Radiator Cleaning

[JonD]

Ok so I had a couple of days off and decided to check the radiators for crap build up. I followed the youtube video on removing the bumper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um-h2aUJHY4

Not really difficult to do, I didn't even jack up the car to get to the several screws under the car.

I decided to do it because just like heaps of other 986 owners I found that in traffic the coolant reaches 100c and then the fans kick in. Even though the radiators are now clean of debris, there hasn't really been any change in temperature fluctuation. I figure as long as the fans come on when the temp reaches 100c then it should be OK. I will however do the radiator fan Hack through the relays so I can switch them on manually when I need to.

Attached Some pictures of debris I found before and after cleaning. While I had the bumper off I decide to repaint the plastic inserts and also added black coated aluminium mesh on the inside of them looks ok and will assist to slow down leaves and crap etc building up again. Anyway thought I'd share

[flaps10]

Wow that is a lot of junk. I did mine a couple of weeks back and while i found some debris it wasnt like yours. Some leaves, rocks and a cigarette butt. Lots of dust build up in the cores though.

I used my air compressor to blow out the a/c condensers because they seem like they block off a lot of air flow.

I discovered that my car has a multi sensor radar detector during the job, all hidden.

My"hack" for the fans is to push the a/c button. I don't get any cold air inside but my car now sits in brutal traffic in our current heat wave and the needle is at the left edge of the 8 on the temp gauge

[gomarlins3]

I had a ton of leaves and stuff behind mine as well.

[WillH]

Mine were pretty bad.




Running cooler on hot days in traffic.

[JonD]

Originally Posted by WillH

Mine were pretty bad.

Running cooler on hot days in traffic.

My Right side (Driver side here) had more crap in it too, wonder why that is?

I found mine isn't running any cooler that I noticed and currently it is winter. Had the coolant flushed and the Porsche mechanic I go to says it's pretty normal for this model to run up to 100c in fact it's set to go to 100c before the fans switch on. I didn't have access to a compressor to blow out the dirt/dust, so I just used my garden hose. Should have seen all the steam that was created when I started up the car and the radiators started warming up, almost like the car was on fire