Our '96 Vette has been a little wamer than normal in reguards to the coolant. I remove the shroud that is over the condenser and radiator
and found a lot of trash lodged in the condenser. Is there a filter I can put in front of the condenser to catch the trash? I was wondering if a
filter for an A/C system would work? The Vette seems to pickup everything that on the road. This is the second time in about two years that I've had to cean the condenser and radiator. Please give me your advice.

Thanks,
JTHVETTE

 

IMO an AC filter is going to be way to restrictive and will reduce air flow to the radiator.

 

Yes, the C4 is a large "road vacuum cleaner."

This not only affects the AC condenser, but the same thing happens to the radiator.

I have seen several posts where some have replaced the stock radiator with an aftermarket larger capacity radiator and had a 10 to 20 degree drop in temperature.
I replaced my original stock radiator with a new stock radiator and had a 20 degree drop in temperature. The fins were blocked by fine particles of road debris. In this case, any new radiator would make a difference. I tried to use a hose to dislodge the particles, but it did not work -- way too many to be of use and not worth the effort. Internally, the old radiator was like new; it was simply not enough airflow for proper cooling because of road debris.

I haven't tried one, but I think the screens that can be bought are of little use for the "fine" debris that was clogging my radiator core. Those screens would keep out large rocks, butterflies and paper bags. But, I think they will also block some air.

The only cure I know of is to replace the unit or don't follow too closely behind other vehicles that "kick up" the small particles.
Your vehicle does not push debis ahead of the car -- it is the draft of the vehicle in front of you keeping the particles in the air long enough for you to "ingest" them.

On my car, even with a clean radiator, air-flow through the radiator core is the biggest problem with cooling, especially at low speed and idle.
Coolant flow through the stock radiator is not a problem -- it is more than sufficient.
My car has always been able to cool the engine at speed when producing the most power, which means it is also dumping the most heat into the cooling system. It is at low-speed and idle, where the engine is producing the least amount of power and dumping very little heat into the cooling system that the engine heats up because of limited air-flow through the core.
So, these fine particles blocking the core make a big difference.

My theory:
For me, it is much cheaper to replace the radiator every four years with a OEM $185 unit than a aftermarket $500 unit -- they are both going to plug up with the particles.

Tom Piper

 

The area between the A/C condensor and radiator is an area that typically needs routine maintenance.

I purchased a 22" by 1/4" air chuck (long and thin air chuck) from the Snap On man($20). This can be used to clean the area between the condensor and radiator, and with compressed air, keep the area very clean. My stock 90, A/C on, 100F ambient air, stays dead in the middle on temp gauge(also checked with scanner). I typically blow this area out about every other oil change, or when I'm bored and want something to do.

The C4's cooling system is satisfactory at 100% effiiciency. If any problems exist, they will likely show up on the temp gauge in short order.

dlmeyers 90 coupe zf6 3speeds shocks

 

The fine debris I am talking about is inside the radiator core and condenser core -- not in the area between the radiator and condenser that can be reached from the outside.

In fact, it is very difficult to remove with the radiator out of the car.
If you use enough pressure to dislodge the fine debris, you are most likely deforming/dislodging the fin area between the tubes.
The only way I could see doing it is to use a small rod and "rod out" every air hole through the core -- not worth the couple of weeks time to me.
A new stock radiator did the trick.

Tom Piper

 

There was a recent thread on this topic:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1390676

Be well,

SJW

 

This is interesting. My coolant temp stays at 207 or 208 while cruising. If I punch it the temp will drop to 203 and while sitting at the red light it will jump to 213. I hope this is normal. Every time I see a plastic bag aka. the wal-mart sack floating down the road I will swerve to try to miss it but some times it get's sucked right in vacuum cleaner.

 

Tom Piper has an excellent point. I agree with him that the fine debris in-between the fins is a major and very significant impediment to cooling efficiency. Being a cheapskate however, I don't replace my radiator.

I've found that the key to effective radiator cleaning is to wash from the backside. When I pull my radiator and clean it out, I wash it twice using a soft bristle paint brush and Simple Green. I use compressed air to blow it dry and then do it all over again. I feel that it is especially important to scrub and air dry only from the backside during the first wash. Otherwise the small bits of debris that are stuck in the radiator will just be pushed in deeper and be stuck in there harder. They are stuck in there because they are too big to fit all the way through. Working from the backside pushes them out the way they came in. On the second wash, after scrubbing from the backside again, I then use the paint brush to gently scrub any remaining road film from the frontal fin area. This way I get all fin areas physically scrubbed without pushing anything deeper into the radiator fins. A clean radiator is a good thing, but a clean radiator that air can flow through is so much better.

 

I actually tried pushing it through from the backside. I used compressed air and water pressure. I found that before dislodging much of the particles I started to deform and bend the fins. If the finned area pulls away from the tubes so it doesn't touch, it is worthless even if still in place. I, too used Simple Green first hoping to disolve the crude holding any particles in place.
No matter how many times I cleaned it, I still saw particles in it.

Tom Piper

 

My condensor coil fins are pretty much bent over blocking I bet 60 to 75% air flow. This along with crap in the fins of the radiator are killing me. Gonna try to access front of condensor and bend fins back straight, and clean radiator fins....

 

What I have done so far is blow compressed air through the backside of the condenser and radiator. I bent a piece of 1/2" EMT conduit with a 90 degree flat end on it, about 1" long. Then I welded an air fitting to it. This blower did not put out a hard stream of air and blew out a lot of debris. I then backed the Vette outside my shop and washed out the coils with an open end garden hose. After that I put the Vette back in the shop to dry overnight. The next day I blew the coils out again from the backside. I took one of my shop vac "crevice" tool and cut it at sharp enough angle to get a good suction on the coils. This step cleaned out even more debris. When I felt that I had done all that the shop vac would do I made a screen to go in front of the condender. I made it out of 1/2" hardware cloth and aluminum screen cloth. Itis 15" high and 25" wlde. I cut the hardware cloth about 1" wider on all sides to fold over the screen edges. It can be installed through the opening up front if you remove the spoiler center brace. I also have a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth across the front opening just behind a Big Mouth Spoiler. I don't know if this will work, but I'm going to give it a try. Heck, I may end up replacing the radiator. Time will tell.

JTHVETTE

 

Interesting... Check this thread... http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1409936

 

Good place as any to tell you about my experience right now with this problem. Last summer my temps were about 197 consistently, now this summer 205 and climbs steadily in traffic. I decided to just pull the whole darn AC condenser radiator assy. yeah I had to drain the AC freon, sucks.

Anyway unless you take the whole shroud out and remove the condenser and radiator and pressure wash them from the back side you're wasting your time.

There was junk that just can't be reached unless you disassemble the whole darn thing.

I did mine twice at the car wash and although it's 95% cleaner there's still a little bit of junk lodged deep in the fins.

There would have been no way in hell any amount of compressed air or a vacuum cleaner would have done anything to touch that crap that builds up.

The stuff is drying out as I'm at work today, when I get home I'm going to try to make some duct tape rollers to pull the rest of the stragglers out from the front of the units.

We'll see how it works with temps, hopefully lower than now.

 

I did remove the shroud that is over the condenser and radiator. It took a while to get it out, but it didn't take about 15 min. to put it back once I figured it out. Yes, I'll agree that you cannot clean the coils vry well without atleast removig the shroud. I plan on taking the Vette out for astroll this evening and see how the temps are.

JTHVETTE

 

I did all of the above cleaning procedures . I then layed the radiator on a flat area with an old sheet under it. I then took a short piece of 2x4 & with a hammer hit the 2x4 on the edges of the radiator with the hammer. I got a good amount of very fine sand graines on the sheet. The coil cleaner or air blasts just can't jar the grains free. No I didn't destroy the radiator,no leaks .

 

I used a similar approach too before deciding to buy a new radiator.

At that time, I had an old truck with rubber mine belting for a bed liner.
I bounced the radiator off the rubber bed liner many times, each time, more grains came out. But, it never got all of them.

Tom Piper

 

I agree. You will never get all of the junk completely out, and high pressure water and compressed air won't get the job done without causing damage to the radiator fins. That is why I use a 1-1/2" ~ 2" paint brush with nylon bristles. It will push most of the junk out pretty easily without bending or breaking the fins. Takes about an hour of extra work past simple washing. After 8+ years of ownership, I haven't had to replace the original 88 radiator and it stays cool enough that the main fan never comes on at the factory setting of 226*, even on 105* days. If I drove in the same environment you do, I might have more debris I could not remove and might have to replace the radiator as often, but so far so good.

 

I'm going to give that a shot. I have most the debri out now, after tapping it carefully on the garage floor. got a good fistfull of sand grain sized particals. I think I'll try that brush trick... Thanks...

 

After putting in a new OEM radiator, my idle and low-speed temps went down considerably -- open road temps were never a problem.

But, this thread was started about the debris in the condenser, and it is a problem too -- in addition to causing AC problems, it can block air flow through the radiator.
I did blow out the condenser with compressed air and got a lot of dust out of it; but, I can't help but wonder how much debris is still in it.

Tom Piper

 

You, and I are sitting in the very same spot. I've done a bang up job, taking care of the radiator, and maintaining the fans. However I look down, and see that condenser, and know, if I had it out, I could take care of it "the right way". I hate getting everything else done right, and just halfassing the condenser which fits right in front of the radiator. It has to be clean, and the fins straightened, or what use is all that radiator work. Like to be able to remove it, and have after it, but I never did get to air cond. In college. I don't want to wreck it, but I am a stickler for a job done correctly... Thanks...