Cleaning Intercoolers

[ian w]

In the 28 years I have owned my 1981 53my I have not had the Intercoolers cleaned. All hoses injectors water pumps etc have been changed together with an annual oil change. I generally run the boat at 1300 rpm with no overheating problems.Is there any point in having the Intercoolers cleaned/serviced

 

[Boatsb]

In the 28 years I have owned my 1981 53my I have not had the Intercoolers cleaned. All hoses injectors water pumps etc have been changed together with an annual oil change. I generally run the boat at 1300 rpm with no overheating problems.Is there any point in having the Intercoolers cleaned/serviced

I would think after almost 30 years of not being touched the coolers may be a but hard to get apart.

If they show signs of crud then clean them if you can see them and they are clean I'd probably not touch them until you have to.

 

[mykim]

In the 28 years I have owned my 1981 53my I have not had the Intercoolers cleaned. All hoses injectors water pumps etc have been changed together with an annual oil change. I generally run the boat at 1300 rpm with no overheating problems.Is there any point in having the Intercoolers cleaned/serviced

If it aint broke don't fix it. Just sayin.

 

[SEVEN]

Go to Utube and look up Barnacal Buster.

 

[ian w]

So is the answer to undo input and output hoses fill with barnacle buster solution and flush.I can see you don't want the debris going further round the cooling system.How is the air side cleaned?

 

[scottinsydney]

I have used Barnacle Buster on twin 8v92N heat exchangers twice. This was done by creating a closed loop with the solution entering the water pipe using the raw water pump anode fitting and diverting the exhaust mixer hoses back to a bucket that had a small bilge pump in it..

You will hear a hissing or fizzing sound the moment the Barnacle buster goes into the water chambers and the solution will go brown after a few cycles.

I recently now own a 30 year old Hatteras with 12v71TIs and am soon looking to do the same. However it may be difficult to disconnect and reroute the exhaust elbow water hoses back into a bucket.

If somebody could confirm that the intercooler and heat exchangers will remain totally filled with fluid then you could pump the Barnacle buster into the intercoolers and heat exchanger and stop before it gets to the mixers (and hence overboard.)

Barnacle Buster does need to be circulated by a pump so on a 12v71 you may have to drain it out, possibly via an anode fitting on the heat exchanger and reuse it.

On my old boat we finally had 1/2" fittings soldered into the water pipes after the raw water pump and before the risers and installed a fresh water flush system and frequently used a salt inhibitor if the boat was not going to be used for a week or so.. The anodes lasted much longer as they were mostly in fresh water when the boat was not being used.

The result of using Barnacle Buster for $150 was to save a $4000 mechanics bill to remove and clean out the heat exchangers using an acid bath. The engines immediately showed a 5-10 degree drop in temperature when boat went up on the plane.

Barnacle Buster is a really good product for cleaning out salt water passages of marine growth, salt and calcium build up in a marine engine.. Another similar product is Rydlyme.

Following the use of Barnacle Buster use a salt inhibitor such as Salt X, Salt Buster or SaltAway.

Having written all of this I will now look at the raw water plumbing next time I am on the boat to work out how to do it.

Regards,

Scott.

PS the little bilge pump will be cactus after its pumped the barnacle buster for a few hours.

 

[captddis]

The intercoolers need to have the air side cleaned as well.

 

[ian w]

What is the recommended way of cleaning the air side ?

 

[captddis]

What is the recommended way of cleaning the air side ?

A good radiator shop should be able to clean them or use a good cleaner like brakeclean or other good degreaser. Be careful as there are aluminum parts inside.

 

[Boatsb]

As in remove to clean.

 

[Nonchalant1]

One issue is that small parts of the raw water impellers get broken off and then get stuck in the intercoolers because they are the first thing after the raw water pump and act as a filter for the heat exchangers. I got a large number of rubber pump vanes out of mine by back flushing while bumping the housing on a mat. They come off pretty easily in one piece and are interchangeable between port and starboard. I cleaned both of mine (8V71TI) by removing them and taking them apart, which is a major hassle. Needs new gaskets between the halves and very careful tightening of the many bolts to ensure that uneven pressure does not bend the frames where the bolt holes are. The air side had no problems. A radiator shop cleaned them fine.

 

[scottinsydney]

hi,

What specifically gets dirty on the airside. Is it dirt in the air, oil fumes from the engine room or oil from th eturbo or a combination?

Are they plates inside or a tube stack?

Regards,

Scott

 

[captddis]

hi,

What specifically gets dirty on the airside. Is it dirt in the air, oil fumes from the engine room or oil from th eturbo or a combination?

Are they plates inside or a tube stack?

Regards,

Scott

all of the above. Think of the fins inside like an air conditioner that needs cleaning. The tubes can fail as well and dump sea water into the engine. Make sure to pressure the intercoolers before reinstalling.

 

[scottinsydney]

Have looked but could not see any anode on inter coolers. Are there any?

 

[captddis]

No zincs.