So I took off my intercooler today and I noticed there is a fair amount of oil coating the inside of all the intake hoses and intercooler. I'm sure it happened when i turned the engine up-side-down while it was running. How important is it that I clean that out? I can't really see it hurting too much beside burning it as it goes through the engine. Also, how should I clean that out? It's in a lot of the vacuum lines too. One more thing, why is the y-pipe plastic? It makes is a pita to remove and install, I have the pipe off the intercooler right now and I still can't get it onto the turbo, why can't it just be rubber or silicone?
Plastic is faster and cheaper to manufacture than a formed, reinforced silicone hose. Intake/intercooler stuff with oil in it? Lots and lots of brake cleaner.
In all honesty, KY. Its water-based so its virtually harmless, and it'll evaporate anyway. Besides, you're not gobbing it all over the place enough to hydro-lock the engine. Just a little bit to help the plastic slide easier.
jesse that has little to do with your rollover - sounds like typical subaru oil blow-by. add a catch can or air oil separator to cut down on it.
KY FTW Its never let me down when I'm trying to slide something into tight spaces! LOL, sorry, couldn't resist
hahahah! thats what he said..brake cleaner ftw to clean the inside but it stinks and takes a while to get it cleaned out and rinsed and dried.
ok, if this is typical, than I'm going to worry about it and that means there's probably a couple other threads similar. This is the first time taking off the intercooler. I ended up using some oil and prying the plastic open with a pliers to get that damn y-pipe back on. Thanks for the help guys
yea i really wouldn't worry about it unless you're getting a TON of oil. a coating is pretty normal though - especially if you've never pulled the intercooler before (can't believe you hadn't!)
