cleaned my SMIC today

[CanadianTSi]

Cleaning the IC out with water afterwards is not the best idea...

Any gas that is left in the IC will quickly evapourate, if any of it makes it's way to the the engine it's not gonna do any harm.

Water on the other hand will evapourate slower and if any of it gets to the engine it could cause trouble....

 

[GreddySpyder]

Originally posted by CanadianTSi
Cleaning the IC out with water afterwards is not the best idea...

Any gas that is left in the IC will quickly evapourate, if any of it makes it's way to the the engine it's not gonna do any harm.

Water on the other hand will evapourate slower and if any of it gets to the engine it could cause trouble....

That's why I dried it out thouroughly before putting it back in, thanks for the concern though.

 

[greyGS-T]

I cleaned mine out for the first time last weekend and it wasn't dirty at all. The first time the alcohol came out it was the same color as when it went in, clear. I'll never know if it helped any though because the Big 16 should be on and running by this weekend. Can't wait

Matt

 

[kurupt]

Daaaamn...i don't know where i'd be without this site. I have 170000km on my car, and nothings been cleaned. This site will probably save my car from something big. Thanks soooo much for posts like this guys!

 

[Bohrn]

hey kurupt, have you checked out the Canadian Club DSM website?

Good stuff to supplement this site, plus a Canadian perspective, and some local stuff for you, like meetings, who's a good shop, canadian prices etc.

 

[herostar]

I cleaned mine @ 130,000 miles. It deffinately made a big difference

 

[kurupt]

bohrn...no i haven't checked that out. I'm gonna right now, thanx a lot man...

 

[BlackTSI]

I just cleaned my SMIC today. It took me about 3 and a half hours. I couldn't get to one of the bolts holding the SMIC on, finally I got to it. After that I cleaned out all the bugs and dirt, mine was pretty dirty. Im guessin that it had never been cleaned and I have 143K on my 95 TSI AWD. After I cleaned all that crap out, I flushed it about 6 times with Gas, until it came out clear. Put it all back together, and WOW, it pulled ALOT Harder! I was impressed, I would def. reccommend doing this

 

[vertGST]

i am definitly gonna tkae the car apart on my next day off and clean the intercooler and perhaps the ic piping too.

 

[Turbo_Frog]

Ok, Im gonna clean my SMIC when I get the chance. The thing that Im confused about is wether to use gasoline or alcohol. Is one better than the other? I understand people rather use alcohol because gasoline might be risky, but other than that which one should I go with? Thanks

 

[Black95TSIawd]

use gasoline just dont smoke while doing it. Remember there is chance of fire. Alcohol is good enough dude

 

[Bohrn]

depends on how much crud is in there

Your car is a 99 so its probably pretty clean. Alky would work fine if that is the case. But if it is cruddy, gas or other more powerful solvent would be better.

 

[Turbo_Frog]

Yeah thanks guys, I only got 52K miles so it cant be that bad in there. I'll go with the alcohol since I got plenty, save the gasoline for the gas tank in the car.

 

[psychlow]

Water on the other hand will evapourate slower and if any of it gets to the engine it could cause trouble....

Uhh..... I know that refuting a 7 month old post is sort of pointless.... but...

Ever heard of water injection?

 

[Kinetik_tsi]

What if I were to use something like CLR

 

[doug]

Originally posted by Turbo_Frog
Yeah thanks guys, I only got 52K miles so it cant be that bad in there.

That's what you say now, but wait till you see it-- I did mine at 53K and it was disgusting. Use gas-- I guess you could use brake parts cleaner if you really wanted, but I still recommend gas. Just let it dry completely. Cap off the breather hose nipple on the intake and run the breather hose down to the ground to help prevent future buildup. And do the same with the PCV valve hose. Or run them both to a catch can.

 

[justin0469]

where is the ground wire for the exhaust?

 

[Black95TSIawd]

there is one on the downpipe and one near the o2 sensor on the catback

 

[Bohrn]

CLR is not a degreaser. The crud inside is greasy and needs a solvent.

On the other hand CLR might be good for the outside.

 

[psychlow]

Personally, I'd use brake cleaner or carb/TB cleaner......

 

[ViciousVendetta]

I used carb cleaner / engine degreaser.

I would tell anyone DO NOT use alcohol. When I did it just kept coming out clear no matter how hard I shook it. When I used the carb cleaner it came out pure black and oily. Alcohol is too ####y I guess, just stick with gas it seems to work best.