cleaning the inside of heater boxes

[LCOX]

I've got a 76 vw bus. The inside of the heater boxes(heat exchangers) have a lot of oil inside them. When the engine gets hot tons of smoke come out of the heater boxes. You can actually hear the oil crackling and burning inside. Can the oil be cleaned out of the inside of these heat exchangers with them still installed on the engine?

[aerosurfer]

Drive it..... stop the leaks going into the boxes
_________________
Rebuild your own FI Harness..My Harness

77 Westy 2.0L Rockin and Rolling Resto!

72 Sportsmobile (sold)
79 Tran$porter... Parts car money machine (gone)

[Wasted youth]

When mine were removed during my 1700 cc refresh, I used an Oxy/Ace torch with rosebud tip down the exhaust with a low flame. I really heated up the inside, baked all the crap till the smoke was minimal. Let them cool down, then I threw them both in my parts washer tank for a day, then thoroughly rinsed them in the alley.

[jtauxe]

[rastomas]

When I brought mine to be painted and baked, I told the guy they were oily inside, and I didn't want them to mess up anything else that he might have had in the oven. He appreciated that. So he baked them first.
One could probably do the same on a barbecue...
_________________
"It's not 'You are what you eat', it's 'You are what you don't SHIT". Wavy Gravy.


'74 Westy

[SGKent]

I used hot soapy water and ammonia, let them sit a couple days in it, shaking them occasionally then drained the soapy water down the toilet. used hot water to rinse them from the water heater.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Angus II]

[Wildthings]

Fix the leaks, remove the accordion tubes, block off the ducts going forward into the car and put some hard miles on her. Especially during the summer months the heater boxes will clean up in a few thousand miles.

[hiwaycallin]

I burned the gunk out of mine. I'm not necessarily going to recommend this approach but mine were pretty oily and it worked for me. In hindsight I suppose this could have caused some warpage or other damage, but I didn't let them burn for long and everything turned out great.

[vwwestyman]

[Clatter]

Using solvents or burning will only make them stink worse.
They have a porous asbestos-like matting inside that will either half-way burn and/or absorb your solvents.

They come apart for cleaning by drilling a few spot welds;
How-to is in your handy local Bentley manual.

Also in the bus motor build in my sig..
_________________
Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[busdaddy]

Agreed, dismantling is really the best solution, a week's soak in Simple green may get most of it but there's still going to be residues in the center of the foil covered part that no amount of rinsing wll reach, YMMV.

Care to guess which blanket was on the bottom?, these made the deep fryer sound after any drive over 2 miles and constantly stunk like an oil refinery. The spot welds are usually a single one at each end of each seam, you don't have to unfold the lip fully either, just loosen it a little and you can separate them by squeezing the shell that's inside the fold and working it out like changing a bicycle tire.
_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

Слава Україні!

[BruceJ]

I’m a little skeptical that simply driving it will get rid of the smell. I drove my Bus from Asheville to Maine last fall. Lots of climbing and long days in warm weather, 1,251 miles in all. The leak had been fixed for a while, but I was hoping this drive would bake the smell away. It didn’t.
_________________
1965 Beetle
1972 Westfalia

[Danwvw]

Well on my type 1 I try really to be careful about oil. It still happens though. When adjusting valves it's good to put a rag just under the head between the opened area and the heater boxes.
Oil smoke is a carcinogen and burning it out does not get it all. Washing with soap and water or a good carb cleaner works best. Probably good to put them in the solvent tank first then the water-based cleaner. It will eat the aluminum if overdone.
I need to do mine again it's been 5 years since the rebuild and I don't even have any oil leaks. They just get oil in them somehow. The biggest problem with VW and Porsche Air Cooled engine design is the oil getting into the heater boxes.
_________________
1960 Beetle And 1679cc DP W-100 & Dual Zeniths!

[Wildthings]

[mike77777]

I used a Harbor freight Weed Burner on mine, kept at it until no more oil smoke. used JB Weld at any gaps between cover and cast parts. New cardboard tubes in engine compartment, same treatment on the metal tubes to the heater valves. Repainted, hooked up.
_________________
patience and putty

[BruceJ]

Maybe I just need to give it some time. It’s actually not me who’s complaining, it’s my S.O. She’s right, it kinda smells; but as for me, liberal use of patchouli is a lot less work. But that’s just me
_________________
1965 Beetle
1972 Westfalia

[69BahamaYellow]

Just responded to a similar post, but this seems to be the more appropriate place to discuss the smelly heater boxes...

Agree with busdaddy on taking the boxes apart to really clean them up. It's pretty easy, and once you get at that factory waffle texture insulation, you'll see why you can never get them clean. I'm not sure what that stuff is made of (and I hope it's not asbestos), but I have no idea how to clean it without destroying it, so I'm just going to replace it with fiberglass pad, and some aluminum flashing.

[Hoody]

If you get the insides ceramic coated you can leave the fiberglass and aluminum out. Which will make cleaning them in the future much easier. The fiberglass will just be another oil sponge and you will be taking them apart again.

[lil-jinx]

When I cleaned mine,I tried using flashing but found it too stiff to work with so I used alum pizza trays from the dollar store.I was easy to bend and costed very little blood.
I wonder if a fella was to eliminate the air flow from the shroud to the exchangers and pumbed the aux fan to draw fresh air from outside the engine compartment would it eliminate the oiling problem and would it provide enough air flow.
_________________
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620186
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=668799
1974 Bay Westfalia. she likes to be called Ethel.
1968 Dune Buggy
1974 parts bus
A smart man learns from his mistakes,a very smart man learns from other's mistakes.