I do this twice a year (have never pressure washed it though usually just shop vac). It is amazing how much crap is in there. OE is correct there is always a good amount of debris behind the AC radiator and in front of the coolant radiator). I have never seen a change in the temperature gauge from my cleaning but I always feel better about it.

Loren at Renntech has the bumper removal spelled out in the 3rd radiator install DIY.

 

Here's the link to that post:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...bumper+removal

 

Looked at my intakes on the 2002 C2 and found a dead sparrow mostly decomposed, a mouse nest and several leaves and papers. I used a vacume cleaner to get that stuff out, but after reading your thread, I will be going the rest of the way to get it all.
Thanks,
Tom L
2002 C2

 

Did this about 3-4 mo ago. It had about 4 yrs of use with 25k mi. Got about 1/2 the stuff as your friend's car. Mileage and where you live matters a lot. If you see tons of junk when you look into the bumper, you'll find about 2x more if you take the bumper off.

The bumper removal took me 2-3 hrs since it was my first time. I'd advice turning the wheel or removing them to get the wheel liner loose. The pop rivets are really hard to pull at times. Aligning the bumper back is a snap, pretty easy.

 

Read your post and did it this evening. Found lots of leaves, a few bees, and a DMV tag of some sort. Nothing to win the catch of the day with, but the air is going to flow much smoother through the rads and that is what matters. This will be a definate addition to my DIY maintenance plan. Thanks for the write up.

 

Did this this afternoon without taking off the front bumpers that will have to wait until it has cooled down, but I had a entire canvas sandbag minus the sand, a two vons bags sucked up in there. Plus a bunch of leaves and the like, I hope I find some more up in there when I do the whole deal.

Car should run cooler but I don't know just quite yet.

 

Great post! I gotta do it.
k

 

I was appraising a 03 911 the other day and went down to look under the car I noticed that there was a crusty piece of newspaper clogging up the driver's side radiator, I removed it for the lady. I wonder how hot she was getting (the car LOL) since we live in South Florida.

 

I decided to tackle this project about 1 month ago and also posted my comments (with pics). I highly recommend this as part of PM. Someone recommended this with Redline water wetter to keep temperatures even lower.

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/redline3.htm

 

How do you use water wetter? Does one just spray it on the radiators?

 

Edward - I don't use watter wetter but you add it to the water/coolant "in" the radiator.

 

Doe anyone know wether water wetter in your water is any wetter than when water wetter in not your water. An how do you tell wether water wetter is in your water or whether it is not?

 

Attemped this today and got nowhere.

The rivets in the wheel wells are killing me. I'm assuming they're 2 parts? A pin and a sleeve?

I am able to get the pin to pop-up about an eighth of an inch but that's it. Are they supposed to come all the way out? Are both pieces supposed to come all the way out in my hand?

Bahhh. Crappy day. Bad mood.

 

That's easy for you to say!!

 

yuck
look on the bright side - pull out a few pounds of stuff and you'll have a lighter car