Well I finally got round to fixing my intercooler today on my 2002 1.4tdi SE. I'd ordered a non genuine cooler of the internet, although I wansn't sure it was going to be exactly the right one, I'd seen references to different part numbers.
Unfortunately after I finally got the old intercooler of the car and removed the little electrical block that is attached to it (intake manifold temperature sender) it became obvious the replacement cooler had a smaller hole for the electrical device to sit into.
Has anyone had any experience with changing the intercooler and can you shed any light on whether there were more than one interation of these and whether I'll be able just to buy a new temp sender to fit the new cooler and plug it into the existing plug on the loom?
It's a tricky enough job getting the intercooler out. Wheel arch liners out, bumper and lights off (there is a little clip in the top corner of bumper behind the lights, that holds it to the wing), both metal front beams off and the thing that really stumped me for a while, getting at the 2 rear screws that hold the intercooler in place, you've got to remove the 4 screws on the front that hold the thin radiator at the front in place, then remove the 2 plugs that go into the top of the main radiator that hold it in place and you can then pull the whole unit (cooler and radiators) out enough to get at the rear screws that hold the cooler in place. Remove all the pipes etc and out it comes, more or less.
The screws that hold the intake temp sender on to the cooler on mine were completely seized and had to be drilled out so its worth getting some spare screws and lots of those platics clips with the push in plug in the middle as some will break and a few of the plugs will disapear into inaccessible parts of the car, they're horrible things really.
Regards
Mart
Unfortunately after I finally got the old intercooler of the car and removed the little electrical block that is attached to it (intake manifold temperature sender) it became obvious the replacement cooler had a smaller hole for the electrical device to sit into.
Has anyone had any experience with changing the intercooler and can you shed any light on whether there were more than one interation of these and whether I'll be able just to buy a new temp sender to fit the new cooler and plug it into the existing plug on the loom?
It's a tricky enough job getting the intercooler out. Wheel arch liners out, bumper and lights off (there is a little clip in the top corner of bumper behind the lights, that holds it to the wing), both metal front beams off and the thing that really stumped me for a while, getting at the 2 rear screws that hold the intercooler in place, you've got to remove the 4 screws on the front that hold the thin radiator at the front in place, then remove the 2 plugs that go into the top of the main radiator that hold it in place and you can then pull the whole unit (cooler and radiators) out enough to get at the rear screws that hold the cooler in place. Remove all the pipes etc and out it comes, more or less.
The screws that hold the intake temp sender on to the cooler on mine were completely seized and had to be drilled out so its worth getting some spare screws and lots of those platics clips with the push in plug in the middle as some will break and a few of the plugs will disapear into inaccessible parts of the car, they're horrible things really.
Regards
Mart