How to tell if your intercooler water pump is working

[RyanD]

I started the car yesterday and was checking things out before going to the track.  I took the panel off of the fire wall to check the intercooler fluid level.  The tube was full, but the small reservoir was empty.  I turned off the engine to add a little more fluid, and the level dropped in the tube as the pump stopped.  So the pump definitely works. 

You could also see what direction the fluid is flowing.  I'm not sure what direction it should be flowing in that part of the system, but some people have said theirs was backwards.  If someone can determine the correct direction of flow at the reservoir, the rest of us could easily check ours.

[silver]

that resevoir really won't tell you how your system is functioning because there are too many problems with the stock system for that to be a guage.

1:  direction should be out of the laminova tube into the pump out of the pump to the intercooler then back to laminova tubes.
2:  then you can still hook it up backwards if you have the dual bypass, with dual bypass you should hook up the exit from the laminova tube at the top and bottom and the input in the middle..currently mine is hooked up the opposite so I'm going in the top and bottom and coming out the middle that's not as good b/c the split to top and bottom is a T not a Y so it's not going to split the coolant up evenly to the top and bottom...it would flow better if it went int he middle...on my car I did this backwards..whoops
3:  without a bleed line you are always at risk of a stall, the factory pump churns up the liquid and causes bubbles which as the car is shut off they will collect at the pump inlet causing a stall.
4:  your input to the pump is currently not gravity feeding, It needs to be so that you will always have liquid at the inlet...factory has this part backwards
5:  if you install a bleed line in the factory intercooler you should probably have the flow pushing it up the passenger side as it will probably be able to push the air easier up that hole rather than up the drivers side...which on my car is backwards....my fault.

so these are just off the top of my head as far as what's wrong with the factory setup...................flow is just one of the potential symptoms but without clear tubing you really don't know what's what...........and I hooked up all clear tubing to watch this for about 2 months