.

I've put the original clamps back on for now, torqued to the correct specification. But I still think I will try and source Spring Loaded Constant Tension T-Bolt clamps.

I can see why the last person may not have tightened the clamps this tight... The silicon hose deforms quite a bit and it 'looks' too tight.

[CibbyDoc]

Mate my research on it, from the European guys, is it reduces the turbo wind up noise and acts as as mixer and baffle....that's it. When I changed out my hoses, after splitting the original silicone ones, I put on some samco hoses (still silicone but stronger) and I washed the bugger out. Took two days to dry though because of all the venting in it. The long and short is NO you don't need it. NO removing it does not increase performance, YES, you will have more turbo noise. But the big thing is, it has a different outlet size to the inlet size, that's the kicker. So you'd have to it made up I guess.


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[CibbyDoc]

And btw I'm missing a grommet too....must have been the assemblers signature. [emoji12]


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[BaldyTJ]

Thier is never a to long of a hose on turbo on suck or pressure side as they can suck in or blow out easier. I didn't know it was stepped but obviously as in CibbyDoc comments it serves a purpose as a solid tube and stepped hose sizes.

[Wiz.au]

So to confirm and add to the "stepped" sizes on the "Charge Cooler Pipe", the 'top' clamp size is 70mm, the bottom is 65mm.

I haven't yet gone "T-Bolt" clamps. I put it back together using the NORMA clamps and torqued them to spec.

The SAMCO hoses sound like if you were going to replace with Silicon, get those. These unbranded black coloured ones on my car.... VERY soft & quite thin.

I've ordered the bush from the US. With any luck they ordered more than just my one, and your dealer should be able to get one in about 2-3 weeks for about $11 now.

[CibbyDoc]

What bush did you order mate? I must be missing something in the convo. I went for the samco because they are a far better quality hose as you mention. The std silicone ones just don't cut the mustard and go soft real quick. I'd be happy to bypass the baffle if not for the different inlet outlet.


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