Just curious if amyone has tried to cleanout the original style SALSA unit in a 4.8! I got one that is all pluged up! I wanted to try and clean it out before I update to the new unit!
The SALSA unit itself! After the blower! I dont think cleaning it out every day is practical! I think it requires unbolting the wast tank! I think this could be a interesting thread when it's all said and done! I have heard nothing about cleaning out the SALSA units on any forums! I belirve hydramaster recommends cleaning it out every 1000 hours! I just picked up a 03 express with a 4.8 and SALSA and the salsa being pluged up put enough strain on the blower to take the rebuilt blower out after 300 hours! the rebuilt blower lost a bearing! :AddEmoticons04259: Hydramaster has a Kit to update to the SALSA x2 which removes the old unit and replaces it with a smaller unit that the ends come off and can be cleaned easyer at the tune of about $1600 I'm going to pull it ont on monday and was hopeing for some advise! I'm hopeing their is no aluminum on it and it can just be taken to a radiator shop and hot tanked, but it seem nothing I ever do is that easy!
Yes, useing the blower exhaust, but I think it's after the HX useing the coolant! I havent really looked at it yet! just picked up the van last night!
Is it not working right?You should not have to go to a radiator shop,Im sure it is tied into your coolant HX and you can do a descale.The only reason to clean around the outside of the coils is if they are coated with crap(which is possible if they did not filter well.)
The unit woks like a radiator, The water flows fine! the blower exhaust blows through it heating the fins and it heats the water! The blower exhaust flows through it and over time it picks up debris and after so long it will get restricted! The unit for sure needs to come out!
I pulled it out today! removed the 200 small screws and yep it is got a ton of crap in their! 1" thick in the botom if the inlet from the blower! I don't think their is any aluminum in it! I'm goint to take it to the radiator shop in the morning and see if they can put it in the hot tank! I also took my blower to a guy that rebuilds them and I watched him pull it apart and he said it has been getting extreemley hot because of the pluged up salsa! the bearings on it were turning blue from the heat!
I got the salsa back from the radiator shop and it's all cleaned out! they got about 95% clean, should work just fine! the fins are aluminum so they could not hot tank it! they said degreaser seemed to work the best! I cleaned of the front and back covers and went down to the locar car parts store and bought some hi temp silicone and picked up about 10 new screws and 10 new next size up screws #10 by 1/2 fo any of the holes that wanted to strip out and got it back together! I think I'm going to pick up a inline filter to help with keeping the wasetank clean and the cleaner I can keep that I'm sure it will keep less less crap getting sucked up by the blower!
IF you want to eliminate the problem in the future I would get rid of that Blower HX(it does not add much heat)and add a post heater.You could have cleaned up the crap yourself with a pressure wash,but at least it is done.
