intercooler & soot

[greenie]

The tubes that go from either ends of the inter cooler had soot on the tubing.I cleaned them up and tighten them a month ago.They look clean and stayed tight.The motor has 88000 miles.
How ever what is the soot doing there and whats the best way to clean it up.Can I spray a cleaner into the intake to clean out the intercooler all the way through the turbo?
Thanks hope to hear from ya'll.

[TheDurtyDeez]

You should think about doing the ccv mod! Your crank case vents into you air intake which runs an oily residue through your intercooler and intake system. The ccv mod rerouts your crankcase vapors either to atmosphere, of down to a filter and back up to your intake with clean air(well not clean it still stinks but there is no more oil).

[cchase]

right, do the ccv. i would not recomend spraying cleaner into your intake.

[Deputydog]

Yep CCV mod!

Crankcase Vent Kit

[Dirk]

Originally Posted by greenie

The tubes that go from either ends of the inter cooler had soot on the tubing.I cleaned them up and tighten them a month ago.They look clean and stayed tight.The motor has 88000 miles.
How ever what is the soot doing there and whats the best way to clean it up.Can I spray a cleaner into the intake to clean out the intercooler all the way through the turbo?
Thanks hope to hear from ya'll.

I'm pretty sure that is oil leaking through the boots and dirt is collecting. This is normal. You do not need to clean anything out. You can do the CCV mod if you want. I didn't. I just bought new, high quality boots and oil hasn't leaked through yet.

[TheDurtyDeez]

Originally Posted by Dirk

I'm pretty sure that is oil leaking through the boots and dirt is collecting. This is normal. You do not need to clean anything out. You can do the CCV mod if you want. I didn't. I just bought new, high quality boots and oil hasn't leaked through yet.

Doesn't this mean that the oil is just accululating in your intercoolder? I know it isnt much but it would have to accumulate after a while!?

[Dirk]

Originally Posted by TheDurtyDeez

Doesn't this mean that the oil is just accululating in your intercoolder? I know it isnt much but it would have to accumulate after a while!?

When I installed my new intercooler, the old one was fairly dry.. even with 100k+ miles. I'm not sure why people worry about oil getting in there.

[TheDurtyDeez]

probably because they haven't seen what you have seen... like me for instance! That is nice to know though that it is not a significant accumulation!

[Dirk]

With the velocity of the air moving through the pipes/IC, there will be a steady movement of oil (very little). Probably still in a mist or as a film moving along the sides of the metal. I'm not a tree hugger by any means, but I'd rather have the crankcase gases pulled back into the motor to be reburned.

Also, have you taken a good whiff of those gases? Makes me shudder just thinking about it.

[Dirk]

Also, when I sold my old IC on ebay, I had it leaning (upright and on end) in the garage for a few days. There was less than half a teaspoon of oil when I boxed it up to ship.