Cleaned the Radiators Today

Add me to the list of guys who've pulled their bumpers and cleaned the radiators and condensors. I'd post pictures, but everyone has seen all the crap that accumulates there. I had the typical stuff, plus a Wal-Mart bag that had most of one condensor covered. An hour well spent.

Do you know if cleaning the radiators is part of the scheduled maintainance? What are the odds that a dealer-maintained car with 35k miles would have had this done at some point?

Look inside the front with a flashlight to see if it was cleaned.

Quotes source post: 7779820

No, that is not part of scheduled maintenance. I think the odds would be about 1,000,000 to 1 that they have been cleaned by a dealer during maintenance and about 1,000 to 1 that the previous owner(s) cleaned them.

[Image-only post; no author-written text. Original image references:] https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/thumbup.gif

This ranks high in the 'feel' good department regarding work that anyone can do with their Porsche, and has to help with a drop in operating temperature. Well done.

Quotes source post: 7780023

It can vary. Some dealers "sell" this cleaning as a requirement every major service. Others, well, at least one dealer, was unaware of the problem until I showed one of the techs some pics of the trash in and around the A/C and radiator. Now in defense of this dealer it is in an area that sees little trash/leaves on the roads. Most cars that come in the radiator ducts are relatively free of trash. When I lived in the mid-west and drove my Boxster year round the thing was just a Hoover and sucked up everything that came near the radiator openings. Several factors: 1) Due to the weather in that area one either had the AC on to heat the car's cabin or to cool it and keep the God awful humidty at something tolerable. Thus the radiator fans ran almost all the time. 2) The streets were covered in places with leaves, especially during the fall. And as was common the leading vehicles would kick up this stuff and of course the Boxster would end up with it in its radiators ducts. During the summer months many of the shoulders of the roads in the area were mowed, every so often, and the grass/weed clippings would be more stuff for the car to suck up. I had the radiator ducts cleaned in the Turbo when the tech had to replace a radiator/fan assembly. About 6K miles later, after a 4K+ road trip back east and a 1600 mile road trip up to Washington and back when I took the car in for an oil/filter change I noticed the radiator ducts and center radiator opening had visible trash. I asked the tech to clean these out and he obliged using the exhaust from a shop vac directed from underneat the car. I didn't watch so I don't know if he had to remove any panels -- I wasn't charged any labor if he did -- but when I got the car back the debris was all gone. It was not compacted. It was not wet so it was still light and "fluffy" and I guess easily blown out. My poiint is that only a fraction of those miles during trip were in CA. The rest were of course outside of CA all the way back to mid-Missouri and the run up to Washington was nealry to Tacoma. Thus one can cover a lot of miles in some areas and the car doesn't seem to collect a lot of trash. But it doesn't take many miles in other areas before the car has collected some trash. Sincerely, Macster.

This may be a good first project for me. Right now I'm still in the phase where everything looks like rocket science. I felt the same way when I bought my first larger boat. I was used to having just an outboard engine and a battery. I felt uncomfortable using a boat that had systems I didn't understand. This boat had inboards, hydraulics, plumbing, electrical, and electronic systems. During my first vacation after buying the boat, I took just about everything apart to see how it worked. That really put my mind at ease. Hopefully, cleaning my 996 radiators will do a little of the same.

Quotes source post: 7780620

I remeber looking under the 996 and thinking... how the h&ll do you jack it up after a while I was removing the wheels just to wash it since it was easier

I haven't cleaned mine yet, but I can see some leaves and crap in there. I plan on doing it soon.

Prior to cleaning, my temp gauge was normally at the far edge of the "0" and would rise to half way between the "0" and the next mark if I were in traffic. Now the gauge never moves off the "8", even in traffic.

I haven't driven mine yet, but will see if there's a difference tomorrow when driving home from work in the Texas heat. One other thing, having the bumper off gave me an opportunity to pop out the faded black platic insert and repaint it. This has bothered me since I bought the car.

Update - driving to work at 6 AM and home when it was 100 degrees, the gauge was stright up in the middle of the '8', which is about 1/8" to the left of where it had been running. That tells me that the thermostat is in control now, as it should be. Very rewarding little project and I appreciate the previous posts on the subject.

Ever notice how when the radiator fans are on for the A/C your car enters the garage like if it's a hovercraft? I have some detailing towels hanging up close to where I park my car so when I come in it's as if the presidential helicopter is coming in for a landing with everything blowing in all directions. I won't clean mine again until after the fall since that's when most of the debris comes in.

I went for a DE tech inspection last night.... they couldnt find anything wrong, then the tech points at my rads and starts lecturing me about cleaning out my rads..... listened quietly and asked "so, I passed right".... he just walks away... it was getting late and figured he hasnt eaten yet.

Quotes source post: 7784911

spoken like the father of 2 kids