Metal in the intercooler? Oh man, what to do?

[Gnx6]

Ok ,here's the scoop. Helping a buddy with his car and he is upgrading to a front mount. He is giving me his CAS V4 intercooler. I decided to send it out and have it boiled out and cleaned to make sure there is nothing in there. Well the shop called and said when they steamed it the first time they saw some metal come out. Then they drowned it internally with gas and flushed it out again. They said they flushed it and did the best they could until they couldn't see anything more coming out. However, since they can not remove the tanks they can not guarantee that everything is out. I am sure they did every effort to clean it as best as possible. Here is the next deal.

A local club member who has a very fast car says a lot of the times when they build them they are grinding and welding. He said there may be some debris in the intercooler that will just lay there. The air flow is not enough to lift it out. However when you contact it with a fluid it forces everyhting out.

So, who is right? Could there be anything still in the cooler? Is there sometimes debris laying in the bottom of the cooler? Would you use it on your car, is it safe to use? (ie: should I use it or dump it)??

I have a 26,000 mile GN, it was my 15 year dream to get the car and I've only had it for a year. I would like to use the intercooler but only if there isn't a risk. The fact that one member said he would gladly use it on his car makes me think it's fine.

What do you think? Thanks for your input.

 

[turbo buicks]

should be fine. anything still in there now is obviousluy too big to make its way thru the core

 

[DMan]

Should be fine. You could always hose it out yourself and see if you get more. If you're really particular, borrow a fiber optic borescope and look down inside.

 

[turbodave231]

I like the borescope idea to LOOK inside from leftover crud. I flush intercoolers out with the garden hose hooked up to my laundry tray. I use the hotest water I can get. I first soak the intercooler with industrial degreaser. I use ZEP purple degreaser that I get from Home Depot. After sloshing that around. I let the water run a long time and flush in both directions.

Anything left in the intercooler will probably stay there and not cause a problem.