Condenser fins

Last weekend the A/C condenser was cleaned by spraying foaming A/C condenser cleaner (the blue can from Home Depot) in through the slots and also down from the top. Then rinse with a garden hose. Then because our tap water is very vary hard, rinsed again with distilled water from a Greenwood garden sprayer. That is a hand pumped sprayer, no force to speak of, more like a mist than serious spray. Some parts still looked dirty so they were washed again the same way.

When done the top part looked very good (see picture at bottom), the middle looked pretty good, mostly straight but some bent fins visible through the grill. But the bottom 4 or 5 inches, yuck. I couldn't get a decent picture through the grill opening with a camera, so this example was made with a Teslong bore scope camera (there is a little motion blur):



The fins are like that pretty much the entire way across. The bottom shields are intact. I have never used a pressure washer on this car. Gravel damage maybe?

Anyway...

The A/C still works pretty well, but I bet it would work better if it could breathe along the bottom. When the daytime temperature here gets below 90 guess I'll take off the bumper cover and waste 4 or 5 hours straightening that mess out.