Clean Intercooler: The "Aha!" Effect

Since I'm planning to get my A3 ready for sale after 7 years, I've been working on the front of it.
Have the fenders repainted.
After removing the front bumper, I took a closer look at the coolant level indicator (LLK) from the outside, having driven 210,000 kilometers myself. The total mileage of the car is 292,000 kilometers.
Completely sealed. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. You couldn't really see through any of the channels.
I then took the Kärcher pressure washer and sprayed it from a safe distance, from front to back.
A deep black broth came out from the back.
After that, I sprayed it again with wheel cleaner.
Finally, I used a thin screwdriver to realign the louvers that had been bent out of shape by impacts from stones.
And because I wanted to get the absolute maximum performance out of the LLK (low-temperature cooling system), I cut gills into the wheel well behind the LLK, as is recommended in some technical articles.
The "Aha!" moment came on the highway. When I bought my A3 in 2001,
With the chip installed, the speedometer indicated 210 km/h at 4500 RPM. After my gearbox modification two years ago, he could only achieve that speed in sub-zero temperatures, requiring a lot of acceleration and resulting in increased smoke emissions, at 4100 RPM.
However, what happened during that trip surprised even me.
As I finally found a free stretch of highway at 11 PM at night, I started to accelerate .
He accelerated to 200, then to 210, and then to 220 .
He felt like he could push it even further. 220 km/h at 4200 RPM.
However, my tires were already quite worn, and since I had just recently installed the hood, a feeling of unease washed over me, so I decided to ease off the accelerator.
I will, however, repeat the experiment with my new Goodyear Eagle F1 tires.
Of course, I'm aware that 220 km/h on the speedometer might actually be closer to 205 or 210 km/h in reality.
But it showed me how important it is to keep the small cooling system clean and to clean it from time to time.
And not just by piercing through the front from the outside, but like I did.
Okay guys: Keep your LLK clean!

What is the order in which the air flows through the various coolers in the 3C system?

I have a package that includes the air conditioning compressor, servo motor, water cooler, and intercooler.

m;

Hello,
"There must have been a lot of work involved in that! It also depends on the car and the space available for the liquid load within the vehicle's body."
I would suggest taking a logging trip using clean LLK (low-loss ketone) and then regularly checking, under comparable conditions, how high the LL temperature rises.
"Frequently and forcefully rinsing" the LLK (likely referring to a specific component) seems risky to me, as the parts are quite delicate. Furthermore, I believe the LLK should be flushed in the direction opposite to the flow, as the dirt is pushed in from the front. This would certainly require disassembly, and if I look at the clips/quick releases, they don't seem to be designed for frequent use.
haithamina

Hi,

I also cleaned the engine oil cooler when I bought the car (with 360,000 km on the odometer), and it was completely clogged at that time.
I clean the LLK (likely referring to a heat exchanger or radiator) at least every six months, using compressed air and brake cleaner from the back side.
where, anyway, something bigger has to go in front of the water cooler .

The cooling packages are (from front to back): air conditioning, liquid coolant, and water, which makes the most sense given the required temperature difference.

Best regards, Michael.

mdonau wrote:

Hi, The cooling packages are (from front to back): air conditioning, liquid coolant, and water, which makes the most sense given the required temperature difference. Greetings, Michael

"You're right. That's how they're arranged on my Allroad 4B as well."
But that's also why this car is so extremely sensitive to weather conditions .
"In cold temperatures, with the heater turned on, for example, the viscous fan driven by the serpentine belt does not operate. As a result, the engine coolant receives only cold outside air, which is not warmed by the air conditioning condenser."
When the weather is warm, the viscous fan turns on, which consumes a significant amount of power, and this power consumption is speed-dependent. Additionally, the air conditioning condenser heats the already warm outside air even further.
All of this together results in a vehicle that performs excellently in the winter but turns into an unpredictable mess in the summer .

Quote:

Frequently "high-pressure washing" the LLK seems risky to me, as the parts are rather delicate. Furthermore, I believe that the LLK should rather be flushed in the direction opposite to the flow, since the dirt is pushed in from the front. This certainly requires disassembly, and if I look at the clips/quick releases, they are not designed for frequent use.

Actually, the LLK lamellae aren't that delicate (unlike the climate control lamellae). I personally didn't manage to bend any of the lamellae with the pressure washer, even when looking closely. And after my visual inspection, all the channels were perfectly clean and free of any dirt. Overall, it's hard to do anything wrong with them.

Consider whether a nano-coating might be applicable here, due to the easier cleaning it would provide.
Sure, here is the translation of the text from German to English:

"Note:"
The side-mounted LLK (likely referring to a coolant reservoir) might not be as poorly positioned as it seems (in models like the Polo 9N, etc.), aside from the small surface area of the mesh?

teileklaus wrote:

The side-mounted LLK (low-temperature coolant) might not be as poorly positioned as it seems (in models like the Polo 9N, etc.), aside from the small surface area?

As always, there are pros and cons: having heated air in front of the low-temperature coolant (LTC) is certainly not ideal, but the front mount intercooler (FMIC) surface area is usually significantly larger than the side mount intercooler (SMIC).
Furthermore, in models like the Polo, Ibiza, and Fabia, the air intake channels are not very efficient, and the intake area is small, resulting in high intake temperatures. In my 3BG SMIC (intercooler), the intake temperature is never particularly high, only occasionally exceeding the ambient temperature by 30 Kelvin. A potential advantage of the angled SMIC design is that foreign objects are less likely to directly hit the intake area, as small stones, for example, usually bounce off the walls of the air intake channels first. However, the additional openings next to or below the "grille" are aerodynamically disadvantageous, but can be closed off in an FMIC (front-mounted intercooler).
haithamina

Okay, slightly off-topic: When I bought my 9 N, the two plastic parts had already been replaced with closed ones after an accident! So, even before the SMIC (presumably referring to a specific modification or part).
and had been driven 10,000 km before I bought and cleared it.

Hi,

When changing the oil on my IBI, I use a garden hose and insert it from the front into the oil drain hole. Sure, inserting it from the back would be better, but it still cleans out the dirt sufficiently well this way.

Best regards,

Jan.