Intercooler Cleaning - Is It Worth It ?

[Ga73]

Hi,

 

Started using millers in the fuel of my Alhambra 110 tdi and the difference is noticable already so thanks to whoever recommended it on here as the car seems to be picking up much better already !

 

Being a nosey sort i decided to take off the intercooler elbow pipe near the top of the engine by the EGR and noticed the inside was covered in dirty oil (not caked in it but a good coating).

 

When i bought the car the pipe that goes from the front of the airbox (to the front grille?) was and is missing as i havent found a scrappy with one yet so i guess that will make a difference to the power as its taking in warm under bonnet engine air instead of cold air (right??)

 

So is it worth me cleaning out the intercooler, read a few threads on other sites as cant find reference here that says undo the top pipe and pour paraffin down the pipe and leave for 15-20 minutes...drain then do the same with washing up detergent and boiling water then flush a few times and run the engine without reving for a while to evaporate the water...seems easy enough.

 

And finally do you think once the air box pipe is on and intercooler clean it will make much difference to acceleration etc.

 

Thanks

 

Gary

Edited May 10, 2009 by Ga73

[roy202]

Hi,

 

Started using millers in the fuel of my Alhambra 110 tdi and the difference is noticable already so thanks to whoever recommended it on here as the car seems to be picking up much better already !

 

Being a nosey sort i decided to take off the intercooler elbow pipe near the top of the engine by the EGR and noticed the inside was covered in dirty oil (not caked in it but a good coating).

 

When i bought the car the pipe that goes from the front of the airbox (to the front grille?) was and is missing as i havent found a scrappy with one yet so i guess that will make a difference to the power as its taking in warm under bonnet engine air instead of cold air (right??)

 

So is it worth me cleaning out the intercooler, read a few threads on other sites as cant find reference here that says undo the top pipe and pour paraffin down the pipe and leave for 15-20 minutes...drain then do the same with washing up detergent and boiling water then flush a few times and run the engine without reving for a while to evaporate the water...seems easy enough.

 

And finally do you think once the air box pipe is on and intercooler clean it will make much difference to acceleration etc.

 

Thanks

 

Gary

[roy202]

Hi,

 

Started using millers in the fuel of my Alhambra 110 tdi and the difference is noticable already so thanks to whoever recommended it on here as the car seems to be picking up much better already !

 

Being a nosey sort i decided to take off the intercooler elbow pipe near the top of the engine by the EGR and noticed the inside was covered in dirty oil (not caked in it but a good coating).

 

When i bought the car the pipe that goes from the front of the airbox (to the front grille?) was and is missing as i havent found a scrappy with one yet so i guess that will make a difference to the power as its taking in warm under bonnet engine air instead of cold air (right??)

 

So is it worth me cleaning out the intercooler, read a few threads on other sites as cant find reference here that says undo the top pipe and pour paraffin down the pipe and leave for 15-20 minutes...drain then do the same with washing up detergent and boiling water then flush a few times and run the engine without reving for a while to evaporate the water...seems easy enough.

 

And finally do you think once the air box pipe is on and intercooler clean it will make much difference to acceleration etc.

 

Thanks

 

Gary

personaly i wouldnt bother its not going to make a difference unless the intercooler is blocked, you have no engine problems, there is always dirty oil deposits in the intercooler system its nothing to worry about, its only time to worry when you can pour out a sticky sludge oily mess.

[sepulchrave]

Not worth doing, but by all means replace the inlet snorkel to get cool air from the front of the car.

 

The sites you refer to are almost certainly 'performance' EVO type muppets from the 'every little helps' school of tuning.

 

As roy202 rightly says if the turbulators of your intercooler are not blocked then there is no need to do anything to them, they are fragile and you'll probably do more harm than good.

 

TDi intercoolers perform a totally different function to high performance petrol intercoolers, they act more like a heat sink than a heat exchanger to reduce air temperatures during short periods of high load at full boost, this is why they are so much smaller.

 

You only need to 'wash' out your intercooler if you blow a turbo seal and it fills up with oil.