How to find the intercooler leak?
 

I posted this originally in the road course and autocross section before the bizzare mystery unfolded, so I was hoping to get more response in this section with the new information...

Twice in the same week I found small puddles of coolant under my car a few days before a tracking event, and noticed it was coming from the front main radiator, but my mechanic could find no leaks upon visual inspection or when pressure testing the engine coolant system (a day after I noticed the 2nd small puddle).

when I went to the track I noticed considerable power loss that got worse and worse Into each session the warmer the car got. After the tracking event my mechanic pressure tested the intercooler system and could not find any leaks of any kind, however they said that the Intercooler system was low on coolant...

Obviously i’d like to know how the system got low on coolant and I can’t imagine it wasn’t the leaks that I saw that now seemingly no longer exist and cannot be reproduced. The only thing I can think of now is to drive the car like I normally do and monitor and observe it and see if it reoccurs.

Any thoughts?

If you can’t find it by close inspection of all parts of the system you could put dye in the system and inspect with a UV light but I would try very hard to find it without due first.

Thanks for the idea, I’ll consider it for sure!

Went to track today; didn’t see any leaks and haven’t seen any leaks yet but will keep watching.

pressurize the system if possible and check for leaks...the dye works also

Yeah they pressurized the system already and found nothing, I’ll get them to try the dye next

could be that since the oem exchanger has plastic end caps the heat/pressure caused it to leak but reseals when cool.. the hot track time is from air and low coolant no doubt.

plenty of after market exchanges from 350 to 1100(all 3) you can replace with.