… After serious offroad work.
The grass was super thick along the radiator.
We always need to keep the radiator free from gunk when 4WDing.
I have had a handful of customers drive through mud holes and block their radiators. I’ve also had one customer – who recently fitted a new alternator – drive through mud, block his radiator, plus the mud ruined his new alternator.
Removing the radiator is one thing that can be done, and it can be flushed through. However, in front of the radiator sits the air conditioning condenser. It almost looks like a radiator. It needs airflow to pass through it because it is also a heat exchanger.
To remove this is a lot harder, as it requires the air conditioning gas to be removed and requires it to be re-sealed and re-gassed once refitted…
One of my customers recently brought his 200 Series in for a service. He has recently retired and plans on heading up north with his van in tow. We checked it over and found not only the radiator to be blocked but the air conditioning condenser to be badly choked as well.
We removed the radiator and tried to push a hose through the condenser but after closer inspection we found that it was blocked with grass. We could not budge the grass. There was no choice but to replace the condenser.
We had the system de-gassed and removed the condenser. It was only once removed that we saw just how bad it was – the grass was embedded into the fins of the condenser.
We were able to wash out the radiator and get that clean. We sourced a new condenser and fitted that back up. Then we refitted the radiator and had the air conditioning system re-gassed.
Once we had finished the job, the radiator was working well but the air conditioning system was working colder than ever.
We already have bullbars, spotlights, winches, and everything else that we put in front of the radiator, the last thing we need is another restriction, and another potential cause of overheating.
GO NUTS!
Adam
