I've got a charge cooler setup with an ebay barrel style cooler
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Barrel-intercooler-water-to-air-cooler-liquid-to-air-intercooler-4-x-8-/231534575475?
Have a decent pump to keep the water circulating and a quad bike radiator to cool it back down.

Now my expectations were that a charge cooler would be great for keeping inlet temperature down close to ambient and the thing to watch for would be heatsoak with the water heating up faster then the radiator can cool it down. My experience seems to be the opposite. My air inlet temperature is getting up over 70c after 10 seconds at full boost (12 psi). The water temperature however is only going from 28c to 31c in the same time so its definitely not heatsoak.

So opinions please-
Is it because:
*The charge cooler is cheap chinese rubbish
*The charge cooler is too small
*My expectations are too high and I shouldn't worry so much.

The charge cooler is to small.

Think about the Power required to compress the volume to 12psi, if supercharged maybe 30hp which is a around 24kw of heat you are which you are trying to lose.

You need to worry at 70 degrees heat and get it below 40, if you empty of water what is the inlet charge heat as this will tell you if it's basically cheap rubbish.

Air to air are far more efficient BTW

Sounds like cheap ebay rubbish to me . I have a pwr on my 440 cosworth and it runs anout 10 deg above ambiant. On full boost

Its a little smaller than your one Dick (4x8). I guess I don't mind forking out for a pwr one if it will definitely fix the problem. The equivilent pwr one by the way is rated to 350hp so should be more then enough on paper at least.

Are you running the radiator at the very front of the car and do you have a fan on it.
Also check the direction of water flow in the cooler and the radiator it is an easy mistake to make

Water flows from the bottom of the rad to the pump to the cooler (in the throttle body end out the turbo end) and back to the top of the rad. Theres no fan on the rad but the water stays cool.

If anything I would have guessed an airlock in the cooler but the in/outlets are at the very top so I can't see how it could trap air.

Is the cooler above the header point they do take a lot of filling to get the air out pump running the correct way ? Can you feel the water being pumped running? Have seen even the small ones work well

Cooler is well below the rad header. I have clear hose on the outlet and can see a lot of flow with no bubbles.

Give us a call and pop it up I'll have a look at it seems bit odd it's not working . I have seen these coolers on a Saab turbo working well , may be something simple

Can do - when is a good time for you. You're certainly nice and close

Any day but Thursday but call first to make sure I'm about and not out having fun

OK will most likely be mid afternoon one day - thanks

u2u sent