tt9714

I currently have the air induction system on my '86 951 disassembled, and I noticed a lot of oil on the inside of the intercooler tubes and inside of the intake manifold. I assume that the turbo is leaking oil.

How can I clean the inside surfaces of the intercooler? I would imagine that the extra oil in there is not helping the heat transfer.

It would be most preferable to leave the IC in the car, but I suppose that I could remove it if necessary to really get it clean.

TCarrera

You really need to pull it, solvent or lacquer thinner works good. Poor a quart or so in and shake. Dump out and repeat until comes out clear.
Blow air through it to evaporate the thinner fumes.
Mike at LR

Ski

Go ahead and send it to Lindsey RAcing for one of their upgrades,,,you get a nice new clean intercooler with less pressure drop and better charge cooling.

951Tom

If you don't wanna pull the intercooler out, you could do this. Go to Home Depot and get two 90 degree 2 inch PVC pipe elbows. This will extend the height of the intercooler input and output thus allowing you to completely fill the intercooler with cleaning solution. The PVC elbows will fit tightly into the rubber intercooler tubes. Then fill with a degreaser and let it soak. Then suck it out with a shop vac. Repeat & rinse with hot water a few times. Mine came out nice and clean. I thought this was easier then pulling the whole thing out. It's amazing how many auto parts Home Depot has. Hope this helps.

booster

Guys....the intercooler is easy to remove....I pulled mine but it didn't have any oil in it, I cleaned it anyway with laquer thinner, it was a little dusty inside.

marshall951

"Then fill with a degreaser and let it soak. Then suck it out with a shop vac."

If you do this make sure it is a non-flamable dereaser as the motor of the shop vap would for sure light up a flamable solution!!!!!

951Tom

I used the Castrol purple stuff.