Cleaning an intercooler (inside)
 

Well the car is away having a fresh coat of white sprayed on so got lots of bits in the garage that I'm cleaning up ready for its return (door trims etc etc). I also have the front mount off. Going to clean the outside of it and flash a new coat of black over it but what about the inside ? Anybody ever cleaned the inside of an intercooler ? Surely there must be some oil and grime build up over time.

Any ideas ??

Run some petrol through it and the rinse with water.

when i do mine i spray brake/carb cleaner inside it.

should see a fair amount of oil resadue that comes out...

Excellent, thanks fellas.

For a car thats finished you don't find a lot of things to do:lol1:

Is it a full on respray or just a tidy up??

LoL....... Can't stop myself mate.

Everything except the bonnet, roof and bumpers but might have the bumpers blown over anyway.

Just cleaned the cooler. Popped up Halfords and got some brake/carb cleaner. Sprayed it through and then rinsed with the hose. Got quite a bit of dirt and grime out so well worth it. Now got to let it bake for an hour in the sun before giving it a fresh coat of Matt black.

Cheers fellas.

Not sure water is a good idea

Not even if I leave it out in the sun to dry ??

I'm always puzzled as to why radiators on cars are painted black. If it was the best colour to dissipate heat, surely all central heating radiators would be black too.

With central heating, you get more heat out of a white towel rail radiator than the identical chrome one, so if the idea is to get rid of heat, black is probably the worst possible colour.

Anyone know the thinking behind it?

I always just use petrol or thinners and then blow it out with an airline and leave to dry for ages, have heard some horror stories of people hydro locking their engines

I also use thinners which evaporates but tbho I don't think you would suffer from hydra lock rinsing with water after as you couldn't possibly leave enough water in the intercooler to do so.

It's hanging up in my garage now and will be until the car is back from the painters. I'm sure it'll be fine after a week drying in the current climate.

Regards to colour....
Totally down to taste. I like it in black and that's it, no thought into heat dissipation.

I use Eastwood radiator black paint to reduce the impact of the paint on efficiency.