Thread: What dis I do today? the damn intercooler.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

OK , today I knew it was all going to take a LOT of time.
First I degreased the engine several times so that I can fix the FPR. Its damn difficult to clean because of all the cables and obstacles.
Next I cleaned the intrercooler on my EU3 auto..
What a epic.
Whoever designed the mounts should be shot.
This is something that is supposed to be done every 100K!
The first obstacle is the pesky little self tappers that hold the headlight garnishes on. Who thought of that? Having to have a screwdriver exactly the correct length to loosen something you cannot see.
The amount of disassembly to clean the intercooler is ridiculous. The hardest bit I found was removing the intercooler because the radiator has indents for the intercooler hose stubs. When people say push the radiator back they mean REALLY back. I don't see how it could be done with the fan in place.
I had about half an hour of swearing because the indent on the RH side of the radiator is not high enough to have the intercooler location peg slip over the radiator mount plate. I ended up cutting about 6 MM off the peg as there is no need for it to be as long., as the intercooler is held against the radiator by 2 bolts which stop any upward movement. Then it slipped in easily.
So my first tip is to cut a bit off the locating peg.
I flushed the intercooler with turps , then a medium degreasing mixture , then rinsed with clean water twice. I let it drain then ran the vacuum cleaner through it for 10 minutes or so. Really there wasn't much oil in it at 137 KK, though there was some around the exit.

I think I may take off the inlet manifold to do the FPR as it needs cleaning anyway and there would be MUCH better access with the manifold off. I have a EGR delete kit coming from Czeck Republic of all places.

Yesterday I ran a 4 G main power line from the front to the rear of the car, installed junctions , and installed Merit plugs on the LH side for the fridge and on both bumper corners for my camper trailer.

Regards Philip A

Are you over it yet? Character building, isn't it. Take a deep breath, & carry on, sweetheart. Bob

Yep I gave up. A year or so back could not budge it and I was "leaning" on the radiator, will probably be another year or 2 before I may take another look at the job with "cutting lugs" in mind. Nothing wrong with the way the old girl is running so motivation from me is low. But I do ooze empathy for you.

Congrats I have a cup of sympathies for your efforts \_/ Bugger! It is empty / \.
No but really cograts on a 'orrible job I have looked at it and found easier stuff to do, Like catch and throw that 3 yr old bull in the top paddock!

Are people doing this by the book or following "how-to's"?

I read both Rave and how tos and I have to say that if the Howtoer was able to get the damned thing out with the fan in place , he was a better man than I.
I read Rave because I couldn't believe that you had to dismantle half the car to get it out when I had a false start, and started again once I read that that you had to take the horns out , then the brackets from the front after removing the foam, then I found an additional step of removing the condenser brackets.

Then finding that the intercooler pipes are set into recesses in the radiator tank. I was able to wrench the bloody thing out by pushing hard enough on the radiator to kink the top hose, then wrenching the intercooler out from the LH side first.
The sting in tail was that the RH peg on the intercooler was too long to allow the intercooler high enough to slip it into the hole because of the recess in the radiator not being high enough.
Reminds me of UJs."gently tap the trunnion from the yoke" 5lb lump hammer later.
Regards Philip A

I pulled an intercooler out of a D2 once...

I clean them in place now.

The only way I can see how to do it without removing the fan is to pull the radiator and all its interfering gear.

Totally random thought.... But has anyone designed a rig to flush them insitu, ie without removingand just undoing the hoses?

I followed Urban Panzer's tutorial from his website.... Still a bar steward of a job though. I have done it twice now so it holds no fears.