you don't have to remove it if you don't want to you could just take the two pipes off and just run your cleaning fluid through from the top of the cooler to the bottom and catch it in a dish.
you can get the intercooler off in about 20 mins without draining the coolant.
you just need to move the PAS bottle,you can just un clip the rad cowling no need to remove it fully and take off the top rail of the radiator frame un do your boost pipes and lift the cooler out
 
jase750 said:
you don't have to remove it if you don't want to you could just take the two pipes off and just run your cleaning fluid through from the top of the cooler to the bottom and catch it in a dish.
you can get the intercooler off in about 20 mins without draining the coolant.
you just need to move the PAS bottle,you can just un clip the rad cowling no need to remove it fully and take off the top rail of the radiator frame un do your boost pipes and lift the cooler out
Click to expand...

Oh, cool! Well that makes things simpler. Might even try it today now! I have some 6 month old (but clean) petrol that was destined for the motorbike, but won't be going through it now as i'm going to use it to clean the intercooler!

I'll let you know how I get on!
 
removing the cooling fan completly helps a little but if you use the disco off road then i wouldn't recomend it.

graham
_________________
98 d1 300tdi auto.
 
It might be possible to use the long metal lower intercooler pipe, take it off at the turbo end and position it upwards. Then you can pour petrol into either intercooler pipe and leave it a while. The only problem might be leaving a little petrol in there, whereas if you took it off then you can be sure to get almost all of it out at the end.

When was the coolant last changed anyway? In theory, you can catch it and reuse it but in practice it drips/flows over other components and gets oily, so I've always replaced with fresh stuff.
 
it was serviced only 7000 miles or so ago, so a coolant change wouldn't do any harm.

however, it's bank holiday monday and I already have it in pieces now!

there is, however, a small issue I can't resolve... see attached pic.

in summary, how the hell can i get the bottom pipe of the intercooler up past the cowling???

the haynes manual does not say i have to remove the cowling, and neither do you guys on here.

also, i know i still have a piece of rubber attached to the bottom of the intercooler, but it's not sticking out much further than the metal intercooler itself.

i know it's just a logic problem, but i'm buggered if i can solve it.
 

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I honestly can't remember the minute details of the job. When I took out the intercooler, I drained the coolant and removed the fan cowling. It might be possible to bend the cowling out of the way to let you remove the intercooler, might not (as I said, I can't remember the tiny details).

If you can't get the cowling out, then snap it in two to remove it (done carefully, it will go back okay), or use my suggestion to clean it out in-situ.
 
right... you *can* bend the cowling out of the way. JUST.

the intercooler has had a swish round with petrol and is now on the ground, pipes facing up, filled to the brim with nice clean petrol.

how long before I tip it out, give it another rinse with petrol, plenty of rinses with water and then let dry??
 
Last edited:
actually, stuff that last question - it's just common sense.

one sensible question though - to rinse with water or not to rinse with water.

I guess it comes down to "what would i rather have going into the cylinders?".

well, i've no idea. both are crap, but which would do least damage? either way i have to let it dry completely, but should i rinse with water??
 
when i did it on my first disco i just removed the whole rad and intercooler together layed them down on the floor taped up one end of the intercooler and filled the intercooler with petrol then taped up the other end left it like that for a day then un taped one end and emptied the intercooler out and then re filled it with petrol again and left it to work on the remainder of the crap that was in there and whilst it was doing that i removed the inlet manifold and did the same with that and they both looked like brand new inside.

graham
________________
98 d1 300tdi auto.
 
Seriously, so long as you can drain most of the petrol out, 10 mins or so and the fumes will be more/less gone. Any remains, will be insignificant compared to the airflow so won't affect the running.
 
ok, so the battery on my laptop died before I could read these responses, and before that happened I read several other forums which suggested washing it through with soapy water, and then washing through again (thoroughly!!!!!) with clean water.

I did this. After the soapy water had gone through (which came out clean from the beginning) I stuck the hosepipe in the top and let it flowed out the bottom for 5 or 6 minutes, flat out.

I then tipped all the water out, stuck a hot hair drier through it until there was nothing left and stuck it back into the vehicle.

What a pain it is to get it back into place with the cowling present though. Did it in the end though, and all is fine! Engine has ticked over nicely for 10 minutes or so, no white smoke, gently revved it a couple of times and still no white smoke, so all should be good.

Now for a gentle test drive to the tip to get rid of the disgusting petrol - two birds with one stone etc...
 
indeed you did! just got back from my test drive too - car is a little better still! :D

thanks again for all the help, people!
 
Late 300TDi Auto's have Bosch EDC to give a bit more power (!).

They do have an ECU of sorts, which I hope to tweak. I'll let you know how I get on.
 
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