I have a cunning plan !! BUT will it work??

[hipplew]

After reading some of the post's on this brilliant web site (thank god I found it) and knowing / suspecting that my intercooler is a little sludgy I have developed a cunning plan to clean it without removing everything in site of it, i.e. air con etc.

What my thought is, is to remove both pipes leading to the intercooler 1 from turbo 1 from inlet manifold (thing below EGR valve?)

Fill the intercooler with petrol ? or another cleaning agent ( what does everybody ells use )

Then this is where is gets cunning using a hand drill pump HDP and two pieces of pipe (? garden hose) placing one end down both pipe's that I had previously removed and switching on the HDP so that the cleaning agent will hopefully circulate around the intercooler therefore cleaning it of all its muck and gunk .

My intention is to leave it running for as long as possible providing the pump does not block etc. to achieve the best results.
then to drain, remove one end of the pipe placing it into a container for all the fluid to be disposed of accordingly. Reconnect the two pipe's and fingers cross!!!!

So what do you think of my cunning plan I would like your comments before I do the deed just in case someone comes up with any warning about what I intend to do

Howard

[alex]

You would seriously need to make sure it was flushed of petrol or it would go bang when started.

[hipplew]

[Road Hog]

deffo NOT petrol,electric drills have brushes,brushes make sparks,sparks & petrol ....... not a good combination

[hipplew]

Good point infact dam good point glad your on the ball

Just out of intrest are there any other cleaning agents that "ha hemm" that are not flamable that could be used

also do you think it could work, hehehehehe (put you on the spot)
Howard

[Rifleman]

Because of all the nooks and crannies in the intercooler, you wont get all the cleaner out. Better to remove it so you can turn it over in every direction to clear it.
DO NOT USE PETROL you will regret it. Use diesel and once it is clean, blow it out with an air line if you can.

[Road Hog]

Hmmmm,it is as Keith says , but you would need to degas & remove your air con rad,so I can see the attraction of your idea ,will think more on this

[hipplew]

See I actually got the idea from work (I'm a nurse) and I had to use suction on a patient as you do some times so to stop thinking of I was thinking of how to do my intercooler and that’s how I came up with it .

With regards to the nooks and crannies within the cooler, what my thought was quiet literally using the pressure of the pump to clean those area's and as for the removal of the cleaning agent another thought that came to mind was of jacking up one side of the Fronty, so all fluid goes to one area then reduce the size of the pipe to aid better suction (a NURSY thing)

Howard

[huggy]

i used turps on mine and it came up looking new

[bobbinsjob]

your idea would possibly work, but use diesel to clean it with.

If you have access to a forklift or Hi-lift on drivers wheel you could realy jack one side up and to get the last dregs out of the neck, bung some kitchen towel in the pipe to soak it up (but not too far and remember to leave enough poking out to retrieve said towel)

[hipplew]

Another thought that I have just had and with out sounding DAFT

Does any body know how an intercooler is built ?? is it the same sort of structure as a radiator ?? the reason for my asking is :-

If it has two galleries going down each side connected via internal pipe work/ cannals, then with vain's for the cooling process (I would not only have to devise some way of sorting the hose to fire the solvent out sideways but also to measure the depth so each internal cannal is clensed)
OR
Is it all most like a hollow wafer with no internal structure as I first thought without thinking about it

Any thoughts are very welcome as I dont want to disturbe the aircon and pay the £££££ in labour for vx or any other garage to do the job if there could be away of doing it myself.

Howard

[bobbinsjob]

I believe it is much like a radiator with channel in it as when i cleaned mine i had to swill it as if i was panning for gold and it took a while to drain (probably from all the channels as it didnt just flood out)

[Rifleman]

As above, thats why I suggested removing it in order to get all the diesel back out.
Also to get the diesel into all the bits it wouldn't if in situ.

[alex]

TBH they can come out pretty quickly if you take the rad out. Its about half an hour, then you can do a propper job.

[Sir-Doris]

yeah but I think he has air con and that has a bunch of bits that would get in the way of an expedient removal

[bobbinsjob]

would the aircon get in the way if the intercooler comes out thru the grille. thats the way mine came out

[Sir-Doris]

I dont know, not too sure on the layout of the B series. Was basing my post on A friend's as he mentioned air con de-gassing etc.