After reading the article on http://www.fabia-vrs.com I have started to think about cleaning the Intercooler/Radiator, the Intercooler after doing the 2nd "Pikey mod" has got a bit of muck on it (nothing more from what I can tell), but I wonder if cleaning it will make any performance/economy differences to now.

The Radiator is now a graveyard for flies and other debris and I wonder whether cleaning that will make any difference again to performance/economy.

My car has just covered 30k miles and has it's service this friday.

Thanks, Chris.

I'd like to know too. my FMIC has gone quite dull, but when I tried to metal polish a bit I realised I'd bent a load of the rad elements/ribs right over, and spent 10 minutes painstakingly straightening them back to normal. :(

I wish there was just a chemical I could use, but a straight polishing seems out the question. :(

Well as it's made of alloy wouldn't an alloy wheel spray help? - spray on, agitate with a paint brush (not too hard so not to bend the fins) then hose off

I recreated that article from a US forum, so I cannot vouch for it's success rate but I suspect that removing any oil that had collected wouldn't be a bad thing.

wonder if skoda would know of a solution that would clean it, they seem to sell everything else

Hmmm - I might try and alloy wheel cleaner on a section of the FMIC to see how that works. Good suggestion. Might try it on a bit of dull pipe first though.

[sTUPID MODE]Thought the key to cleaning the Intercooler would be to remove debris from the outside and then flush out the inside and leave to dry before putting back in[/sTUPID MODE]

The radiator just needs a quick scrub down. Prehaps a power washer on the front may do the trick or even a steam cleaner?

Hmmm, steam eh? Another suggestion I might try - I have one of those. I get the feeling that steam and an old toothbrush might be the only way, with some chemical agitation as well.

When I had my Corrado G60, I removed the intercooler & hoesd down the outside & flushed inside with Gunk. The amount of oily cr@p was unbelievable (12 years worth!).

Didn't make a noticeable difference in performance or economy, but gave me a feeling of satisfaction that I'd done it!

i wouldn't use alloy wheel cleaner on it(wonder wheels and such like) as they are quite aggressive and clearly state on the bottle that they shouldn't be used on ontreated/bare alloy

i wouldn't use alloy wheel cleaner on it(wonder wheels and such like) as they are quite aggressive and clearly state on the bottle that they shouldn't be used on ontreated/bare alloy

Hmmm, good point again - I'm feeling a bit thick today so any help is wonderful. I might still use the autoglym metal polish but not use a cloth - Shall carefully work in with a toothbrush I think. I got the edges of it looking OK at the weekend though. I just want it looking like the below again. :( (not a green bumper bar though - Is Hammerite black now )

I use MC2 alloy cleaner for my wheels and under bonnet alloy parts, it doesn't contain acids so isn't too harsh but it does work great (smells nice as well).

Recently bought another 5lt (dilutes 1/20 so i really have 100lts - this i bought from another supplier cheap as it's the proper stuff that is renamed/ repriced as MC2

Can't remember the supplier now?

Ooooh, I have some MC2 from a while back. mmmmm. orange [drool :drool: ]