Intercooler

Hi,

Does anyone have a recommendation on how to DIY clean out the intercooler on an early P38 diesel please? I believe this should be done at 48k miles so mine as tad overdue. What cleaner should I use? I have been told you can use brake cleaner which you slosh about and then wash out with water. My concern is that I need to be sure to get all the water out or it can damage the turbo?

TIA,
mikeateves

See http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/smokey-56920.html as the same sort of thing came up and I posted a link on how to do it.

Just leave it to dry in the sun for a few hours to get any water out. It wont damage the turbo as the intercooler is after the turbo so any water would instead make its way straight into the engine which would be worse!

-Wills

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I hope the sun is still shining at the weekend when I get round to the job. I'm sure the missus won't mind me borrowing her hair drier!
mikeateves

I recommend taking it off the vehicle to clean, it easy to do too, then head to your local LR dealer and purchase Intercooler Cleaner... no of course I am kidding, I used petrol or guess kerosene/paraffin or white spirit would do also.

I went the whole hog and cleaned every hose, the intake manifold and EGR as they were all gunged up. After leaving to soak for an hour I sloshed it around, then drained, and then blew thru with a hairdryer for a good 10 mins, then left to dry for a few hours.

It defintiely makes a difference and is worthwhile doing.

do yu have the same prob with non EGR systems - 200TDi fur example?

my 200TDi intercooler was clean on the inside (no EGR).
what made the difference with mine was cleaning all the dried mud out from between the fins on the outside.

wot did yu use, Trewy - I am scared of using a pressure washer fur fear it will blast off all the finning!

just soaked the mud well wiv a hosepipe, then blew it through with an air line.
got plastered by the blowback!

will give it a try

will send the bill fur a new rad to yu, shall I?

you can try..............

I've read many times that the EGR system is responsible for the sludge in the air intake system, but I don't see how this is possible as its only allowing exhaust gases into the intake system and they don't contain oil (knackered engines excepted!).

On the BMW M51 I'm positive it is the rocker cover breather pipe linked to the intake duct, it sucks out oily vapour and deposits it everywhere from the hoses to the inlet manifold. I've tried to stop it by stuffing gauze in the hose but it still accumulates after. The TD4 engine has a breather that closes at high RPMs, that must do the job but don't see an easy way to retrofit it to the M51.

This engine in the BMW 525tds produces 161bhp, in the P38 135bhp - why Land Rover, why!?!