dr bob

Ummm. No such thing as 20 PSI of vacuum. Max diff press at sea level is 14.7 PSI on the outside with zero PSI on the inside. A MitiVac won't draw a perfect vacuum so the diff press will be less. I still advocate using compressed air at 10 PSI or so to test, and use soapy water to find any cracks.

HTH!

AO

I meant put the 928 into a hyperbaric chamber first.... Duh!

dr bob

Yeah, that's the ticket! A portable hyperbaric chamber. Yeah! Fill it with an oxygen-rich atmosphere or three, and just snake the exhaust and crankcase vents outside. Get rid of that screw pump on the intake, and just crank up the pressure and the oxygen mix when you need more oooomph. Thaaat's the ticket!

Bill51sdr

My only problem with looking at the plug condition is that the intercooler system is independent of the engine cooling system, thus the only way I can imagine the IC water getting into the combustion chambers would be thru an internal leak into the IC tubing, into the intake plenum. How likely is that? If you are losing the water as quickly as it seems to you, I would think you would be seeing some steam in your exhaust until the water is gone. An external leak seems more likely to me.

bd0nalds0n

I just noticed the problem with the water loss over the weekend (I thought my IC pump was on the fritz because it started making a different sound; turns out it was dry). My appointment to have the car service was on Monday. Didn't really have much time to test anything or come to any meaningful conclusions.

I did pull the washer tank out and inspect it (and judging from the uniformly-laid crud inside the fender, no water has been leaking out). I put a zip tie on the small washer pump line (there was a little slop where the line and nipple meet). The larger washer pump line had a clamp on it. And it was pretty clear that no water was leaking out of the hole we added for the IC pump. I filled up the washer tank and observed no leaks (although I did managed to spill a fair amount in my lap when trying to muscle the tank back into the fender. Oh, my Y is broken, too, and I've ordered a SS replacement)

I took a quick look at the hoses and joints along the route. There was one union where I was missing a clamp, and I put one on there.

I ran the IC pump for a while and didn't notice any decline in the water level. (This was before it occurred/had been pointed out to me that I could be leaking water into the intake somewhere and possibly ingesting it)

So it seems like it's either happening when the car is running or moving. With more time to isolate this before the car went to the shop, I'd have more answers.

I've asked for the IC to be isolated from the rest of the system (except for the first series of rubber hoses attached to either end) and pressure tested. This way, I'll either know that the intake needs to come off or it doesn't. If the IC's not leaking, I can start looking somewhere else. Frankly, that's a search I'm much more excited about, mostly because it is likely to be cheap, simple and I can be leisurely about it.

In any event, I'm sure they will track down the source (or at least eliminate the IC from the lineup of suspects) and I will report back.

bd0nalds0n

So it turns out that the simplest answer is the correct one.

I had the heat exchanger just sort of hanging up front, and it banged around other componentry until it developed a leak. I'll get it fixed/replaced, secure it, and will be back in business.

Thanks to everyone for the good ideas, and I guess it was unrealistic to expect something like this to not happen. Such is the penalty for being too lazy to keep it from knocking around. Meant to, but somehow never got around to it.

AO

Nailed it in post #4!

Glad you found it.

pmotts

Zip ties are your friend.

Vlocity

I have 2 heater cores for cheap if you need them......I replaced them with a motorcyle radiator.

Ken

PS: Glad you found it.