cleaning out IC's!

[Brett Dikeman <brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net>]

Well, I removed my front grille and cleaned out the IC with some Simple
Green after picking out all the rocks and bugs, as well as straightening
out some bent fins.  Looks good.  In the process of using the hose to get
the simple green out, I managed to knock off quite a bit of the black paint
that was loose, but I figure it's aluminium so I don't have much to worry
about.

What came out?
-Dirt+sand.  Lots.
-Loch Ness Monster.  You thought he was in a lake...you thought wrong.  He
was in my IC the whole time.  Previous owner must have hit him.  That was
just a big log in the lake :)
-bugs.  Tons of little arms, legs, wings and other small bug-type body
parts(ewwww)
-5 words: "Elvis has left the intercooler."
-Grease/dried out oil+dirt.  Tons and tons.  Concentrated near the exit
side(this is a single-pass IC.)  Very odd.  I would have expected the other
way around.  Anyone got any guesses as to what was going on here?  Whatever
it was, it's _gone_.  Thoroughly blasted out.

There was so much stuff that I had to hose down the front of the car to
wash off all the junk.  My arms were covered with junk too.

I'm hoping the improved flow and clean surfaces will do something...oh, and
BTW, I used a leaf blower to get all the water out, and repeated the cycle
a few times.  The IC is fairly thick, so you have to spray SG on, use hose
lightly to add some water, then _lightly_ use the blower to knock all the
good stuff to the back of the IC, spray more SG and water, blower, etc.
The blower on full strength knocked around the water pretty hard taking
anything left with it, and after about 2 minutes, it was mostly dry.  I'm
going to let it dry completely then take the car for a spin and see how it
feels(I don't want the evaporating water to throw off my "buttometer".)
Too bad I don't have a temp gauge, then I could tell for sure.  Couldn't
have hurt, that's for sure.

Brett
91 200q 20v

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Brett Dikeman
brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net
~)-|
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Te audire non possum.  Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
Ita, scio hunc 'sig file' veterem fieri.
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