Blown pipe

Q One of the intercooler pipes on my 2007 Honda Civic 2.2 diesel with 60,000 miles has blown off. The blown pipe is one from the turbocharger to the intercooler. I have replaced the broken hose clip, reattached the pipe and all seems well – no smoke, good mpg, etc – although I have only done about 100 miles since the incident. Why do you think the pipe would blow? I'm hoping it was that the clip broke, letting the pipe come off, but the clip didn’t look that corroded. The car has always had very regular oil and filter changes, and has always performed very well, although I have noticed a bit of a turbo whine lately when cold. Paul Eckles

A As your Honda is showing no other problems, I suspect the failure of the clip was down to stress causing the metal to crack, so it’s not something to worry about. The turbo intercooler pipes do need to be held very firmly in place. For this reason, the fixing clips are always secured tightly and it is not unusual for one to break in service, allowing the hose to blow off. I have also seen turbo intercooler hoses blow off purely because the clips were not secured tightly enough.

The only comment I would make is that if one clip has failed then the others might also be near the end of their lives. I would advise changing the rest of them to prevent future failure.