Darn it! Road salt sprayed right through the front, got under the hood and stuck!!!
 

A road salt truck spraying out salt passed by me and threw what sounded like a huge amount of salt all throughout the front area including the windshield as I heard the sprinkling sound of the salt hitting against the windows.

After I parked underground and when I opened up the hood, I saw crystals of salt stuck in between the tiny slots of the Power Steering Cooler (picture attached)! I'd hate to see them stay there.

How can I get rid of them? And will it hurt the performance of the cooler?

I thought about pouring warm or hot water at the power steering cooler, but I wasn't sure 'cause I thought I might damage it or something else.

Road salt on the exterior is one thing, but going through the kidney grille and potentially damaging engine and its components under hood is another!

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/i/l/234.png

Maybe hit the "quarter" car wash, and spend 5 bucks spraying the crap
out from the front of your car...or, in your driveway, if it's not freezing.

Water, even car wash sprayer water, does wonders as a "solvent" for
that salt/crud combo...lots and lots of water.
GL,mD

But it's under the hood. I might damage something by spraying water under there, won't I? And the power steering cooler, it's ok to pour water there? Where would the water drain through?

For the most part you should be fine as long as you stay away from the electronics/electrical items. I am sure the engineers understood that there would be moisture under the hood.

Where would the water drain through though? The Power Steering Cooler is in front of the Radiator, so I'm worried how much water I can pour at it. 'Cause water would fall inside where the lower air intake mesh is.

Maybe I'll just go ahead and see what happens... Hopefully nothing gets damaged.

It will drain out the same place that rain water that comes through the grill while driving in the rain. You really don't have anything to worry about.

Chuck

Cars are designed for this. Do not fear. I used to have a Subaru Legacy GT. It had a big turbo air intake scoop in the middle of the hood. I had a similar conversation with a guy at the Subaru forums. The intake is designed to take on water. Just like the front of the X5. Imagine all those X5s driving in Florida. Some of those rain drops are like buckets of water.

Just don't open the hood and start spraying around the engine. :)

Have a nice day!

Brian

Thanks all! :)

EDIT: I hope it's ok to use hot water 'cause I used hot water to pour down on the power steering cooler. ^Of course I had to open up the hood, but didn't have to go far into the engine.