Kerosene as intercooler cleaner

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
113
Location
GA, USA
The last couple times i bought Kerosene from a gas station it was red in color. I would like to use it as a degreaser and cleaner for a turbo intercooler.

The intercooler is off the car and i have acess only to the ingress and egress

Will the red stain the aluminum ? Why is it red ?
Is there a better degreaser (purple power and dawn is not doin the job)
 
Last edited:
You could have purchased Kerosene as a lamp oil as well. It is sometimes colored to look pretty in glass oil lamps. Typically Kerosene has no color.
 
The red dye won't hurt a thing. I used to clean mine every so often. Seems like after the first time it wasn't so bad. How dirty is yours? Do you have a lot of blow by?

Dawn won't cut it.

Purple power - be careful, used at a high concentration it will etch aluminum.

I would use Simple Green, then the kerosene if you really need it, but you shouldn't IMHO.
 
Use Cheap Gasoline. that's what I used. works great. slosh it around a few times til it comes out clean. Then make sure you run the Garden hose thru it well. and let it dry. Did that on my Turbo Supras.
 
Last edited:
I washed mine out with gasoline until it came out clean. Then I filled it up and let it sit overnight with it capped off. The next day the gasoline was black with junk. This is one reason I run open breathers with no vapor going through the intercooler. As long as the turbo seals are good, you will never have to clean it again.
 
Do you run an air filter? How dirty could it be in there?

I'd use brake cleaner -it dissolves most crud and leaves virtually no residue. And it's pretty strong.
 
Ill try gasoline first then brake cleaner. already tried simple green and dawn - not doin much. I tried steam cleaning too - did work but i dont want to push what did not come loose deeper into the IC.

The IC is not from my car. Turbo subarus are bad with blowby from crankcase and heads (2x). The crud is mainly oil and contaminants collected through out the years
 
Originally Posted By: Toy4x4runner
Use Cheap Gasoline. that's what I used. works great. slosh it around a few times til it comes out clean. Then make sure you run the Garden hose thru it well. and let it dry. Did that on my Turbo Supras.




You beat me to it. That's how I flush the intercooler on my Grand National. Just run gas thru it until it's clean. Takes maybe a gallon or 2 tops. Drain it as much as possible and then install it as is. The gas that's left over just gets burned in the engine.
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
but I was more nutty back in old days.


I don't believe that!
banana2.gif
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top