To clean the oil from intercooler or not???

wpeschel

wpeschel

Psyko
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
872
Well my turbo let go the other day.. The compressor wheel and housing are intact, but my intercooler piping is full of oil.. How do I clean it or is it not necessary.. Thanks Wesley
 
Pour about a half gallon of gasoline in there. Swish it around REAL good, I mean from every possible angle, with both ends of the intercooler tanks sealed over of course. Empty and let dry in the hot sun. If you don't clean it i believe the oil will rob some of the heat transfer properties of the intercooler. Plus it wouldn't be that hard to clean in the manner i just described so might as well.
 
Spray a couple cans of brake kleen in their I bet that will get it done!
Brandon
 
probably about the same. Either should work fine. Gasoline is alot cheaper though. I mean if you got half a gallon of gas in there swishing around for 15 minutes, there aint really nothing your gonna miss. Try cleaning it twice too, just in case some gas/oil residue gets left in there. The goal is to only have some gas residue left in the intercooler because that'll just dry up.
 
97' CTD said:
Spray a couple cans of brake kleen in their I bet that will get it done!
Brandon
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gas would be cheaper and easier than that too. And probably exposed you to alot less fumes.

I love his avatar pic though
 
I have used a gallon of Laquer Thinner first. After draining that, I dumped a gallon of Castrol Super Clean and sloshed it around, then thoroughly rinsed it out with water untill it was all squeaky clean.
 
diesel freak knows what he's doin. I never think about things like castrol super clean and what not, i just drown everything in gasoline. Just make sure no one sees you pouring this stuff down the storm drain when you finish. Lol, jk. :rules:
 
I would use gasoline and then use a soap type product (simple green, super clean, etc.) to get rid of the gasoline residue.

you need to buy a turbo, Wes? :D
 
Forrest Nearing said:
I would use gasoline and then use a soap type product (simple green, super clean, etc.) to get rid of the gasoline residue.

you need to buy a turbo, Wes? :D
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Yeah.. I'm gonna try and send it to HTT to get a quote on a rebuild... I think I might have also found my high oil cunsumption... I checked my down pipe a few weeks ago and it was clean.. I never thought to check the intercooler pipe.. The turbo has been making a strange high pitch noise for some time now, I have a small leak in the intercooler so I thought it was that, I put my stock hx35 on there and the strange noise is gone.. I will prolly be on the market for a 62/65/14 .. I am going to be checking the oil for the next two weeks, if it is using oil I will prolly end up buying a rebuilt job..
 
I would not use Super Clean or Simple Green. Both have enough acid in them that they eat aluminum.
 
LOL...that would only be a problem if you left the stuff in there for like 6 months.

oh, and FYI, it's a base, not an acid


pH
Castrol is 11.7
Simple Green is 9.5

and if it does remove some material...think of it as a cheap way to raise the flow of your intercooler :poke:
 
Well, if it was me i would send it to a radiator shop and let them boil it out. I have already had this problem and it was no good !!! My turbo let loose at a pull, it pumped oil into the intercooler , the Mechanic was supposed to have it boiled out. but he forgot,or got in a hurry. after replacing the turbo they started it up, it was puffing white smoke pritty bad. after a little while it warmed the oil up enough in the intercooler that it started sucking it through, and started running on it. tryed to turn the key off, didn't help and it ran away. nobody really knows how many RPM's it was turning when it let loose,because they were all running away or hiding behind the building. needless to say it wasn't good !!! so if it were me I would spend the $50. or so,and have it boiled out.
 
I think that I agree with this thought. I believe this is the way that I will be going with mine!

Kevin
 
Nail-it said:
Well, if it was me i would send it to a radiator shop and let them boil it out. I have already had this problem and it was no good !!! My turbo let loose at a pull, it pumped oil into the intercooler , the Mechanic was supposed to have it boiled out. but he forgot,or got in a hurry. after replacing the turbo they started it up, it was puffing white smoke pritty bad. after a little while it warmed the oil up enough in the intercooler that it started sucking it through, and started running on it. tryed to turn the key off, didn't help and it ran away. nobody really knows how many RPM's it was turning when it let loose,because they were all running away or hiding behind the building. needless to say it wasn't good !!! so if it were me I would spend the $50. or so,and have it boiled out.
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No doubt! I watched one runaway from an oiled intercooler until it put a rod through the block, sounded like 5 or 6K til she blew. $50 at a radiator shop is cheap compared to the disaster it can cause. These are oil burners ya know :hehe:

Dave
 
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