aben8057

With the warm weather upon us I wanted to address an issue I had last year with my temperature running slightly hotter than expected. My research on RENNLIST directed me towards cleaning my radiators.

At first I wasn’t sure if it would resolve the issue however after dismantling my front assembly, I was surprised. There were filters from cigarettes, leaves, rocks, dirt, paper and other objects that prevented air flow.

So, if you have a day to perform some preventative maintenance, I recommend cleaning your radiators.

BTW..there are two units that must be cleaned and the hoses allow for play to seperated them.

woody-77

Good post and pictures, I pulled a juice box and about 20 cigarette butts out of mine when I cleaned it.

djantlive

I did this but didn't get much debris there after 27k mi. Therefore, no change in engine temp after cleaning. Taking out the bumper took a while as I was doing this for first time.

evo_333

Thanks Alex, my car has also been running a bit hot. Did you notice a difference in temp once you cleaned it?

10 GT3

I vacuumed mine with a shop vac back in June. I had cigarette butts and leaves a couple of inches thick in there. I was able to get all but the ones on the side between the readiators/AC condensers and the bumper cover. I will be doing a similar cleanup and removing the bumper cover while performing the true fix to eliminate any overheating problems: I am installing a 3rd radiator. Thanks for the pics.

kilrgt

Its funny but i remember when i swaped my front end, I cleaned out the rads as well, I was amazed how much garbage gets in there. My car did in fact run colder, and then i used the water wetter , and it ran even cooler. Great reminder for those of us who forget

aben8057

Hey Jon,

I did notice an improvement in the temperature and would highly recommend this task. It is fairly simple with the most difficult part being the front bumper removal.
Take a few minutes more and segregate the two radiators. I noticed there was debris in between them that could have been a culprit.

Kilrgt...good tip with the water wetter

Armando Ramirez

I think I pulled an entire set of slicks out of mine over the years...
In the process of putting in the center kit today will be cleaning and combing the others...
(Yes, there is a tool the combs your radiators to "fix" the bent fins...)

I do have a question about the water wetter...is it compatable with our coolant? I thought
the green Porsche juice we run did not play well with others...but if it works..I'll get a bottle or two.

Thanks in advance...
Armando

LVDell

Is that a good idea in these cars? This is the product that goes in with the coolant correct?

bet

I do this every 3-5 months, as needed. My car is daily driven and there are many trees in this part of the country. I always take out a surprising amount of debris, much of which is leaves but also a fair amount of trash. Honestly it is difficult to judge exactly how much debris has accumulated by just looking into the ducts. Taking the bumper off and removing the air ducts will reveal more and it definitely gets between the radiator and the A/C radiator. I definitely notice my car running cooler which is why I do it on a regular basis. Easy task just a little time consuming.

1999Porsche911

I have never needed to clean mine. I use the handling ability of the Porsche to dodge all leaves and debris.

rcg412

i cleaned mine but noticed no appreciable temperature improvement. How much colder is your car running post-cleaning?