Cleaning between radiator and condenser.....how do you do it?

[Virginia Donkey]

While taking the headlight off my 02 to reseal it (the good ol water inside the lens issue) I noticed a lot of "stuff" betwen theradiator and the condenser. leaves, grass, stuff. its a tight space, How is everyone cleaning this crap out without removing the radiator. The car has 34k miles, I can only imagine how bad it would be at 100K if it isnt cleaned.


Thanks in advance!

 

[G-RELL]

never looked... shop vac maybe

 

[joegr]

Water hose (with spray nozzle). You may have to remove the lower shields if there is a lot in there.

 

[1LoudLS]

dont use a high powered power washer, it can easily bend all of the fins.

 

[Virginia Donkey]

I will probably just use a nozzle set to shower, or something low pressure and rinse it out the best I can. Thanks for the replies

 

[joegr]

Pressure washer no, but a normal garden hose and nozzle of full blast should be fine. The fins on the condenser are stronger than the ones on the radiator, so spray it from the front. Just using the shower setting isn't likely to get any of it.

 

[don-ohio]

Yeah,the pistol grip nozzle should do fine. I stick the nozzle down inside the fan and spray also the other way. Replaced a radiator a coupla years ago on my OLD Aerostar van.Seemed like a million bugs came outta that thing. don-ohio ^)

 

[Telco]

I've never had a problem using a pressure sprayer. You hit it straight on to the fins at an angle the same as the fins, ie up and down, not so that you hit the fins from the side and you don't get any closer to it than you can get the sprayer to your hand without pain at full blast. I used to have to clean the radiator on my mother's 93 GMC once a year because the road she lives on is one that Tyson Foods uses to haul live chickens from various farms to Chicken Hell, and the airflow under the hood of that truck dumped enough chicken feathers between the condenser and radiator to completely clog it. If you do wind up bending fins, you can get a radiator comb from the parts store. It's a comb with the teeth of the comb spaces the same as the holes between the fins, and you work it up and down until the fins are straight again. I've never had to use one.

 

[Robot]

I've never had a problem using a pressure sprayer. You hit it straight on to the fins at an angle the same as the fins, ie up and down, not so that you hit the fins from the side and you don't get any closer to it than you can get the sprayer to your hand without pain at full blast. I used to have to clean the radiator on my mother's 93 GMC once a year because the road she lives on is one that Tyson Foods uses to haul live chickens from various farms to Chicken Hell, and the airflow under the hood of that truck dumped enough chicken feathers between the condenser and radiator to completely clog it. If you do wind up bending fins, you can get a radiator comb from the parts store. It's a comb with the teeth of the comb spaces the same as the holes between the fins, and you work it up and down until the fins are straight again. I've never had to use one.

I used to drive for Tyson Foods.

 

[RigsLS]

Virginia Donkey, I once had to do this on my 01 V8 and I simply used a regular hose with running water while poking away at it from the top with a narrow wooden stick. I had an old partial plastic bag that had gotten caught up in there which over time gathered mud and other debris, it just needed some running water and a little help to move along. From the top, it's a bit of a tight fit but you can get something narrow in between to assist with cleaning it out, just use caution when poking around. The water rinse will help too loosens and clean everything up. You'll have to remove the underneath plastics.

 

[Virginia Donkey]

Thanks for the replies. This will be on the spring cleaning list come late march. I didn't see any plastic bags, just leaves and grass so I'm not concerned with blocking the radiator too badly until I can clean it.

 

[RigsLS]

Sounds good, yeah mine wasn't actually causing an issue at the time either, just at the time I had the entire cooling system apart for replacement and while it was on stands I took notice of that build up and just took care of it and cleaned it all up while I was at it.

Good luck.