Radiator Cleaning

[Jager]

Do you want to see what the radiators collect after 10 years and 212,000 miles? See attached pictures.

I decided to clean my radiators today (saw someone else doing it on another post). Why didn’t you guys tell me I needed to do this? Think I removed about 20 lbs. of crap from the front of my car. I had to laugh at the Styrofoam peanuts and cigarette butts. After seeing all of this, it’s probably a good idea to clean the radiators every 50k miles or so. I used a spray cleaner and hose to blast the dirt and dust out-of-there.

Jager

[san rensho]

I just finished doing mine. Wow, the amount of garbage was unbeilable. I live in florida and a had a beach full of sand on the drivers side. Radiator cleaning is definitely a maintenance item. I was starting to get a little rust on the lower outside corners which hopefully won't spread any more.

I was thinking of hitting the rust with phosphoric acid. What do you think?

[Jager]

You have exterior corrosion on your radiators? I’m not sure what phosphoric acid will do to your radiators, I have used it only on steel.

[san rensho]

I guess you're right, the rad is all aluminum, so phosphoric acid won't do anythhing.

[Frodo]

I've not done this, and probably need to.

May be a dumb question, but did you hose it from the front, or is it possible somehow to flush from the back?

[Jager]

The AC radiators were hosed/washed from both sides (they also seem to be the dirtiest) but the engine coolant radiators were hosed just from the front. This is a better picture for showing both the AC and engine radiators.

[stateofidleness]

another dumb question, but is removing the front bumper one of those projects where it doesn't go back together quite right (or line up just right after reinstall?)

I always have trouble with stuff like bumpers, trim pieces etc where they don't look quite right after re-installation.

any trouble? one-man job?

[madmods]

Good job mate. Got mine cleaned when I got the car 3 months ago... it was time to fit the Gt2 front bumper and I also didn't know that rad place was designed as 'garbage collector'. We found a small bird skeleton in the lower corner of one of the rad. Road Kill Du Jour!

[Jager]

Originally Posted by stateofidleness

another dumb question, but is removing the front bumper one of those projects where it doesn't go back together quite right (or line up just right after reinstall?)

I always have trouble with stuff like bumpers, trim pieces etc where they don't look quite right after re-installation.

any trouble? one-man job?

I had no problem putting the bumper back on myself and you can't tell it was removed. In fact I went to a local Porsche shop to pick-up a part and the owner and employee came out to look at my car and commented that you can't tell I took the bumper off. Have you seen the video clip on YouTube on how to remove the bumper? There are two clip connector screws (bottom of the side marker lights) that are a little tricky to get to but once you know where they are it's not too bad to get them off.

[WhipE350]

Yes they are very nice little debris collectors. Mine looked like they went through seasonal decomposing, almost like it settled after each fall and then turned to nice potting soil.

[san rensho]

What a differnce the claening made. The car runs much cooler now. When dirty, temp in stop and go traffic was always past the 0 and just shy of the 215 mark. Now its between the 8 and 0 and the climate control on board shows that the coolant temp is consistently just below 100C.

[Vista glass]

I read , I learned, I did. Wow was there a lot of material in my radiators.It looks like I have gone where no man has before.





My temps were elevated around 215 on the gauge. AC not cooling very well. Neither of these scenarios are desirable here in sunny Florida. Thank you 986 forum members for the guides. I even found a U tube video. Sweet.
This forum laid out the process and the procedures. I took a little longer than some but I was checking on everything made visible. I had done the Frunk release hack so when I was removing the cover the release cable was attached to the towing eye tether. No big deal just a surprise that wasn't in the guides.




I fixed a few other discoveries while thus engaged. I certainly need to get a box of those plastic paneling rivets ! Funny the pre-purchase inspection did not mention the loose and missing parts. After seeing the variety and size of the stuff was in the radiators I decided to screen the intake ports. I used aluminum screen and epoxy to attach it.



I will advise if that screen attachment method is effective enough to endure time temperature and rapid forward motion.