Tips / fluids for cleaning an intercooler

[GUN METAL]

I have an ST205 water to air intercooler set up on my 4AGZE, unfortunately the SC12 crapped itself sending half the teflon down the inlet manifold including all the pipes and the intercooler etc and i am guessing the passages are blocked like a filter would with crap like that blown onto / into it.

the intercooler pipes and discharge snout i cleaned when they were off just with some "nut cracker" nut bolt remover as it was close ant hand and it worked well on the aluminium and alot of oil / crap came out.

I havent removed the IC yet but i thought i should probly be a little more careful with the IC as the passages are small and the aluminium thin.

presumably i want a solvent of some kind, was thinking petrol, maybe or mineral turps, even general thinners, WD40, Carby cleaner, degreaser ????????/

If i use degreaser then it needs to be washed out with water, not too keen on that idea as the water may not evaporate and i dont was a big slug of water going into the engine

What do people use / reccomend, also got any tips on the best way to get the cleaner in / out ????

What i was thinking was block the air on side and seal it then pour the cleaning fluid (what ever it is) from the clean side down, maybe shake it around a bit , let it sit there for a while then shake again drop out the fluid and see what nasties come out, then repeat the process untill no crap comes out...thoughts / comments please

thanks

[Dale]

I've used petrol before, it was with a front mount but the same principle should apply. Blocked off one side and poured petrol in, sealed off the other side then sloshed it back and forth a few times... repeated with fresh fuel until it was clean.

I used old 1.25L bottles cut in half and hose clamped onto the inlet/outlet to seal it, worked well to drain it back out (just unscrewed the lid ).

Edit should have noted, I was only cleaning oil out when I did it

[TRDcelica90]

Its common with the WTAs that you clean them out with a bit of petrol.. put the petrol in block up the inlet and outlet with plastic bags that u stuff in them and shake it around. But i also like dales idea. i used it for oil as well, but because its considered safe for the WTAs, id say stick with your plan and keep getting all that crap out..

Good Luck

[jonathan yee]

yeh i use petrol to clean most things. i did esp with my IC+pipes it's cheap and i have a 20L drum of old petrol to use up. best thing is it evaporates pretty quick. just have to do it in a well ventilated area....heh

[Z2TT]

Maybe using A/C Condensor flushing fluid like CPS Pro flush with a flushing gun is a good idea, since it's used to remove the black gunk that that coats on the inside of the heat exchanger when compressors fail.

[TERRA Operative]

I use wax and grease remover in my intercooler.

However, Teflon is one of those plastics that is impervious to pretty much all solvents, especially hose that won't eat the intercooler too (although cosmic radiation eats it like nothing else...) so short of sending your intercooler into space for a few weeks, you'll probably be stuck with getting it out with a brush or the like...

[PlacentaJuan]

use whatever cleaner you like (including degreaser then rinse with water) then when you have finished run some metho or similar alcohol through it

[Z2TT]

Will degrease corrode the aluminum inside? Or should it be ok?

[TERRA Operative]

Nope, normal degreaser won't corrode it. It's petroleum based, so safe for any metal used in an engine bay.
Just don't use anything caustic (like oven cleaner), or you'll end up with a holey cooler....


Oh, metho is excellent for removing residual water. It's hygroscopic so it soaks up any moisture, then evaporates quickly, leaving a residue free, dry surface.

[Z2TT]

Allright looks like Degreaser could help, wonder how it will go about removing the teflon coating.

I just remember when using degreaser on my alloy rims it would dull them out and leave marks.

[GUN METAL]

Thanks for the feedback kids once i whip it out will take some pics, hopefully the teflon comes out without the use of a jack hammer

[TERRA Operative]

I just remember when using degreaser on my alloy rims it would dull them out and leave marks.

Caustic degreaser will do this sort of thing (oven cleaner is the most well known caustic degreaser).
Petroleum based degreaser, like in the $2 cans from Repco etc wont eat alloy. It's basically some sort of kerosene stuff.

[GUN METAL]

i went and got some petrol, figured its alot less expensive than the 5 litres of thinners i had. Pulled off the cooler and blocked one end added abiout a litre of fuel figuring this will be more than enough, sloshed it around then dumped it in a white bucket.

what came out was BLACK !, absolutely black, nothing big came out so i did it a few more times inverting it sloshing it around, doing it from both the inlet and outlet, each time i do it its still BLACK, put 4 litres through it before it looked any cleaner at all. on the last one i only did about 500mls, did the usual and into the clean white bucket, looks like the oil is gone but there is still alot of small particles, about 50 % black, i assume this is the teflon now, and 50% silver, i assume this is part of the superchargers aluminium rotors, i did one last clean using the last of the petrol and it still bought out as much crap, will get soem more petrol tomoz and give it another go.

i didnt take any pics, and its not possible to photograph the intake of the core because of the way the inlet pipe is weled onto the cooler. there was a bit of residue in the inlet manifold but nothing compered to the inlet side of the cooler.

[Z2TT]

Caustic degreaser will do this sort of thing (oven cleaner is the most well known caustic degreaser).
Petroleum based degreaser, like in the $2 cans from Repco etc wont eat alloy. It's basically some sort of kerosene stuff.

The $2 cans was what I used.

[Draven]

if your alloys had a coating on them, the degreaser could (in theory) do something with that... and aluminium oxide itself isn't exactly sparkling