Brian_C

Hi All

I removed the intercoolers and noticed the upper air duct has a hole in front. Looks like the hole is supposed to have some sort of plastic diaphragm.

But the diaphragm has disintegrated and now there is just a hole. My question - Any drawbacks to leaving the hole open as is? Should it be covered and possibly restrict excess cooling air discharge? I suspect the purpose is to release excess cooling cooling air.

Below is a pic of the part with arrow pointing to the hole. But It doesn’t show the diaphragm.

Capt. Obvious

The hole is for access to clean out the ducts (vacuuming out leaves and debris). It should be plugged, it will effect intercooler efficiency if left open.

Brian_C

So, I assume that Prilosec wrapper I found in there isn’t OEM???

Looks like replacement uppers are $200+ each. This may be a job for isopropyl alcohol cleaning and gorilla tape over those holes. Uncertain why they didn’t come with replaceable grommets.

T Kono

There is a plug, another thread mentioned it recently, Sorry can't remember more.

Brian_C

Thanks for the tip. Quick search on Amazon found many options for hole plugs/grommets that should work nicely.

Capt. Obvious

You'll never get top dollar on Bring A Trailer without the OEM plugs. These cars are priceless collectables now, after all.

theprf

Intercooler duct cleanout plugs are BMW 61138353500 or BMW 8 353 500 and they are like 5 bucks each.

Brian_C

well how about that! Thanks Prf.

Brian_C

haha. I shuda thought about that before replacing OEM rads with CSF.