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.

[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.