Cooler Coil Cleaning?

Robby Avery

GM TECH @ FENDER GMC
Jul 31, 2008
820
2
18
Norman Park, Georgia
I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to clean all the cores and I came across a product called coil cleen in a past diesel world mag that Beans diesel was using to clean the core of a radiator off a 94 12v dodge. I'm curious to know if this stuff will work on all the cooler coils like intercooler, A/C condenser, trans cooler, fuel cooler, etc. I know this may seem weird to do this after the hot months are winding down but love bugs have been horrible here the last two weeks and I feel its time to either flush or clean all the coolers some how. Please let me know if anyone has tried this or some other product that works and will get the job done thanks in advance.
 

Ron Nielson

Active member
Oct 11, 2009
777
148
43
Berryton, KS
Just did this job this week. I have not tried this specific product, Coil Cleen by Landmark Wax. I note that it is made to be used on bare metal coils (condensers, etc) and in our trucks, the radiator is painted and the A/C Condenser is also painted. I have no idea if this is a problem with Coil Cleen - I wouldn't think so. What I used was Turtle Wax Bug & Tar Remover after reading a recommendation on another post, and a degreaser by Auto Magic.

I started by moving the trans cooler, a/c condenser out of the way as much as possible, then separating the intercooler and radiator at the top by a coupld of inches. Then used 150 PSI compressed air with an angled blowgun and a short nozzle to clean them out from the backside. This makes a very concentrated but narrow blow pattern. The a/c condenser held lots and lots of pieces of grit, sand, and the more I used the air the more the grit came flying out. You couldn't see the grit coming out, but when you held your hand in front of the condenser, you could feel the sting of the grit that was being removed. Took probably 10 minutes to rid the condenser of the grit.

Then soaked each piece in the stack with the Tar & Bug Remover, let it stand for 10-15 mins, then rinsed. I tried using my pressure washer with the widest nozzle but found that just using the garden hose with my finger worked even better. After that, I sprayed the stack down again this time with a degreaser, waited 10 minutes, and rinsed again. When finished, the stack definitely looked cleaner, especially the a/c condenser. I bent a few fins using the pressure washer, but not many.

My stack wasn't real dirty and I didn't really think it was. But I experienced some cooling problems this summer and want to be SURE the problem wasn't the cooling stack before I started on other, more expensive and time consuming solutions for the cooling problems.
 

Robby Avery

GM TECH @ FENDER GMC
Jul 31, 2008
820
2
18
Norman Park, Georgia
Sounds good I took my search further and called beans diesel to find out that diesel world had a type-o and its spelled Koil Kleen you can get it at ace hardware its a not acidic foaming cleaner that must be mixed with 1:1 or less because its super strong according to my google search gonna check it out if it going to be to harsh I'll try your method thanks:thumb:
 

rms2012

New member
Dec 7, 2011
155
0
0
Phoenix
I removed my radiator and cleaned it with a soapy water mixture.
Then, just slowly poured a gallon of vinegar over the fins to further loosen the bug and road debris.
It worked pretty well but would like to hear about this stuff for the next cleaning.
 

LBZ

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jul 2, 2007
9,905
151
63
46
B.C.
Degreaser and a warm to hot water pressure washer. No need to turn cleaning the fins into a science unless you have a bunch of road tar stuck to it.
FWIW cleaning the inside is just as critical.