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Thought I would write up my rad clean I did yesterday having turned the rad into a clay brick on Saturday on Salisbury Plain. Until now I’ve always cleaned the rad with either a pressure washer from a safe distance (too near and the force can bend the fins on the rad) or a normal hose pipe. I’ve always cleaned it so it looks clean on all the bits of it I can see but this has probably meant that its just been clean on the outside.
Very important is the fact that the bottom of the rad is clean- the Gear box uses the bottom of the rad for its own cooling (didn’t realise this thanks Messrs Hazard and Stein) and as this is the bit of the rad that is most likely to be built up with cr@p you must pay most attention to this bit.
Basics:
Why clean the rad? It is the means to cool the engine. Without it functioning properly the engine will overheat leading eventually to the head gasket going which could cost so much you may as well think about buying an new surf.
How clean? The viscous fan (big fan in the engine bay behind the main rad) turns whilst the engine is on to pull air through the fins of the rad and aid cooling, so there must be an air channel through the fins. If you spray water form one side of the rad and it doesnt come out of the other side the fins are blocked and need cleaning.
To clean the rad completely you need to be able to spray water straight through the fins which is impossible to do with a hose or pressure washer in situ (you will be spraying at an angle for most of the rad) You can remove it to make complete cleaninh easiest but if you are like me and have an incredible ability to take things apart but not necessarily get them back together again as quickly, there is a way to do it in situ that seemed to work quite well. I think an angled bit of copper tube has been suggested before but I did it a little differently.
Get a length of normal 22mm plastic plumbing pipe and cut a 4 foot section off. Work out a way to block one end well enough to withstand pressure. I initially used a push fit end http://nextday.diy.com/app/jsp/produ...roductId=72354 which was convenient but was slightly larger than the pipe and ended up getting in the way. In the end I pushed a whiskey bottle cork in the end and held it in with duct tape (the bodgers friend)
Drill a few holes as near to the blocked end in a line along the side of the pipe. I found 6x 2mm holes about 4mm apart worked well enough to keep the pressure high enough to clean properly. If your water pressure is pretty high you could do more.
Attach to your hose using these standard hoselock style fittings.
You will probably have one of the connectors on the right on the end of your hose already. The other connector is the type used to push onto water butt taps. Push the open end of the plastic pipe into the rubber flange and tighten the jubilee clip (not too tight it'll crush the pipe)
Undo the fan shroud - this is the plastic cover on the back of the rad that surrounds the viscous fan. Its just held on by a few bolts. Once undone push it back as far as it will go to give you a bit of room to get to all four corners of the rear of the rad. remove the bash plate. I have my lower valance already off which helps as would removing the grill, not essential but would make life easier.
Pull the shroud away from the bottom of the rad (you need to lift it a bit to free it up) either wear safety glasses or close your eyes as its likely any ,mud will have built up here.
Give the rad a soak all over with a hose and leave it to soften up for a while. Once thats done attach your new radiator cleaning pipe to the hose. I founs that the two best points to reach the whole of the rad are the top left (pull the shroud back as far as it will go and get the pipe in) and by lying down and pushing up from the rear right hand bottom corner (wear waterproofs/wetsuit/fetish gear if you're worried about getting wet). Using these tow access points you can reach the whole rad.
Do this over the whole rad until water sprays right though the fins and out the other side across the whole rad. If you cant see the other side you will be able to tell if you watch the side you are spraying from (if it sprays back against the pipe its blocked if it doesn't it isn't)
Take your time. I took me probably 4 hours from start to finish - did a bit, left it to soak with the water still running then moved the pipe and did the next bit. does take time but theres probably other jobs you can do at the same time.
To be careful not to
Poke the pipe into the fins and damage them
Damage the blades of the fan with the shroud or the pipe
The rad to be most concerned with in the main rad directly in front of the large (viscous) fan. The other rad above and in front of the main rad is just the aircon rad. (Many get rid of this entirely to aid with cleaning etc.) If you do have/use aircon, do make sure this is clean too using the same method.
BEFORE DRIVING THE TRUCK MAKE SURE YOU HAVE REATTACHED THE FAN SHROUD OTHERWISE YOU WILL DAMAGE THE FAN WHICH MAY IN TURN DAMAGE THE RAD MEANING YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY A NEW (BUT ADMITTEDLY EVEN CLEANER) ONE
Very important is the fact that the bottom of the rad is clean- the Gear box uses the bottom of the rad for its own cooling (didn’t realise this thanks Messrs Hazard and Stein) and as this is the bit of the rad that is most likely to be built up with cr@p you must pay most attention to this bit.
Basics:
Why clean the rad? It is the means to cool the engine. Without it functioning properly the engine will overheat leading eventually to the head gasket going which could cost so much you may as well think about buying an new surf.
How clean? The viscous fan (big fan in the engine bay behind the main rad) turns whilst the engine is on to pull air through the fins of the rad and aid cooling, so there must be an air channel through the fins. If you spray water form one side of the rad and it doesnt come out of the other side the fins are blocked and need cleaning.
To clean the rad completely you need to be able to spray water straight through the fins which is impossible to do with a hose or pressure washer in situ (you will be spraying at an angle for most of the rad) You can remove it to make complete cleaninh easiest but if you are like me and have an incredible ability to take things apart but not necessarily get them back together again as quickly, there is a way to do it in situ that seemed to work quite well. I think an angled bit of copper tube has been suggested before but I did it a little differently.
Get a length of normal 22mm plastic plumbing pipe and cut a 4 foot section off. Work out a way to block one end well enough to withstand pressure. I initially used a push fit end http://nextday.diy.com/app/jsp/produ...roductId=72354 which was convenient but was slightly larger than the pipe and ended up getting in the way. In the end I pushed a whiskey bottle cork in the end and held it in with duct tape (the bodgers friend)
Drill a few holes as near to the blocked end in a line along the side of the pipe. I found 6x 2mm holes about 4mm apart worked well enough to keep the pressure high enough to clean properly. If your water pressure is pretty high you could do more.
Attach to your hose using these standard hoselock style fittings.
You will probably have one of the connectors on the right on the end of your hose already. The other connector is the type used to push onto water butt taps. Push the open end of the plastic pipe into the rubber flange and tighten the jubilee clip (not too tight it'll crush the pipe) Undo the fan shroud - this is the plastic cover on the back of the rad that surrounds the viscous fan. Its just held on by a few bolts. Once undone push it back as far as it will go to give you a bit of room to get to all four corners of the rear of the rad. remove the bash plate. I have my lower valance already off which helps as would removing the grill, not essential but would make life easier.
Pull the shroud away from the bottom of the rad (you need to lift it a bit to free it up) either wear safety glasses or close your eyes as its likely any ,mud will have built up here.
Give the rad a soak all over with a hose and leave it to soften up for a while. Once thats done attach your new radiator cleaning pipe to the hose. I founs that the two best points to reach the whole of the rad are the top left (pull the shroud back as far as it will go and get the pipe in) and by lying down and pushing up from the rear right hand bottom corner (wear waterproofs/wetsuit/fetish gear if you're worried about getting wet). Using these tow access points you can reach the whole rad.
Do this over the whole rad until water sprays right though the fins and out the other side across the whole rad. If you cant see the other side you will be able to tell if you watch the side you are spraying from (if it sprays back against the pipe its blocked if it doesn't it isn't)
Take your time. I took me probably 4 hours from start to finish - did a bit, left it to soak with the water still running then moved the pipe and did the next bit. does take time but theres probably other jobs you can do at the same time.
To be careful not to
Poke the pipe into the fins and damage them
Damage the blades of the fan with the shroud or the pipe
The rad to be most concerned with in the main rad directly in front of the large (viscous) fan. The other rad above and in front of the main rad is just the aircon rad. (Many get rid of this entirely to aid with cleaning etc.) If you do have/use aircon, do make sure this is clean too using the same method.
BEFORE DRIVING THE TRUCK MAKE SURE YOU HAVE REATTACHED THE FAN SHROUD OTHERWISE YOU WILL DAMAGE THE FAN WHICH MAY IN TURN DAMAGE THE RAD MEANING YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY A NEW (BUT ADMITTEDLY EVEN CLEANER) ONE
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