Intercooler Cleaning IC [Merged 11-7] clean smic fmic

Atari007 · 05-01-2002, 08:18 AM

I have read a lot about cleaning your intercooler... I was just wondering if any of you guys have done it, and can you feel a differance? I took a look at mine this morning and it does look pretty nasty...........

fast_talon · 05-01-2002, 10:55 AM

I cleaned my stock SMIC (when I still had one) and there was alot of oil resedue. It doesnt hurt to clean it out, considering any oil will cause resistance to the air flow. Did it make a drastic performance increase? I cant really say.. but its free!

apgeclipsegsx · 05-02-2002, 07:53 PM

i took off my IC and pipes and flushed it all out with some degreaser and rubbing alcohol and let it sit over night. the i took out my dremel and spent a couple hours on the intake manifold elbow and turbo elbow, then i honed both pieces with my brake hone kit to make it all nice, made the turbo spool alot quicker

TsiRacer93 · 08-15-2002, 07:04 AM

how do you clean an intercooler, i was lookin at it the other day and its SOOO DIRTY.

dsmnate · 08-15-2002, 07:11 AM

Here is a link.....

Cleaning your Intercooler

-Nate

RedTurboEclipse · 08-15-2002, 01:17 PM

i cleaned mine.. it was pretty dirty.. but wen your removing it.. you might not see one of the top screws that is holding the SMIC.. what i did was take out the sidemarker.. and you can see the bolt from there.. then i used a ractchet from the air duct.. stuck my whole hand in there to reach it.. it was a biatch to take off.. so i didnt put it back on

and i used little amounts of paint thinner.. shake it a lil.. and then ran water through it.. did the job.. now its super clean.. good luck..

dsmtrick · 08-15-2002, 01:42 PM

Gasoline works too.

candela · 08-15-2002, 02:05 PM

Yes gasoline, acetone, paint thinner or just alcohol

RedTurboEclipse · 08-15-2002, 03:45 PM

first i tried alcohol.. and it didnt really clean it that well until i used paint thinner.. the alcohol i used? just the typical one u use around the house.. rubbing alcohol..

RocketDSM · 08-15-2002, 07:14 PM

Never use rubbing alcohol on anything that you really care about and will not get refinished in something else. Rubbing alcohol leaves a film over everything when it evaporates. Water does not get it off. Go to an electrical supply store and you should be able to find Isopropyl Alcohol. Not only is it stronger at cleaning, but it evaporates completely. Neat things the Navy teaches us electronic types, huh?

doug · 08-15-2002, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RedTurboEclipse
what i did was take out the sidemarker.. and you can see the bolt from there.. then i used a ractchet from the air duct.. stuck my whole hand in there to reach it.. it was a biatch to take off.. so i didnt put it back on

I tried taking the sidemarker out, but that still wasn't good enough. So I removed the first three (counting from the wheel well and going forward) bolts holding on the front bumper cover. Then it's a snap getting a ratchet extension in between the bumper cover and the chassis to remove/replace that front I/C bolt.

08-16-2002, 03:49 PM

I just removed my whole front bumper and inner fender.Getting it out was cake after that.I cleaned mine Inside and out with 93 octane and Two cans of Fuel Injector cleaner its so clean inside of it now.Later Corey D

BatmanGSX · 08-16-2002, 04:41 PM

I took mine to a shop and had them run gallons and gallons of solvents through it in the their parts washer. The did if for free so I gave the mechanic who did it $10 for his time. Whatever you do, don't use any sort of pressure on the outside. Just a hose and my thumb was bending the fins.

doug · 08-16-2002, 08:50 PM

If you don't have some sort of catch can on the breather hose, the intercooler and piping will be just as dirty again in a few months. I highly recommend for everyone to use some sort of method to catch the oil blowby so your piping and intercooler stay cleaner longer. I did the $3 catch can mod, which is just placing a cheap plastic fuel filter in-line with the breather hose. Doesn't catch 100% of the blowby, but it's a lot better than nothing.

In fact, I was wondering if since one filter is good, would two be better? There's not a lot of resistance in the filter-- you can blow through it very easily. Any thoughts on that?

gstspyder1998 · 10-25-2002, 04:53 PM

Ok, I've only cleaned my intercooler once with paint thinner and I did it in my bathroom. The fumes basically stayed in my house for a couple of days and everybody in the house got high off of it!!!

Well I don't plan on doing that again but I need to clean my intercooler because I can see a lot of oil coming out from it when I was fixing my UICP. I know you can also use gasoline but that's worst than paint thinner. Has anybody use a different type of cleaning solution that does the same job as paint thinner and gasoline????

rubbersidedown · 10-25-2002, 05:33 PM

gasoline

heh

boosted_91_tsi · 10-25-2002, 06:47 PM

gasoline worx best but make sure u let it dry COMPLETELY before reinstalling it. I would suggest you get a breather filter as well and then you will not have to worry about oil getting in there again.

UltraImports · 01-31-2003, 08:45 AM

I'm cleaning my intercooler this weekend before I get it up and running again. I know I'm supposed to use gas...but how many times do I have to do it? Wash, Rinse, Repeat....lol

Thanks.

Tallen · 01-31-2003, 08:48 AM

till the gas doesnt come out black

UltraImports · 01-31-2003, 08:49 AM

go figure...right

lol. Thanks man.

candela · 01-31-2003, 09:20 AM

acetone has worked better for me in the past =), but gas will work fine to...

jbillakdsm · 01-31-2003, 10:17 AM

I used rubbing alcohol (30 cents a bottle on sale) and flushed it with around 2 bottles per flush. The first flush came out real dark and the second was a lot lighter, but still noticeable. The third flush was practically clear. If you can, get something to seal off both ends so you can shake it as much as possible. I used some cut up water balloons and some zip ties for the one end and my hand for the other. I then let it dry for about an hour in front of a heater. I figured if there was any alcohol left, it wasn't really going to hurt that much.

UltraImports · 01-31-2003, 11:24 AM

I'll just let it sit out and let the rest evaporate. Thanks for the helps guys. I'll tackle this tonight.