[roadkillrob]

Car is 3 years 10 months old, 13,000 miles (I know - warm weather car in New England - I have better things for crap weather).

Anyway - put in an HPF intercooler today, put my factory intercooler on it's end for a couple hours to dump out the old oil I see lots of pictures of on the forum and could not get so much as a drop out of it - looked inside and the thing looks like new, not a drop of oil in it anywhere.

Car was broke in properly on the autobahn with complete disregard for the owners manual, did about 100 miles before running it up to 155 for a while.

Not sure if it is just the low mileage or what, but was surprised at the lack of oil in the intercooler.

[Brey335i]

That's a good sign. I have never come across an OCC I liked. I'm running without one and it requires more maintenance to clean things off periodically.

Consider yourself lucky. Congrats on the new intercooler btw!

[tibra1]

I think even with an OCC you still need to periodically clean your intercooler..aftermarket or OE..the OCC does not come close to catching all the oil.

I heard cleaning the intercooler w/ Kerosene is the way to go..it cuts right thru the oil.

[roadkillrob]

Originally Posted by tibra1

I think even with an OCC you still need to periodically clean your intercooler..aftermarket or OE..the OCC does not come close to catching all the oil.

I heard cleaning the intercooler w/ Kerosene is the way to go..it cuts right thru the oil.

Kerosene will certainly dissolve the oil - any quantity of oil in the IC can't be good. It seems that the oil cooler due to the the velocity of the air moving through it and gravity pulling the oil down works almost like an oil catch can in a way, they should just put a drain in the bottom of the FMIC and then you could at least drain any oil out that get's in there without pulling the whole think back out!

[tibra1]

Originally Posted by roadkillrob

Kerosene will certainly dissolve the oil - any quantity of oil in the IC can't be good. It seems that the oil cooler due to the the velocity of the air moving through it and gravity pulling the oil down works almost like an oil catch can in a way, they should just put a drain in the bottom of the FMIC and then you could at least drain any oil out that get's in there without pulling the whole think back out!

Honestly its the oil coating the fins inside the FMIC thats the problem...a drain plug would empty excess oil but I think taking off the FMIC and cleaning it properly is really the only way to restore its efficiency..its amazing this car requires so much in the way of physical cleaning..the intake valves, the FMIC, the vanos solenoids..etc

[Tee212]

only 13k miles? check back when its 50k+. Car will prolly be sold by then.