A Good Day for Radiator Cleaning

[98Boxster98]

I followed the instructions found here:

http://www.realtime.net/~rentner/Porsche/Radiator/Radiator.html

The instructions are excellent. I didn't have any hiccups (now that I have a new wheel lock socket.) Took me about 2 hours but it should be a lot faster the next time. I found lots of pebbles, grass, dirt, cigarette butts and even a couple of pennies. I also took time to relocate the trunk release. Too many dead battery stories for me. It's a good thing I took a look for the trunk release cable. It was hidden in one of the headlight bays. Weird.

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

Good Job! It's tedious work, but not really difficult. I would recommend one change to the procedure, that is to unscrew the bottom of the Bumper Cover first before removing the Top Screws, it makes dropping the Painted Bumper Cover much less likely.

It's also not a bad idea to look for any crooked or bent fins to both the Radiator or the AC Condenser. These can be straightened by using a Fin Rake - a cheap (less than $5 tool from any Parts Store or online from Eastwood ) which looks like a Comb, but is designed to fit between the fins and allows you to open/straighten them if required. This too will increase your airflow to the Radiators. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[98Boxster98]

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

Good Job! It's tedious work, but not really difficult. I would recommend one change to the procedure, that is to unscrew the bottom of the Bumper Cover first before removing the Top Screws, it makes dropping the Painted Bumper Cover much less likely.

It's also not a bad idea to look for any crooked or bent fins to both the Radiator or the AC Condenser. These can be straightened by using a Fin Rake - a cheap (less than $5 tool from any Parts Store or online from Eastwood ) which looks like a Comb, but is designed to fit between the fins and allows you to open/straighten them if required. This too will increase your airflow to the Radiators. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Good points, Jim. I did need a fin rake but I have to leave that for another day. It looks like someone hit the AC condenser with a high pressure water hose.

Also, I didn't remove the wheel liners completely. I used Loren from Renntech technique of using twine shown in his 3rd radiator install instructions.

[kabel]

I did this today. Wow, I have read the many discussions about how much crap can accumulate in the scoops and between the radiators, but I truly was not prepared for the amount of dirt, leaves, and grass I found in between the radiators, simply astonishing!

I also followed the excellent write up linked in the first post. I was having difficulty separating the two radiators, and almost did not bother, I was really worried about bending the aluminum pipes. Glad I did though, wow.

Also too the opportunity to repaint the inlet grills,, decided to split the difference between black and silver, had some dark metallic gray left over from a set of wheels I painted. It was too dark to get a good pic of that today. But I like it

I cant access the link, anyone know why, I would like to clean my radiators also. I did clean them a little about 2 weeks ago with a vaccum attachment through the grills. But from what I can see is that there is a lot more.

Nevermind, it started working for some reason.

[Paul]

I finally got around to doing this after I fished out alot of junk from my radiators including a lid for a large fast food soda.

Here's what it looked like after I tried everything I had to remove as much junk as possible:



This is what it looked like with the bumper and ducts off:



Here's what it looked like when I separated the condensor from the radiator:



The other side was worse!

[Brucelee]

Not exactly "accessible" no?

Good job.

[Paul]

The worse part is those plastic rivets that hold the wheel liners in place. Not a very hard job once the car is on the stands.

[silver arrow]

Wow, that's a lot of crap. I have to figure out why the L side radiator fan isn't coming on at all, so I might as well clean everything while I'm there.

[Paul]

Check your fuses....

[Brucelee]

Product Idea.

Retro kit that allows a "trap door" approach to this job. Given the location of the radiators, one would expect this maint. to be done on a regular basis.

Inventors, lets go! :dance:

[Paul]

Originally Posted by silver arrow

Wow, that's a lot of crap. I have to figure out why the L side radiator fan isn't coming on at all, so I might as well clean everything while I'm there.

You can access the fan (almost) by just removing the inner fender liner.

[Brucelee]

How about combining the quick access door with access to the trunk? Two problems with one kit?

[Paul]

The trunk issue is easily resolved by putting the release cable in the threaded hole for the tow hook.

[Paul]

Took the car for a Sunday drive, no difference in temp gauge readings. I guess those radiators are way oversized for the heat load of our cars.