Intake valve cleaning techniques

[stufrowin]

Short of taking off the intake manifold and scrubbing the ports, do any of you guys use other intake valve cleaners? If so which ones and where do you add it in?

When I changed my crossover pipe I had my intake manifold off and realized the amount of build up MY2011already had. Didn't know about the BG 2 step at that point or else I would have used it just sprayed a ton of CRC valve cleaner and scrubbed it. Since then I've been trying to spray valve cleaner past the maf sensor but seems like it still has a long way to travel before the valves so not sure how well it is working. Also have tried dripping in Sea Foam to vacuum site by right air filter via funnel again not sure how much is making it in. Would like to spray straight into throttle body but motor dies when housing is off.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, or if I'm wasting my time with aerosols maybe I'll make it a habit to try to take manifold off once in a while for deep clean.

 

[mbw]

Do you have pictures? I don't know of any other fixes other than having them 'walnut shell blasted' or whatever a machine shop would do to fix them. Valve cleaner and careful elbow grease is probably fine.

How bad is it? Causing issues? codes?

 

[stufrowin]

this was from back in September when I had manifold off. I got most of the build up out. No codes or performance issues just want to prevent problems.

 

[mpinco]

Interesting. What brand of fuel do you run?

 

[mbw]

Interesting. What brand of fuel do you run?

Big problem with direct injection motors like ours is that the fuel doesn't touch the top parts of the intake valves.. so that wont help. Fuel does have additives in it to keep intake valves clean on non DI motors.

 

[stufrowin]

Big problem with direct injection motors like ours is that the fuel doesn't touch the top parts of the intake valves.. so that wont help. Fuel does have additives in it to keep intake valves clean on non DI motors.

Exactly, I've seen a lot more spray products out there as this issue is only going to increase with manufacturers using direct injection

 

[mpinco]

Big problem with direct injection motors like ours is that the fuel doesn't touch the top parts of the intake valves.. so that wont help. Fuel does have additives in it to keep intake valves clean on non DI motors.

True but still a contributor. A reasonably good overview:

Preventing and Fixing Carbon Issues for Direct Injection Engines ~ Episode 80

Strategies:

Longer drives vs. urban start/stop
Italian Tune-up
Catch-can
Seafoam
Manual cleaning

 

[mbw]

Anyone know of a catch can setup for our V8's? I've always hated the idea of the PCV system.

 

[Pfunk951]

No idea about a catch can.. Umberto uses a system that hooks up the intake (I believe while the engine is running) and applies a cleaner to the intake air.. I think that method should address this, but I can't remember the name of the system.. There are shops all over the US that provide the service.. I'll look into it..

Mike

 

[Pfunk951]

BG Induction Service. Google it and locate the nearest one.

Credit to the man, Umberto.. He posted this on an earlier thread..

Mike