Intercooler trashed!

[Kiwibacon]

Spend an hour with a small screwdriver or pick and straighten them all. You can generally straighten fins 3-4 times before they break. When they do break it's only a few mm's off the fin edge that comes off, nothing critical.

[Llanigraham]

To do that would mean taking the bumper off; don't think I will bother. I'm not worried about it.

[Kiwibacon]

Bent fins do restrict the air-flow a lot. If that concerns you.

[Llanigraham]

Not a lot; it is only a couple that appear slightly bent

[James I]

Don't show the dealer the photo you posted. It's obvious it's been blasted with a power /jet washer, there are even drops of water still on the grill. No stones would have caused that damage, every fin is flat, we are not stupid.

What planet are you on? I do not own a pressure washer and the water droplets were from the sky as it was raining. As for the fins flattening, the car has done nearly 40k miles and I am sure plenty of stones have hit the condenser.

Was it i who said you were stupid?

[Anzio]

I'm on Earth, where are you? There is no way that stones could have done that. Every single fin has been flattened. Tell us where you have been driving, or if you have hit any deep fords at speed? Graham is a Rally marshal who drives lots of miles in the forests, and he only has a couple of fins bent.

I fully agree you didn't call anyone stupid, but that kind of damage doesn't just " happen " so how did you Trash it??

[James I]

I have no idea how it got trashed. I drive all over the country, motorways and A or B roads, I wash my car with a sponge or brush and a hose pipe, I too use my car in the forest but not as a rally marshall but as back up vehicle for historic MK i Escort, so you tell me why all the fins are flat? as I have no idea, it didn't happen on my previous car (Audi A4) and that went everywhere I have been on the Yeti.

BTW, would a pressure washer make a hole in the condenser? I don't think so

[Llanigraham]

James,

Think about this logically.

How can stones that you are driving over flatten the fins of a "rad" that is actually in front of said wheels? You may be acting as support for a rally car but I doubt you've driven the number of miles off-road that mine has, and Dewi has now done +42k miles. If we followed your idea then my "rad" would be as fubarbed as yours, and it isn't. The other Rally Radio marshals here aren't complaining of the problem either.

Certainly the only way a pipe is going to get fractured is by it being hit by something very hard and sharp, and logically that can only be by something thrown at it, so possibly a mesh in front might stop another occurence. To me it appears that you have been unlucky, nothing more than that.

[Anzio]

I'm not trying to be clever or sarcastic, but there has to be a reason the fins got like that. As I mentioned earlier, have you hit any deep water fords or similar at speed? may be a possible cause. No one else has had a similar problem. I agree about the hole, that could well have a stone, but for every fin to be flattened so uniformly, I've never seen anything like it before.

[Anzio]

Forgot to ask, what did the dealer say about the fins when you took it in and they found the hole.?

[Freshacre]

Um - thinks laterally - Yeti hunter in sniper position with high calibre steel penetrating extreme velocity Snow-Monster-Annihilating bullets hidden somewhere under a motorway bridge......waiting, and waiting, and waiting until one of the 50,000 plus who have viewed the "seen-a-yeti" thread ambled by.

Oh - I know its of no ruddy use to you, but it might, just might lighten the tone of the thread.

Or it might inflame it.

You choose?

[rwbaldwin]

Just seen the picture and that is pressure washer damage. When the fins all get flattened like that, the condenser is very vunerable to puncture by stones.

When you took it for a service, did it get a courtesy wash?

It wouldn't be the first time that this has happened at a dealers :(

[briskycat]

Looks like there's a prejudice against pressure washers in this forum. I own a Karcher pressure washer and I must say it is rather difficult to damage a radiator and all the more so - a condenser (which I guess is made of copper rather than aluminium in case of Yeti). Unless you use a 'Dirt Blaster' lance to wash you car. But the manual clearly says you shouldn't.

[Llanigraham]

As I said earlier, I found a collection of "rubbish" in that area on mine. I wonder if someone tried to blast it out with a washer.

Dewi normally get washed with a pressure washer, but I am always careful where I point it at the front of the car.

EDIT

James, you haven't ever got that area filled with snow have you? Say like driving into a snow drift?

[Anzio]

Gone very quiet, James we are trying to help, by thinking of things which may have caused it,which may then help others.

Brisky, how do you find the Yeti performs in Russian conditions ( winter )? or is that just a silly location?

[Yeti_Man]

Keeping it on topic i regulalrly use a Karcher on the vehicle (once every six weeks or so and everytime it goes off road) and mine doesnt look like that! As has been said its definetly not stone impact damage but im going to do the mesh guard on mine before I take it 5000 miles around europe in the summer!

[briskycat]

Brisky, how do you find the Yeti performs in Russian conditions ( winter )? or is that just a silly location?

Russian conditions vary: here there is even a subtropical region, the one where they are going to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics - Sochi In short, the Snowman is in his element in the snow, but there are some peculiarities (luckily, in Moscow it never gets as cold).

BTW the location is somewhat silly indeed

I am thinking of fitting a mesh too. A guide on how to take off the bumper properly would be highly appreciated

[James I]

I am totally unaware of how the hole was made or how the fins got trashed, I drive the Yeti the same as I did the Audi before it and the BMW before that. My Yeti does have two stone chips in the windscreen and i remember in the winter passing a grittier on the A14, maybe this is when it got battered.

As of yet the condenser is not at the dealer, so hopefully it will be there soon so I can get the damaged one replaced. Thanks for all your opinions.

Edited 29 May, 2012 by James I

[Arkaig]

I am thinking of fitting a mesh too. A guide on how to take off the bumper properly would be highly appreciated

Hopefully this extract is of help to you.

Yeti_Front_Bumper_Removal.pdf

[briskycat]

Hopefully this extract is of help to you.

Thanks a lot Arkaig! This is the one I was looking for.

[James I]

Thanks for the link, I will give this a go at the weekend.