RonD.

When proper procedure is followed will the intercooler be pressurized and show leak. On the same point if you were to have a small leak in the intercooler itself what kind of symptoms can that produce?

Tom M'Guinn

Yes, the intercooler is in the intake track and should be part of any smoke test. I got a "stinger" smoke tester from Amazon and must say it works great. It heats up mineral oil and makes tons of smoke. Leaking intercoolers are uncommon, but if yours actually had a leak, the symptoms would be the same as any other vacuum leak -- idle issues, lean off boost, rich on boost, etc. If you had some real reason to think your intercooler is leaking, you might just take the pipes off it, and test it separately -- should be easy enough to confirm that it's air tight with either a mityvac or a little air pressure.