How to Clean Radiators. The Easy Way.
 

For reasons I don't understand, some owners remove the front bumper to clean the radiator.

There is a much easier way that requires ZERO tools and 2 minutes of your time.

Porsche Boxster 986-How to Clean Radiators - YouTube

Ummmm, I really wish this was an effective method but alas, it only scratches the surface of clogged rads. If you took off the front bumper and carefully separated the radiator and A/C condenser coils you will find another 5lbs of "stuff" jammed up in there after the quick vacuum job. Yes, the nose really does need to come off for a thorough cleaning.

That method is not effective, you must pull the bumper and seperate the radiator/AC coils to get at the real problem. Here is the kind of stuff that the you tube method would miss:

http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/p...T/IMG_0685.jpg

^^^^Truth as there is no easy method to the cleaning and if you don't think you will have stuff piled in there...pull your bumper and you will be shocked at what gets caught in there.

I would advise against trying this. The fins on the bumper are held in with metal clips on the inside of the bumper, if you pull the fin out the metal clip goes shooting off. Fortunately I managed to find it with the use of a magnet on a stick. The only way to get the fin back on was to remove the bumper.

At least the radiators got a proper clean with the bumper off.

How hard is it to take the front bumper off? I just bought an 2002 so I'm sure it I have some cleaning to do.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1344029829.jpg

Mesh grills like this tend to help this problem.

Takes about five minutes to remove the bumper, 15 or so to clean, and 10-20 to put bumper back on(its a little tricky to get it all lined up). Less than 45 minutes to do the whole job.

BTW, I considered screen mesh, but that would probably have an effect on airflow. Not sure how much, though.

Have you not read what everyone has said - this does not get even half of it out!

Umm, yeah. That was my first post. Half of the responses were telling me that does not get all of it. Didn't you read?

Didn't you notice that the grills on your 2000 are different than those in the video? Have you tried to pull them out?

But for the debris that collects on the fronts of the radiators I have created a duct tape wrapped piece of 1/2" copper tubing attached to a vac hose that can reach through my 2001 grills safely and reach the far corners of the rads. That gets most of the stuff out.

Would this not work better? I use it to clean the nooks and cranies around my vehicles. Vaccuflex™ - Lee Valley Tools

They have a USA site as well.

Nope....not for Boxster radiators. That flex hose shown on your website would be pushing a rope compared to 20" or so of rigid 1/2" copper. There's a plastic nozzle on it that is slightly larger to prevent copper from touching metal radiators.
Coincidentally the day you wrote your entry here I just the thing to clean my radiators.

Oh....and mine was made of stuff lying around here...Price=free.

99 Boxster rad fin cleaning
 

It just stared to overheat a bit. I pulled the front bumper and it was ugly! ABout have the AC condenser was covered. When I carefully removed the AC condenser - on the p-ass. side - about half of the rad was covered in debris. The driver's side had a squirrel nest built in front of both of them - the AC condenser - stored the nuts and fluff. THe area between the two was just packed. I vacuumed then I sprayed a cleaner on them and hosed them off using the garden hose. Now they are drying and then I'll put it all back together. ANy ideas on placing plastic bug screening in front of the fins?

If you don't track your car, the mesh front covers probably work fine. If you track your car and get it really hot, any hole under 1/4" will effectively become no hole at speeds over about 70mph. An aerodynamicist told me that, and I believe that he knows what he is talking about.

99 boxster rad fin cleaning
 

Thank you - Good point. I'll leave as is and clean it as part of my regular maitenance.

I like the idea of mesh screens, and I'm not dissing anyone who has added them. My question about the mesh screens is, given how much crap finds its way in between the radiator and a/c condenser, won't that small stuff still find its way through the mesh and get in between to condensers and radiators?

That's a good question... and I intend on finding out. I installed the mesh shortly after purchasing my 98. I did clean the radiators and, in between them, removed lots of debris. I then installed the mesh screen not having noticed any difference in cooling in the two years it's been used.

I've been wondering about smaller debris getting past the mesh and, in the next weekend or so, will report back if it is extraordinary... or if the mesh is serving it's purpose.

Cheers!

Please do report back...
 

....I’m close to installing mesh and would like to know if it is really worth it.

Thanks.