Thread: cleaning the intercooler

RAVE has the procedure listed in the Maintenance section. page 10-14
and
there is a how-to on Urban Panzers website: www.discovery2.co.uk / Workshop / Intercooler Cleaninr

As for flushing liquids the official STC9713 was a product called C-Solve made by a company called Unicorn Chemicals. From the Safety Data Sheet it appears to be more than 90% Naphtha. Not sure where you'd source in quantity this but it is apparently the same stuff as Zippo lighter fluid.

ADD: Shellite is the same thing as Naptha. Easy to get and cheap.

I found that Acetone was the only thing that made a significant dent into the intake manifold build up, and will use that on mine although I'll probably try Shellite when I get around to doing the intercooler. It's one of those jobs that is permanently on my to-do list.

I used Shellite last time and Acetone the time before, mainly because thats what I had at the time. Both seemed to work well.

i used this degreaser from Bunnings last time i did my son in laws
just remember no to let it dry out inside the intercooler as it's a bit corrosive,i also put it on a low heat on the BBQ after completely filling it with this stuff ,about 10 minutes on 100deg is enough
have a good water source standing by when ready to flush it out
you wouldn't believe how much S*****came out of it.
see foto's for product
Paul
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/...ps19cfebe6.jpg
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/...ps48cb58f0.jpg

Originally Posted by Modelsp

i used this degreaser from Bunnings last time i did my son in laws
just remember no to let it dry out inside the intercooler as it's a bit corrosive,i also put it on a low heat on the BBQ after completely filling it with this stuff ,about 10 minutes on 100deg is enough
have a good water source standing by when ready to flush it out
you wouldn't believe how much S*****came out of it.
see foto's for product
Paul
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/...ps19cfebe6.jpg
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/...ps48cb58f0.jpg

While the diggers degreaser is pretty dilute I wouldn't be putting anything with Sodium Hydroxide in it near aluminium.

Sodium Hydroxide + water + aluminium =

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ul7yDU4r4]Sodium hydroxide and aluminum reaction - YouTube[/ame]

or

http://www2.uni-siegen.de/~pci/versu...sh/v44-10.html

Sodium Hydroxide is also used to etch the surface of aluminium in preparation for anodising and removes a thin layer of aluminium.
My brother used to do this when he was making anodised aluminium jewellery. In fact the process involves a heated bath of dilute sodium hydroxide as the heating speeds up the etching.

ADD: This is an even better example of what Sodium Hydroxide does to aluminium:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5QXOynT-Fs"]Aluminum etching with NaOH - YouTube[/ame]

You get the picture...

ive always washed mine out with petrol and left to dry[if you dont leave it to dry the engine will run on the fumes and scare you!]

Alkaline solvents will block the cooling bars as they will oxidise the aluminum and basically stuff the intercooler if left in there long enough. Use low flammable hydrocarbons only, such as Shellite, kero, degreaser.

Ye haveused water soluble cleaners before to degrease engines, leave it for while and you will have a white residue on any ally, i was thinking of plugging 1 end and filling with kero, agitate for a few hours and repeat a few times, just wondering about cleaning the intake also

Cheers

Ken

Originally Posted by frostyblue

Ye haveused water soluble cleaners before to degrease engines, leave it for while and you will have a white residue on any ally, i was thinking of plugging 1 end and filling with kero, agitate for a few hours and repeat a few times, just wondering about cleaning the intake also

Cheers

Ken

I plugged both ends after putting in about 700ml of kero and 200ml of hydrocarbon degreaser fluid. That way I could invert it and wash out as much oil as possible.