Cleaning an intercooler.

[dullbird]

Hi guys just got home this arvo....

pulled off the filter as it was dirty (car is due a service) but smoking so pulled it off anyway.

pulled off all my hoses and checked them from the turbo etc.....oily

so pulled off the breather to clean it and going to clean the intercooler in situ.

What I want to know is we usually use break cleaner to clean the intercooler as it evaporates....but we dont have any and I want to clean it tonight if I can.

This maybe a stupid question but if I don't ask it then I don't want to get myself in a situation were I wished I had.

Is it possible to clean the intercooler with a thinner ?????? or is that a NO NO.....

of course once we have left the intercooler to soak and drained it it will be blown out with compressed air.

The only other thing we have is kero and I dont want to use that if i can help it.

[Blknight.aus]

This post (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/624448-post13.html) from my EGR removal thread and this post (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/827792-post5.html) from trackless's thraed on the same topic deals with how I do it.

essentially

dieso
hot soapy water
hot water (if this contains any traces of oil redo the soapy water)
lots of hot air (hair drier or hot air gun)

[**Discovery300Tdi**]

i just cleaned mine out a few days ago and i used mineral turps to flush it out. then just left it in the sun for about half an hour then hit it with a hair dryier and its seemed to work good.

[Lost Landy]

I used to use carbi cleaner on the intercooler on my 180SX stuff eats through the crap easily, even ok on the silicone hoses, though make sure u rinse well though.

[dullbird]

I just really wanted to know if I could use the thinner???

I'm guessing not or people aren't game enough to say yes...

didn't do it tonight waiting for the answer as I didn't have the time to soap it out and then leave it drying for couple of hours as it was late in the evening and it gets damp/dewy here in evenings so wouldn't dry.

I guess I will just go out and get my hands on some brake cleaner tomorrow.

Thanks anyway

[rangieman]

Ive used prepsol in the past and then ran compressed air through it :cool:
The reason you use compressed air through it is to get rid of any fumes left over because if you dont you run the risk of your car running on off the fumes left in the intercooler when you kill the ignition ;)

[rangieman]

Thinners or petrol should be ok , just get rid of them fumes afterwards:cool:

[d@rk51d3]

I think using thinners, or petrol can cause the engine to race, if you don't get it all out.

[rangieman]

I think using thinners, or petrol can cause the engine to race, if you don't get it all out.
Hence why i said get rid of the fumes:cool:

[Blknight.aus]

sorry, my bad... yes you can use the thinners, someone asked that in a previous post in one of the threads I specified diesel as we have drums of waste dieso at work, but you could have use almost any solvent.

[d@rk51d3]

Hence why i said get rid of the fumes:cool:

Sorry 'bout that.

Your response wasn't there when I typed mine.:angel:

[rangieman]

Sorry 'bout that.

Your response wasn't there when I typed mine.:angel:
Only 2 minutes between posts your excused:p

[d@rk51d3]

also skyping 2 separate conversations, and huge lag with U-torrent running.:D


Edit.

Anyhow, enough with the Hijacking...............

[disco_thrasher]

i did this it worked a treat , the only hard part was removing the front grill with spotties and arial wires going through the grill but managed took about 2hrs tho but well worth it ,i did this the same time as doing the EGR removal which killed 2 birds with one stone really www.discovery2.co.uk / Workshop / Intercooler Cleaninr (http://www.discovery2.co.uk/intercooler.html) from my memory you have a D1 so it might be slighty different

cheers kelvin

[dullbird]

Ive used prepsol in the past and then ran compressed air through it :cool:

The reason you use compressed air through it is to get rid of any fumes left over because if you dont you run the risk of your car running on off the fumes left in the intercooler when you kill the ignition ;)

yes you dont have to tell me about this;) Ian on the other hand well what can I say hence the reason I really didn't want to use kero:eek:

have most of you forgotten Ian nearly blew up the 90 as he forgot to blow the intercooler out.:D
Thats part of the reason I wanted to use a cleaner that would evaporate also...

no drips and dregs left in the bottom

[Blknight.aus]

thats why I have multiple hot water washes in the flushing technique....

BTW kero is essentialy dieso as far as the engine cares.

[dullbird]

thats why I have multiple hot water washes in the flushing technique....


BTW kero is essentialy dieso as far as the engine cares.

diesel/kero doesn't matter was still enough to feed the turbo up until 4500rpm before the engine came to an abrupt halt:D

never want to experience that again thanks:eek::D

[LandyAndy]

Must have been a fair bit left trapped in the intercooler.
Which one are you doing this time???
The electronic mojos should control the situation a tad more if it was to happen again:cool::cool::cool::cool:
Andrew

[Blknight.aus]

no dice, the ECU cant control whats being sucked into the air intake.

once a TD5 is on overrun the injectors are off.

4.5k+ Rpm on an idle throttle input is most definately over run.

[justinc]

I'd go with Daves soapy water suggestion, NEVER use a solvent in the intake system of a diesel engine. Even if you don't get a full on run away, the knock/ detonation on startup is what can damage gudgeon bushes and crank bearings. Definately not best practice for a compression ignition engine.

JC

[justinc]

no dice, the ECU cant control whats being sucked into the air intake.

once a TD5 is on overrun the injectors are off.
4.5k+ Rpm on an idle throttle input is most definately over run.

...And the operator should immediately alight from the vehicle and briskly walk in the opposite direction, calling emergency services on their mobile phone...:eek:

:D

JC

[Blknight.aus]

nahh, just put it in 5th, high with everything locked up tight and dump the clutch...

if it rips the spigot out of the clutch plate, then magically rematerialise yourself several hundered meters away while you call in the firies and the wrecking crew.

got to admit, I've always wanted to take a semi working but dying td5 and feed it till it blew.

[Gold_TD5]

got to admit, I've always wanted to take a semi working but dying td5 and feed it till it blew.

Your a sick puppy;)

If you ever do it, let me know and I will come and watch:)

[justinc]

nahh, just put it in 5th, high with everything locked up tight and dump the clutch...

if it rips the spigot out of the clutch plate, then magically rematerialise yourself several hundered meters away while you call in the firies and the wrecking crew.

got to admit, I've always wanted to take a semi working but dying td5 and feed it till it blew.

Got 2 words for you Dave, AUTO - TRANS....:D:eek:

JC

[landrover dave]

All the intercoolers that I have cleaned out on heavy trucks we have used a soap based degreaser and boiling water

[rangieman]

Got 2 words for you Dave, AUTO - TRANS....:D:eek:

JC
Got 2 words for you JC , HEAD-GASKET:p:wasntme:

[dullbird]

ok well we have done it with the thinner......all good.

will use the soapy water next time though....just really wanted to get it clean....


The car is going into the garage it is smoking last a bastard......from the moment the car starts to driving the whole way through the rev range doesn't matter what gear....the more you give it the thicker the smoke gets...

its not a healthy little car at the moment.

checked all hoses (all good)
changed air filter (was dirty now good)
cleaned breather (had some crap in it)
Cleaned the intercooler (was oily in the hoses so giess the intercooler was oily)

has not made a blind bit of difference.

I was told that when the pump was adjusted that if there was any change in the car to bring it back as they can slip....John (bush65) said he didn't buy that however just talking to Ian he said he has read about pump adjustments slipping (and no not talking about timing) in magazines before so unless we are talking about different things perhaps there is a possibilty this has happened...

other wise I guess need to start looking at injectors and stuff (at least they are not to costly for the 300's)...

hopefully the garage will give me a call soon and we can get it sorted...was hoping to have my EGT guage fitted by then so we could see what temps were like before fiddling but I guess thats not going to happen.

[pohm66]

Did some research and ended up using acetone to break down and clean out.

Acetone is a great oil disolver as well as leaves no residue so keeps the internal meatl surfaces as clean as possible.

[isuzurover]

We use lab grade Pentane to clean oil from important stuff here, but it costs $180/L... :eek:

[Blknight.aus]

Got 2 words for you Dave, AUTO - TRANS....:D:eek:

JC

no, thats officially 3

Grey Box Evil.

just one more reason not to have one...

though I bet youd cut some ripper burnouts trying to tame a td5 on full runaway through one of them.

[reeksyofoz]

i did this it worked a treat , the only hard part was removing the front grill with spotties and arial wires going through the grill but managed took about 2hrs tho but well worth it ,i did this the same time as doing the EGR removal which killed 2 birds with one stone really www.discovery2.co.uk / Workshop / Intercooler Cleaninr (http://www.discovery2.co.uk/intercooler.html) from my memory you have a D1 so it might be slighty different

cheers kelvin

I seem to have inherited a Defender with an intercooler that's been prepared for cleaning. Nice little mod, it has a plug at the base which means it can be drained easily without removing it.

When I get around to cleaning it I'll photograph it :)