Hi all,

I've just had to change my radiator as it sprung a leak, and am having a go at cleaning the stock SMIC whilst I am at it (it was absolutely caked in oil(?), can't believe it!!). I've sprayed a can of carb cleaner in it and rinsed out with a hose pipe. First question, is rinsing it out with water enough? I've just read I should use detergent... is this strictly necessary?

Second.... there seemed to be some water leaking out. On one side there are two sort of slits. They look to be by design. One of them is leaking water. Is this normal or should I seal it up with something???

I'll try and get a picture quickly.

Thanks!

It is one of these two bits leaking. It's the front of the intercooler, bottom right corner...

Edited 24 July, 201015 yr by mark.r.cullen

Cleaning the i/c and pipes needs some degreasent to dissolve the oil and make it easier to flush out with water. Jizer is a good degreaser and is soluble with water, using carb cleaner would not be as effective as it quickly vapourises. Also the turbo vanes get caked up with soot and oil and could do with a clean with some special gel (can't remember what it's called at the mo.) As water is coming out from you i/c, then yes it is leaking so you be needing a new one soon.

You need a new IC I'm afraid, those slits should not be there. I think you will find it has been fouling on the plastic surround, which over time, has worn through the IC. When you fit the new IC trim away any plastic on the surround that is too close to the IC.

Thanks guys. I figured it probably wasn't normal.

It's all back together now and working fine with just a lengthy carb + water flush (the amount of crap that came out was quite impressive).

I'm planning to try and get an FMIC in there fairly soon so I'll just have to try and seal the leaky bit with something as a stop gap I guess :-) It had the turbo replaced just before I bought it, but I would kinda like a hybrid in there in a few pay days time :-)

It has always whistled a bit from the SMIC location so I guess that is why!

Thanks for the quick replies!

I cleaned mine out a few months back and hardly found any oil in the SMIC or boost pipes. However the car is def running better for it.

is it possible to clean it in situ?

Nope. but only takes 15-20mins to take off.

Remove bumper then Ic, simples.

It's pretty easy to do. I think mine must have had the whole 113k miles on it as the front was completely black! I should have took a picture. I think I will do the ccv mod after seeing that.