Chaos

It is getting the bumper back on that concerns me !

Rickker

Well, I think I could have done it in 2 hours or less, had I not had the problem with those 4 Phillips screws. They engage in a sheet metal clip, and are not supposed to seize up. But in my case, they would not budge, and I had to remove the fender liner and work the screw back and forth a bit with vise grips, until they were free enough to loosen with the screwdriver. Actually, with the first one, I destroyed the metal clip and it still would not come out. There is a little countersunk collar on the screw, and this was rusted in place.

Seems strange that I should be the only one with this seized Phillips screw situation. Maybe because I have a high mileage '99 C4 which has been winter driven, meaning more time and opportunity for rust seizures.

soverystout

I think that is a good hypothesis. My car is 4 years newer, 38k on the clock and is not driven in snow/heavy rain and is garaged.

Rickker

The final step was the flute flushing, and it worked very well. I just used a household cleanser, squirted into the rad and condensor flutes and flushed with a garden hose nozzle. Did this about 3 times until there was only clean water coming out. However, most of the flushing was done from the front. I could not get my handgrip nozzle up into the fan shroud area very well to flush from the back as recommended. Anyway it seemed to work, and I rinsed very thoroughly.

The final step was to use my shop vac in blower mode, to thoroughly blow all the water out of the affected areas.

Thanks to Macster and other for the good advice and tips.

ivangene

Wow - very nice!

Ready for the road!

Sneaky Pete

Hey Rick.....Good job!

Barn996

After seeing all that built up crud, doesn't it feel good to know it's as clean and unobstructed, and you did't pay someone else to do it?

Rickker

You bet!!

Edgy01

Nice job! It's nice to do things yourself--you know it's done right, and you don't get any collateral damage!