Cleaning out dirt and leaves BEHIND rads and condensors on 987 vs 986 ??

I always blow out leaves and dirt in the air intakes in front of the rads regularly BUT have never removed the bumper and Condensors to clean out the dirt behind the condensors that builds up on the large centre rad.I have noticed that
on pics of the 986 models threre eventually will be a large build-up that should be cleaned out.My question is on the 987 did Porsche change the design in any way
that keeps that area cleaner or will it require the same procedure as the 986 to clean.

Quote
moresquirt
I always blow out leaves and dirt in the air intakes in front of the rads regularly BUT have never removed the bumper and Condensors to clean out the dirt behind the condensors that builds up on the large centre rad.I have noticed that
on pics of the 986 models threre eventually will be a large build-up that should be cleaned out.My question is on the 987 did Porsche change the design in any way
that keeps that area cleaner or will it require the same procedure as the 986 to clean.

You will have to remove the bumper cover and carefully unbolt the condenser and swing it out of the way to check.

My WAG is the design is practically the same. There can't be any real exit for the trash as this would be a way for air to exit before passing through the radiator. And at other times the fan would pull in air that had already exited the radiator and was therefore hot.

IOWs, pretty must the only holes or gaps there are are just large enough to let any water drain out. Anything larger would be an air leak and compromise the car's cooling system efficiency/performance.

Even if you blow the trash/dirt out every so often you will have to remove the bumper cover and gain access to the area between the condenser and radiator to thoroughly clean that area out. This has been my experience. After starting out both cars with very clean radiator ducts and having the tech blow the trash out at every service still there is a build up that can't be removed by any other way. When I had the leaking radiators replaced in my 996 Turbo, this back in Jan 2015, there was a large amount of trash collected between the condenser and radiator.

The next time I have the Boxster in for service, its 300K mile service I might add (!), I'll have the tech remove the bumper cover and give the radiator ducts a thorough cleaning.

Wow! Mark 300 k,thats amazing,what year auto do u have?
I just printed out the removal procedure i found on line with pics on front bumper remova for 987.1
It appears to be slightly different to the procedure for the 986.Unfortunately they did not go any further
than the bumper removal.It would be nice if there were some 987 owners that could comment on this also.
Thx for the reply

Quote
moresquirt
Wow! Mark 300 k,thats amazing,what year auto do u have?
I just printed out the removal procedure i found on line with pics on front bumper remova for 987.1
It appears to be slightly different to the procedure for the 986.Unfortunately they did not go any further
than the bumper removal.It would be nice if there were some 987 owners that could comment on this also.
Thx for the reply

What I found is the exact procedure varies due to among other things the number/location and type of fasteners involved. Unless one gets lucky and has the same car as someone who has posted a DIY guide he'll have to follow the general steps but the specifics will be well, specific to his car.

My advice is to take good pics of the position of the various underbody plastic panels, how they are mated to the bumper cover. It is important that these go back the right way to avoid creating an air scoop that could be a source of wind noise, getting rain water in where it shouldn't be, or even interfering with the proper cooling of the vehicle.

Also, as you remove the fasteners make a note as to where they all are and where they all go, into which hole. Do not rely upon your memory. The techs tell me they can always tell when someone other than a tech has been at the bumper cover the thing is never installed right.

And what I'd do (and did) before a bumper cover removal would be to order the wheel well liner rivets and some other fasteners just to have extras. While one can probably remove the rivets and reuse them it slows the process down a lot. And if you break one you don't have to run around and get one ordered. Having extras of the other fasteners means too that if you find one or more are missing you have spares to make up for these.

Be sure you fit the bumper cover so the rubber sheeting that is the radiator ducting is positioned properly. This can fall/move out of position and then after you get the bumper cover buttoned up you spot an edge of the liner hanging down and this can reduce the efficiency of the air flowing through the duct or can cause other problems like I mentioned above: wind noise or worse.

Oh, my Boxster is a 2002 MY.

I suspect the design is the exact same. Just a guess, but they seem to only make minor tweaks to this unconditional stuff.

I cleaned out my 2000S after about 195K miles, pics below. I don't remember the procedure, but I remember it to be pretty darn simple and I did not need instructions. You have to remove the front wheels, then the wheel liner and just start taking off screws. There are screws underneath and above the bumper cover came straight off.

The first pic is between the radiator and condenser.... it is hard to tell, but the condenser is swung down and away so the shot shows its edge. Not bad eh? Used simple green and it worked well. The stuff was kinda like cement... some chipped off and I gave up on some small deposits.

Peace
Bruce in Philly






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2016 08:25PM by Bruce In Philly (2000 S Boxster, now '09 C2S). (view changes)

I can only chime in as another 986 owner who just did this - this weekend. There's a Youtube video for removing the bumper skin on a 986/996, and I'd imagine it's fairly similar on the 987. There were only two tricky screws - under the wheel well liner right behind the side markers. Would have been easier with wheels off, but I just turned them to get access. I had vacuumed from the front before, but knew there was more debris that I couldn't get to this way. After getting the bumper off and cleaning between the AC units and rads, I installed some aluminum mesh in the grills to reduce further leaves, ciggie butts, dead insects, gum wrappers, and small pebbles (yes, I had all of this) from getting in.

Thx Guys,My Son and I will be attacking this project this Saturday. I have 115,000 Kilometers on car (approx 70k) Its a 2006 Boxster S.I will take a few pics (and post)
of how bad it is when i get it apart. Thx for the info

Decided to start today by myself and got everything off and rads cleaned,just used compressed air and it removed everything.They did need done but not terrible as ive seen on some
986 Youtube videos.I should be able to go another 10 years i think.I did have a few issues though.When i was pulling the rad off i dident realize that theres a little tab on the plastic
ears that hold the rad in place and broke one off on the bottom,had to use some plastic cement to get it to hold tight but i think it will be fine till the next time.Also when i removed
the plastic C clip on the connector for the headlight washers it flew across the room and cant find it.Those things are spring loaded.Does anyone know if u can get those at an auto store or do i need to go to porsche.
Maybe VW dealer might have as there local.The dealer is 2 hrs away.Long way to go for a clip.It looks like a horseshoe with 2 tabs at the ends. I did call a porsche shop (not dealer) and
they quoted me $300 plus 13% tax. I felt it was worth doing myself.Tomorrow im putting it back together.Hopefully all goes smooth.