Nissan Patrol 3.0l Intercooler Fan

Submitted: Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 13:54

ThreadID: 35328 Views:7293 Replies:8 FollowUps:10

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Bob on Patrol

Has anyone had any experience with adding a fan to the intercooler on the 2001 3.o litre Patrol. I have been discussing with, a reputable diesel service business, measures of protecting the engine from failing (which has been discussed at length in this forum) They strongly recommend the adding of a fan to the intercooler as in its standard form it does not get enough air flow to cool the exhaust gases sufficiently. They suggest that this and other issues with the EGR setup contribute to the number 3 & 4 pistion burning holes in the top.

I believe a similar fan was fitted to earlier models with the 2.8l engine but this was discontinued with the 3.0 and later 4.2.

Has anyone had this done to their patrol or any similar modifications to assist in preventing engine failures? If so I would like to hear about your experiences and if the mods made any difference (good or bad).

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Reply By: brian - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 14:53

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 14:53

"not enough air flow to cool the exhaust gasses....etc"didnt think the intercooler had much to do with exhaust gasses,did i missunderstand???

AnswerID: 180614

Follow Up By: Bob on Patrol - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:35

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:35

OOps!!!!!! Typed this quickly at work without rereading it so I'll take my foot out of my mouth and try again. I was referring to the heated air from the turbo. As I mentioned there were other suggested mods to be made to the EGR and I got my words all crossed up.

Apologies for the confusion

FollowupID: 436887

Reply By: Rosco - Qld - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 14:59

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 14:59

G'day Bob

I may be a bit off the mark here, but I don't follow how an intercooler fan would help with exhaust gas temp. I have heard of numerous ideas on additional cooling of intercooler air e.g. water spray etc, but that's for air going into the engine, not exhaust gas coming out.

Or have I missed something completely ... which wouldn't entirely surprise me.. ;-)

Cheers

AnswerID: 180616

Follow Up By: Rosco - Qld - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:01

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:01

Brian

You beat me to the punch whilst I was one finger typing ........... LOL

FollowupID: 436879

Reply By: Darian (SA) - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:05

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:05

Hell..... if the air going in is cooler, maybe the gases coming out are that bit cooler too, if the same fuel burn characteristics prevail - no ? Jezd a thought...........

AnswerID: 180618

Reply By: Leroy - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:22

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:22

Regular oil changes are the key. Apparently the story with the oil squirters that cool the crown of the pistons is they were blocking up due to a sludge build up. This is as a result of the oil sooting up due to the high sulfer content of the diesel way back when.
So I can't for one see how a fan on the IC is going to help with reliabilty. It maygive you a small performance boost with low speed work as the normally would be no airflow.

Leroy

AnswerID: 180624

Reply By: Crofty (Shoalhaven) - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:54

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 15:54

G'day Bob, I have a stone deflector on the front of my bonnet and when I'm driving down the highway I often wonder if any air is actually flowing down that low along the bonnet at all. The main reason why I say this is that when it is wet, water just seems to bead on the bonnet and hardly move at all. I have often thought about taping a few bits of wool on the bonnet to act as tell tales and do a bit testing but haven't got there yet. Occasionally I find a dead bug on the intercooler but I find alot more in the airbox and the opening on the snorkel is alot smaller than the intercooler. Also with such a small intercooler how much cooling effect actually takes place anyhow?

AnswerID: 180633

Follow Up By: Bob on Patrol - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 16:12

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 16:12

Thanks Crofty,

I have the same setup and have noticed the same even after going through locust swarms. I had not heard of any mods for the intercooler until I discussed my concerns with this diesel mob. I am interested in all options especially as this business are acknowledged as diesel experts.

FollowupID: 436894

Follow Up By: Patrol22 - Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 12:25

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 12:25

Crofty - it's all in the physics of fluids methinks. Water will bead on the polymers in your polish (assuming you do wash and wax periodically) whereas the more highly polished the surface the better the airflow.

FollowupID: 437090

Follow Up By: Crofty (Shoalhaven) - Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 16:02

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 16:02

I was trying to make the point that the water was not moving on the bonnet despite the fact that the car is doing 100kph. I would expect that if there was a 100kph airflow along the bonnet surface there would not be any water staying there regardless of how recently I had polished it.

FollowupID: 437132

Reply By: Notso - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 16:08

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 16:08

Met a bloke who does a lot of slow crawling and wanted more air flow through the intercooler so he built in a thermatic fan under the bonnet in the cut out for the air scoop, looked neat enough, reckoned it made a big difference in low gear work, hi engine revs.

Providing it didn't impede airflow at higher speeds it would be OK.

AnswerID: 180635

Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 17:55

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 17:55

My pajero has a thermostatic fan under the turbo intercooler as standard.
Quite often comes on with 30deg days and slow going.

You might be able to pinch a fan off a pajero at the wreckers. Intercoolers look roughly about the same size.

Other ideas I am playing with is to make a new larger bonnet scoop out of fibreglass, and/or mount a windscreen spray just in the front of the inlet to the scoop to the intercooler, with it's own water bottle, to squirt in when more power needed.
I think the WRXs or EVOs do this?

Lower intercooler air temps should give lower exhaust temps.

AnswerID: 180660

Follow Up By: Bob on Patrol - Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 20:29

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 at 20:29

Thanks for the info, I'll go and visit the diesel mechanic's workshop and see what he wants to do and decide from there.

FollowupID: 436953

Follow Up By: Muzzgit (WA) - Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 00:03

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 00:03

The Bitsa bleep ty EVO's have a spray nozzle for the intercooler but the intercooler sits in the lower front part of the grille, so it gets much more air than the bonnet scoop type like the pootrol.

Other than a fan if you do LOTS and LOTS of slow 4WDriving, firstly I'd say "GET RID OF THE BONNET PROTECTOR" and then maybe think about a bigger bonnet scoop. You would only have to raise the profile of the bonnet scoop one centimeter to get a fair bit more air.

FollowupID: 437025

Reply By: Damon - Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 09:38

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 09:38

Bob, I have some photos of a Patrol 3L with the fan setup you talk about. They did it to let the intercooler have some value at slow speed. Apparently it worked well. I will try and work out how to put the photos up. If I can't do this, I will email them to you somehow.
Regards, Damon.

AnswerID: 180785