Thread: D2 Inter cooler cleaned today

Thanks Joel, The fact yours is of the same vintage as mine leads me to believe mine does not need doing 1 less job, YAH!! As an aside with killing the SWBO's hairdrier , nip into supercheepy and grab of their rockwell heatguns! It has been the best investment of 27 dollars I have made in a long time! Beats a hairdryer hands down, and u will not stop finding uses for it, heat stubborn bolts, hoses,pressed parts, balljoints, water pipe fittings, etc!
Cheers Scott

Originally Posted by joel0407

I pretty much followed this:

www.discovery2.co.uk / Workshop / Intercooler Cleaninr

Just thought I should add.

I couldn't get it out with out removing the viscous fan. I had read on here, I think, that I needed to remove the fan but the linked how to didn't advise it as being required.

As for removing the horns. They are a pain and you can do it without removing them. just compress the foam and use a socket extension to reach the bolt. I know because I refitted the horns and then realized I hadn't already refitted the bracket.

The inter cooler needs to be lifted up on the passenger side first and then once it's up about 45 degrees, the opposite side will come out. It doesn't come straight up.


I think that's all I needed to add. It's pretty simple, it took me less than half an hour to get it out.

Mine wasn't that dirty, just a bit oily but the oil appeared pretty clean. Wiping my finger around the inside, the oil was just dark brown, not dry and black like I expected.

I used a full can of whatever the cheap red coloured can of degreaser that Super Cheap sells. Swished that around and emptied it. That came out black but subsequent cleans came out clean. I used truck wash then dish washing liquid with boiling water from the kettle they all came out clean.

I was going to use the wife's hair dryer to dry it but I've been using it a bit and I recon it's on it's last legs. I don't want it to die while I'm using it. I'll have to buy a new one no matter what but it would cost more if I broke it.

Anyway to ensure it was dry I used metho as it would come out white it there was any water left and it will evaporate rather then run and a bead of liquid into the engine which could cause problems.

I put it back in and then left the pipes off for a couple of hours for extra drying and then when I finally started it, I let it idle until it was warm. I figured it would have to be dry by then.

That's all folks.

Happy Days

I took mine out today too and found it had a crack in the fins/horizontal running channels/whatever they're called. It's a bit of a job to remove but I'm quite hopeful that it'll slot in more easily when attached to the replacement radiator.