08-10 SS Turbocharged General Discussion Discuss the 2008 - 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS Turbocharged. On sale since the second quarter of 2008.

Something for LNF Owners to Look Out For

Old Jul 18, 2011 | 08:59 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by mkulrey13
Would meth prevent this as well? Ive always wanted to run meth.. this would be a great reson why!
anyone?
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:02 PM
  #27  
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Meth and water would clean the valves, as would another injector spraying fuel in the Purge Solenoid boss.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:08 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by ronn
Wow..
here we have the most definitive result of intake valve deposits in a DI set up!
I think colder weather (Canada) may have exaggerated the problem...but it still lurks in our DI motor! I'm putting on a catch can this week (@25K mi now), but I live in So Cal and don't see COLD. I wonder what kind of gas you guys were using? They say *top tier* gas helps...who knows? I also use a very good fuel system treatment (Redline SI-1) which has the same ingredient as Techron..only more cocentrated. It goes in EVERY tank of gas (3 oz). Yeah..the intakes don't see gas, but this stuff could still linger in the blow by gases and still keep the combustion chamber and injectors clean. Also, I switched to Pennzoil ULTRA at 12K mi..it's supposed to keep the motor very clean (factory clean) and is very good at reducing sludge as well. I don't want to use Seafoam at the point.
Exactly! Thank you for supporting what I was thinking .

As for gas I use Sunoco 94 (Petro Canada bought Sunoco out here, joint deal, same gas, different name) exclusively, even in winter (hasn't seen 91 for more than a year), and Mobil 1 oil as well.

I'm completely on the same page that the cold isn't helping because you simply can't blow the carbon out in 3' feet of snow, motor takes longer to warm up, etc. I have to baby it for 6 months which pisses me off but if I hit full boost on ice, that gets insanely dangerous even with my snow tires, but not sure what else to do.

Seafoam may be a posibility, if it helps it helps, even if I'm freezing my can off in the snow, sure, but if I'm wasting my time, I seriously don't know what else to do. I can't do this every 40,000km just because I drive in snow/ice .
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:08 PM
  #29  
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I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here about the whole seamfoam treatment topic.

I've been seafoaming my car on an every other oil change interval since.... well.... my second oil change , and when I took my intake mani off last week to specifically check for carbon build up on my valves I was pleasantly surprised to see that the seafoam has been doing a great job thus far at keeping the build up in check.

Now granted I have only 18,800 miles on the odo, and maybe I've been going a little overboard with doing this every other oil change (2nd seafoam treatment was done around 16k miles), but it seems to have worked quite well for me so far.

I've been working with engines since I was a kid and now professionally for almost 10 years now, so I'm just personally a firmly believer in preventative maintenance, and seamfoam just seemed like a no-brainer for a DI engine.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:14 PM
  #30  
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Carbon build up on valves are common on DI engines.....google RS4 carbon build issues..thats the most famous carbon build issue i know of
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:15 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by alerosaint
Carbon build up on valves are common on DI engines.....google RS4 carbon build issues..thats the most famous carbon build issue i know of
Common or not, I'm not gonna lose my car for 1 week every 40,000km for valve replacement .
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:17 PM
  #32  
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well im glad its all good man, mines still in the shop, been there since last saturday `
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:18 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by gotboost?17
well im glad its all good man, mines still in the shop, been there since last saturday `
No word on the parts yet ? They come from Tenessee (sp woops) and tend to take 5-7 days total to get here. I was lucky my valves got here in 4, hope they clear that **** up for ya.

Last edited by Permafried-; Jul 18, 2011 at 10:10 PM.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:32 PM
  #34  
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To the OP: Thanks for answering this for me. I've seen alot of cases of carbon build up on the intake valves of GMs DI 3.6L. I know some of it is poor PCV system design and the other is that fuel is not cleaning the intake valves on the engine.

To everyone: It won't matter what fuel grade you run unless you're spraying it into the intake manifold. It also doesn't really matter on the climate because we're seeing this issue pretty consistantly in Texas. My theory is that some oil has to get past the valve stem seals to lubricate the valve stems or they'd bind up. This small amount of oil is slowly leaving deposits on the intake valves and causing the boost leak the OP described.

I'm going to try some BG throttle body cleaner with the engine running. We'll see how this works. I'll probably pull the manifold off in a few more months.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 09:53 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by Malaclypse
To the OP: Thanks for answering this for me. I've seen alot of cases of carbon build up on the intake valves of GMs DI 3.6L. I know some of it is poor PCV system design and the other is that fuel is not cleaning the intake valves on the engine.

To everyone: It won't matter what fuel grade you run unless you're spraying it into the intake manifold. It also doesn't really matter on the climate because we're seeing this issue pretty consistantly in Texas. My theory is that some oil has to get past the valve stem seals to lubricate the valve stems or they'd bind up. This small amount of oil is slowly leaving deposits on the intake valves and causing the boost leak the OP described.

I'm going to try some BG throttle body cleaner with the engine running. We'll see how this works. I'll probably pull the manifold off in a few more months.
Welcome, glad I could help ! Also good to hear it's not just nuking the northern US/Canada.

Last edited by Permafried-; Jul 18, 2011 at 10:03 PM.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 10:06 PM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by mkulrey13
anyone?
Well, it's flud passing the intake valves, and as long as it is known to breakdown the sludge, it probably can't hurt. I just have a hard time saying "sure I'll run meth year round including in the winter when my IATs are so low it's retarded and that's just one more thing to have to put in the car. Btw, is there a vacuum line that's guaranteed to pass all the intake valves? I'd assume the one where someone put up a how-to on seafoaming but just curious.

Originally Posted by 09CobaltSS1
I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here about the whole seamfoam treatment topic.

I've been seafoaming my car on an every other oil change interval since.... well.... my second oil change , and when I took my intake mani off last week to specifically check for carbon build up on my valves I was pleasantly surprised to see that the seafoam has been doing a great job thus far at keeping the build up in check.

Now granted I have only 18,800 miles on the odo, and maybe I've been going a little overboard with doing this every other oil change (2nd seafoam treatment was done around 16k miles), but it seems to have worked quite well for me so far.

I've been working with engines since I was a kid and now professionally for almost 10 years now, so I'm just personally a firmly believer in preventative maintenance, and seamfoam just seemed like a no-brainer for a DI engine.
I bought some tonight, it's in my garage and I warned the neighbour if he sees a **** tonne of smoke coming out of my garage in November, it's not a fire, I'm just cleaning out the motor. I'll give it a shot what's the worst that can happen? I foul my plugs, that's easy. However, taking the manifold off and replacing the valves, I'm a software developer not a mechanic, bit excessive for me .

Last edited by Permafried-; Jul 18, 2011 at 10:20 PM.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 10:21 PM
  #37  
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Yes. There's a small 1/4" vacuum line right on top of the intake mani that feeds down to the vacuum tank. Just get a 12" length of vacuum line from a car parts store (or if you have any kicking around the garage), attach the hose to the vacuum port and use that to slowly suck in the seafoam (about 1/3 - 1/2 the bottle) while the car is still running. Just be sure to due this when the engine is up to full opperating temp and do not let too much suck in at once because you will stall the engine.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 10:25 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by 09CobaltSS1
Yes. There's a small 1/4" vacuum line right on top of the intake mani that feeds down to the vacuum tank. Just get a 12" length of vacuum line from a car parts store (or if you have any kicking around the garage), attach the hose to the vacuum port and use that to slowly suck in the seafoam (about 1/3 - 1/2 the bottle) while the car is still running. Just be sure to due this when the engine is up to full opperating temp and do not let too much suck in at once because you will stall the engine.
Gotcha, I know which one you're referring to, and I'll make sure not to hydrolock it, thanks .
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 10:30 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Permafried-
Gotcha, I know which one you're referring to, and I'll make sure not to hydrolock it, thanks .
haha.. I hope that didn't come across as condescending. I had to say it just in case some wise guy decided to go all out pump a full bottle all at once in through the brake booster line and start a "how I blew my engine while seafoaming" thread..
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 11:03 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by Dart_SI
Meth would help a lot here.
I reacall reading someone here using meth got valve deposits anyway.
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 11:07 PM
  #41  
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mike your car is gonna blow up
but is yours really doing all the same things his is
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Old Jul 18, 2011 | 11:09 PM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by Malaclypse
It also doesn't really matter on the climate because we're seeing this issue pretty consistantly in Texas. .
COLD weather matters....especially VERY COLD (Canada).

Got this off Audi forum..they have DI and valve deposit problems:

-Try to minimize short driving cycles as much as possible, especially during the winter. Cold weather climates will increase the problem if you do not allow the engine to get up to full operating temperature and burn off excess fuel that has been deposited in the oil during cold start enrichment. (it takes about 20 minutes of driving to do this)
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 12:25 AM
  #43  
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Meth Injection as mentioned would keep your engine clean
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 09:53 AM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by 09CobaltSS1
haha.. I hope that didn't come across as condescending. I had to say it just in case some wise guy decided to go all out pump a full bottle all at once in through the brake booster line and start a "how I blew my engine while seafoaming" thread..
No no not condescending at all, the more information the better especially if someone sees this and does exactly what you just said if they've never read up on it before .

Originally Posted by ronn
COLD weather matters....especially VERY COLD (Canada).

Got this off Audi forum..they have DI and valve deposit problems:

-Try to minimize short driving cycles as much as possible, especially during the winter. Cold weather climates will increase the problem if you do not allow the engine to get up to full operating temperature and burn off excess fuel that has been deposited in the oil during cold start enrichment. (it takes about 20 minutes of driving to do this)
Well that's god damned annoying when everything I need to go to, short of work (which is BARELY a 20 minute drive) is within 5 minutes driving distance. Thanks for passing this along, I'll have to keep it in mind.
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 10:17 AM
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I thought the same thing. My car never runs more than 5 minutes at a time right now. Sucks.
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 10:18 AM
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Originally Posted by umrdyldo
I thought the same thing. My car never runs more than 5 minutes at a time right now. Sucks.
Maybe if we run 'em real hard for that 5 minutes it'll make up for it ?
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 12:18 PM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by umrdyldo
I thought the same thing. My car never runs more than 5 minutes at a time right now. Sucks.
I feel your pain , We are all in the same boat.. maybe mines just leaking more...
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 12:28 PM
  #48  
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Water injection alone would steam clean the valves, blended with Meth would just be icing on the cake.
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 03:55 PM
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someone needs to come up with a simple solution. hopefully seafoaming more often (say every oil change just thru the intake mani) would help a lot more.
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Old Jul 19, 2011 | 03:58 PM
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subd for magic solution if i ever need it
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