mercedes CLK 270 CDI 2005/05 - HOLE IN INTERCOOLER - henry g

At my last service I ws told my car has a tiny hole in the intercooler, it causes a subtle whining noise varying with revs."no F codes are present in ECU and no lack of power at present time".

Initially Iwas told no action was called for, but a week later I was told it would cost >£400 to remedy. Should it be corrected or safely observed over time?

Henry Grant

mercedes CLK 270 CDI 2005/05 - HOLE IN INTERCOOLER - unthrottled

Depending on the size of the hole, you might get some smoke under hard acceleration due to the lost charge through the hole. But it's not urgent. Might be worth seeing if anyone can repair it.

mercedes CLK 270 CDI 2005/05 - HOLE IN INTERCOOLER - Peter.N.

If you can get to the hole, clean the metal round it and put some fiberglass resin in it.

mercedes CLK 270 CDI 2005/05 - HOLE IN INTERCOOLER - Cyd

That £400+ sounds like a dealer price.

Try and find a secondhand intercooler and get it swapped out by a local independant garage.

Or

remove the intercooler and see if a local engineering shop can weld the hole for you

or

squeeze a decent sized piece of Davids P38 over the area to fill the hole (I once repaired a radiator this way and it lasted years).

Either way up, do something about it now, as it won't get better on its own and it's easier to sort it out whilst it's not urgent than when corrosion makes the hole bigger.