Flies choaking up radiator

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Thu 29 Aug 2002 09:43
Flies choaking up radiator - Cliff Pope
Has anyone any tips on clearing out the sticky gunge blocking up the airways in my 6-month old radiator? It seems to be a mixture of squashed flies and grass seeds. I have tried hoovering from the front, and blasting with a hose from behind, but neither is very effective, and the fins are easily bent which of course just replaces one problem with another.
Is there some product that will disolve the mess and make it water-soluble?
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Thu 29 Aug 2002 10:52
Flies choaking up radiator - Ian (Cape Town)
I took SWMBO up the coast to see the flowers a while back.
Unfortunately, every flying creature south of the Sahara had the same idea, and the car collected rather a few of them ...

Solution:
Lots of hot, soapy water...
The best thing to do, if you want to keep the radiator in situ is to construct a 'condom' (for want of a better word - sorry Mark and Martyn!) around the radiator using heavy-duty plastic (our local clothing store does a great bag ideal for the purpose!).
Obviously the area around the mountings, hoses etc has to be duct-taped closed.
Then fill with hot water, leave to soak, and attack it with an old lavatory brush, or similar.

Fin-bending is inevitable, unfortunately, but I find an old half-a-hacksaw blade ideal for straigtening them out afterwards.
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Thu 29 Aug 2002 20:55
Flies choaking up radiator - steve paterson
Some commercial vehicles have a sort of 'fly screen' in front of the radiator. They can be removed and cleaned when neccesary.
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Fri 30 Aug 2002 21:48
Flies choaking up radiator - malcolm
I remove them from the radiator and the bonnet without any damage using my "karcher" power washer.
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