Rickker

Today I removed the front bumper, air ducts, and swung the AC condensors out of the way. There was the usual amount of debris that others have reported. I used my shop vac to remove all of the loose stuff. I then used a brush to loosen more stuff near the surface, and vacuumed that away. Now the rads appear to be superficially clean, but I can see that there is residual dirt in between the flutes that can't be brushed or vacuumed away.

The questions is, can the residual stuff be removed, and how?

Or have others just left it there? I would rather not do this.

I do have a pressure washer, but don't know if this would be effective, or possibly damage the radiator(s).

Thanks for any advice on this.

Macster

Did you use a shop vac with brush attachment?

I did this and it removes alot of that stuff. What you do not want to do is use any brush or anything hard enough that it bends over the fins of the radiator which cuts down on the air flow through the radiator. There's a lot of extra capacity obviously cause the trash doesn't seem to cause any overheating -- mainly it is removed cause it presents a corrision risk to the condensor and radiator -- but you don't want to needlessly take away any capacity if you can avoid doing so.

Then once I used some cleaner - Simple Green IIRC -- and doused the condensor/radiator with it and let it soak a bit then rinsed the cleaner off along with a lot of the dirt.

Try aim the hose from the back side to drive any debris out from the front surface cause that's the way it wants to leave the radiator.

With cleaner and water you'll see quite a bit of the remaining stuff be carried away with the rinse water.

When I did this, the rinse water ran brown a while as all the dirt was being rinsed away.

Other times I've just vacuumed whatever I could get out -- and I get out a lot -- and then rinse with plain water and let dry then button every thing up.

Sincerely,

Macster.

frisbee91

Reminds me of a what happened to me last week. For a few days, I had noticed an odd smell in my garage. I figured it was the trash can. Then, on a hot day, I smelled it near my car in the parking lot at work. Upon investigation, there was a bird stuck to the radiator inside the front bumper of my 996. Then I remembered when he tried to swoop in front of me a few days before. I figured the bird made it by, or went under the car, since I didn't hear any impact.

Anyway, I donned rubber gloves, removed the maggot-filled carcass , and hosed the area down when I got home. Still need to do a thorough cleaning.

I guess the bird wasn't used to dodging vehicles above a certain speed.

soverystout

My rads were filled with gunk as well. No need for a pressure washer. Folks tend to get overzealous and damge things.

just a trigger sprayer on a garden hose and a 20 minutes is all you need to flush out all the gunk.

And if you do use simple green, make sure you cut it with some water. That is some strong stuff.

Awesomo996

Watch the Simple Green. It is a big no-no in the aviation communities because the household version is corrosive.

I use the aviation version: http://www.chiefaircraft.com/airsec/...leGreenCleaner

rwiii

Jim, 20 minutes including removing the bumber? How long does it take to remove the bumber?

redridge

wow.... thats alot of crud!

RallyJon

20 minutes or less, assuming you have the right tools (stubby screwdriver and torx) and the front end is already on jackstands.

Rickker

Many Rennlisters have reported half an hour or less. This may be the case if you have done it before, and all the fasteners are cooperating.

It took me almost 4 hours just to remove the front bumper. There is a very helpful video on UTube which has been referenced on this forum in the past. I don't have the link handy right now. I have a '99 C4 which I have owned for almost 3 years. When I was removing the front fascia, it was very apparent that this had never been done before by the previous owners. There were 4 Phillips screws (which engage in Tinnerman clips) that would not budge. I finally had to remove the front wheels, and partially remove the fender liners, so I could get my visegrips on the threaded end of the screw. In two cases, I had to physically destroy the Tinnerman clip in order to break the screw loose. Also, there were several plastic panel fasteners (the kind where you pull the pin out to remove) that would not cooperate and had to be destroyed to be removed.

So, I would say that it is highly unlikely that the front bumper can be removed in half and hour, especially on older 996s which have been driven in the winter.

Attached are a couple of pics showing the location of the "trouble" screws.

Rickker

Yes, but there is still stuff stuck on that won't vacuum off even with brush action at the end of the vacuum hose.

I will move the car out into the driveway tomorrow and try the garden hose technique. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Rickker

Several of you have mentioned Simple Green. I have never used it. Are we saying here that this stuff is the best product to use for radiator flute cleaning?

Macster

I said I used Simple Green but I'm not 100% sure. I might have used Gunk -- in the aerosol can -- caused I've used this stuff off and on for well longer than I care to remember. And I kind of like the smell of it afterwards.

What I am sure of is the 1st time I cleaned the radiators in my Boxster way back in 2003/2004 timeframe I used a cleaner and then rinsed the cleaner off after removing all the trash with a shop vacuum.

You can use just mild dish soap if you want and a soft -- very soft -- brush to scrub the fins if you want. I didn't have to work that hard but maybe you got some nastier stuff in your car.

Subsequent cleanings -- 3 since maybe -- I just use a shop vacuum and then after buttoning everything up again stop at local car wash and use the DIY wand to spray some soapy water in there -- avoiding the full blast of the high pressure spray -- and then some rinse water and keep the rinse water flowing until the water runs clear.

You want to remove the trash cause this holds moisture and this leads to corrosion risk.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Goldenwarrior1

I used a non-acidic Aluminum cleaner called All-Bright designed for residential/commercial aluminum coils, auto's trucks etc. Leaves the radiators looking like new.

http://www.certifiedlabs.com/certifi...ame=ALL-BRIGHT

soverystout

Rickker, it took me about 2 hours to remove the bumper. It was the first time I have done it. 20 minutes for a nice thorough rinsing off the condensors and the rads and then to rinse off the driveway.

ivangene

WOW - thats the most stuff I have seen in there - good thing you did it!

as for a cleaner, IMO just remove what you can and dont sweat that it is not 100% pristine....reverse water presure (from fan side) and just get what you can. Do it again in 6mo/year

too much screwing around could cause more problems than fix.... keep it simple... no chemicals