Intercooler pump discussion.

[FunkyStickman]

Mine failed again. Hammer mod isn't working anymore, so it's time to replace it. I'm not real keen on buying another just like the one that failed, and tons of others have failed according to the allmighty LSJ-based forums.

However, I want to discuss options for replacing the crappy/good Bosch one without Zooomer from ZZP jumping one everybody's asses about how f*king superior the Bosch pump is, when it's clearly lacking in reliability, no matter what he says. Performance-wise, I'm sure it's very good, but a dead pump has a performance of zero... catch my drift?

I don't mind spending $200 for a Meziere pump if it will last for more than 3-5 years, and works as well as the stock one. I don't think I would spend $300+ for one, no matter how long it lasted... it's just a pump. But I'm really not wanting to spend $100 on one that I know will fail within 2 years.

Thoughts?

Interesting, doing some research for this I found an interesting article by a guy who road races a Ford Lightning...

Basically, he upgraded to a Meziere pump, and to verify it was working to the system's capacity, did a test to see if increasing/reducing the pump's flow (by voltage) could find the intercooler's "sweet spot" for flow and heat absorption.

Mezeire intercooler pump (http://www.timskelton.com/lightning/race_prep/reliability/intercooler_pump.htm)

Quite an interesting read... but it seems to do the job well, and if it is more reliable than the Bosch, I'd be willing to run a test like this. You would have to actually use water temps to do this, though if you use cruise like they did, you might be able to use IAT2's... assuming the ambient air temp doesn't change drastically.

[all4glh]

My only question would be how would you mount it? I just bought another OEM one, I'm hoping it lasts a little while. Seems to be holding up after a month, haha.

[FunkyStickman]

I would remove the stock pump mount, and use a piece of plate metal to mount it roughly where the stock pump is. It has to be mounted vertically, though... can't lay it down. I don't know, I may get another stock pump and an extra heat exchanger instead... not sure.

[daythecountrydied21]

I replaced mine a few months ago and still runnign strong with a gallon of fluid in the whole system. they are a real pita idk why they are failing even when wired correctly but it's kinda bullshit =/

[FunkyStickman]

I know it is... I wound up getting the Bosch pump anyway, just to get the car functional (read: I can actually drive it hard again). Maybe when it fails in a few years, I'll upgrade.

[MGM1979]

I'm having issues with mine again too...replaced it once already (albeit, with a used pump), but I think it's failing again. My IATs were 100 apart yesterday, with ambient temps in the upper 80s.

I think there's something wrong with the Intake Mani/DP endplate, or the plumbing itself to cause the thing to burn up like this...

gonna have to take it apart and see...damn.

[daythecountrydied21]

i do have a theory....any of you guys have single pass manifold?

[MGM1979]

i do have a theory....any of you guys have single pass manifold?

no...:shrug:

[daythecountrydied21]

ok well i'll make this short and sweet.

dual pass and stock intercooler are a fail basically..idk if you guys know but yeah. dual pass, while an improvement over stock is still failing pretty well, it's just the lesser of the two.

there is too much turbulance in the endplate in each of these passes and i'm thinking that maybe that turbulance and backpressure may be why the pumps keep going out?
now dual pass the backpressure isn't as great and maybe that's why we only see the pumps going out for the most part on stock intercooled cars? i know mines been fine for about 6 months now since i reversed my wiring and everything (full cooling mods..h/e, dual pass, option b, about a gallon of fluid to fill my system).
for evidence of how fail the stock and dual pass are, just take a look at the air bleeders on each. the stock filler necks is HUGE. gm designed this sly'ly to look as if it's an overflow tube coming off of the T neck. but it's really to keep the system from basically exploding from all the back pressure caused by those 2 middle holes in the endplate that aren't seperated like the outer 2 are.
Dual pass also uses a bleeder that works better than the stock system so i theorize that may attribute to the longevity of pumps on a dual pass system.
Single pass, there is no need for a bleeder, an option B tank and such are not used for anything more than show basically. yeah a bleeder still exists but it is nowhere close to the amount of backpressure and such caused by the stock and dual pass because the coolant is ALL flowing IN the inlets and OUT the outlet working the most efficiently.
just my theory on it...thoughts? comments?

note: this info is not all from my brain (I was taught this all by someone so i'm not taking credit for the ideas presented just the theory i've come up with..)

[MGM1979]

I've got a dual pass - and if this pump is fried, it's the 2nd time since I installed it (about 5k miles, or so). The first time it went out pretty quick, but I assumed it had something to do with the kink in the line...:shrug:


Before that, on the stock setup - everything seemed fine.


The theory makes sense though...in fact, I've heard discussions like this before. Hmmmm....

[daythecountrydied21]

Weird idk. I know I made for sure that I had no kinked lines by using some of the stock hosing since it was already pre formed to meet the need of the curves and such in certain places and mine hasn't gone out. Time will tell I guess haha.
Are the cobalts having these problems?

[FunkyStickman]

Yes they are. There's several threads about upgrading to the Meziere pump on css.net, and in every one of those threads, some asshat spends 5 posts bashing it and pimping the Bosch pump, despite the fact that the poster already bought the Meziere...

Tell you what, if I were going to build a trunk-mounted chiller box like the Ford Lightning guys do, I'd switch to the Meziere in a heartbeat. They say it's actually strong enough to circulate water all the way to the rear and back.