Intake valve cleaning
I finally cleaned the intake valves today. 72,818 miles, Powell air/oil separator at 52,428. I just used metal picks, Sea Foam, and a gun barrel brush to clean them. Not as thorough like a media blaster would get it, but I got a lot of carbon out. Longer picks would have made it easier. If I have to do this again, I'll get a media blaster. I'd want it cleaner than this. Put a new PCV valve in while at it. Throttle seems a little more responsive, but that could be a placebo effect. I'll see it in my fuel mileage this week. I've been averaging mid 22 mpg each tank lately.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psgdtdnt3x.jpg http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...pszct2oawe.jpg |
Originally Posted by Solaris99
(Post 7623473)
I finally cleaned the intake valves today. 72,818 miles, Powell air/oil separator at 52,428. I just used metal picks, Sea Foam, and a gun barrel brush to clean them. Not as thorough like a media blaster would get it, but I got a lot of carbon out. Longer picks would have made it easier. If I have to do this again, I'll get a media blaster. I'd want it cleaner than this. Put a new PCV valve in while at it. Throttle seems a little more responsive, but that could be a placebo effect. I'll see it in my fuel mileage this week. I've been averaging mid 22 mpg each tank lately.
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I didn't let them soak for very long. Maybe an hour. It's good enough for me. Glad to be done with it.
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Originally Posted by Solaris99
(Post 7623477)
I didn't let them soak for very long. Maybe an hour. It's good enough for me. Glad to be done with it.
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they still have a layer of oil gunk on them. should have walnet blasted. its a lot easier than how u did it. just the prep takes a while.
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That's a lot of work to only do half the job.
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I agree it's not complete. I don't think pulling the manifold was really that much work, so going back in isn't that difficult. I'll be prepared when I inspect them again in a year or so.
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Originally Posted by Solaris99
(Post 7623515)
I agree it's not complete. I don't think pulling the manifold was really that much work, so going back in isn't that difficult. I'll be prepared when I inspect them again in a year or so.
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Originally Posted by tomj77
(Post 7623522)
ya but ur wasting 20 bucks for a gasket every time. so if ur gonna go in and do it, why not just do it right once and not worry about it again
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Originally Posted by Solaris99
(Post 7623526)
I'll go hop in my time machine and stop myself from wasting a trivial amount of money. If I knew it was going to be so much work for a not-so-great yield, I wouldn't have bothered with this method. I don't mind learning some things the hard way.
I manually cleaned mine on the now deceased car and mine were just as good as a walnut blast. The whole point is to fill the intake ports to drown all the valves and let them soak for as long as possible. Then, you go to town. This isn't meant to be demeaning towards you either. I just don't want someone searching about how to go about it and then coming to the same conclusion as you. Half assed work = half assed results |
Originally Posted by T-Man
(Post 7623535)
It works great. You just did a half assed job.
I manually cleaned mine on the now deceased car and mine were just as good as a walnut blast. The whole point is to fill the intake ports to drown all the valves and let them soak for as long as possible. Then, you go to town. This isn't meant to be demeaning towards you either. I just don't want someone searching about how to go about it and then coming to the same conclusion as you. Half assed work = half assed results Here's a link for people that are searching in the future. https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-...emoval-304188/ |
I was unwilling to go nuts with solvent, as I've read concerns about it leaking into the cylinders. Maybe that's an irrational fear as long as the valves are closed completely.
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Originally Posted by Solaris99
(Post 7623555)
I was unwilling to go nuts with solvent, as I've read concerns about it leaking into the cylinders. Maybe that's an irrational fear as long as the valves are closed completely.
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I was erring well on the side of caution with this. It wasn't so much a concern for hydrolock (just pull the spark plugs) as I had read it would be bad to wash the oil out of the ring lands. Again, I don't mind doing it twice as long as I don't screw the engine up.
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I'm afraid to look at this car's valves. I don't think they were ever done and it has 140k on it LOL
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1 Attachment(s)
Guess I had better luck doing mine
I spent a few hours doing them I used a long flathead to get through the big stuff to start, then I used a rounded pick to get everything out. I soaked my valves in Mazda zoom engine cleaner, then I went at them with a pic, then I sprayed carb cleaner in them, then I blasted the carb cleaner out with an air nozzle. Got great results Went from this: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/...psme6gfr4n.jpg To this: Attachment 11225 |
1 Attachment(s)
Here's a close up of the valve before doing one last blast of carb clean, wiping, then air.
I also wrapped a rag around the flathead and scrubbed with that. Attachment 11224 |
No_ss, you didn't walnut blast?
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Originally Posted by tuned08ss
No_ss, you didn't walnut blast?
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To be exact on what I used, I used CRC carb cleaner, Mazda zoom engine cleaner. I blasted them a few times with that and let them soak in the Mazda zoom engine cleaner then also with carb cleaner as I cleaned the other valves. The carbon was coming out easy.
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The hooked pick helped get up by the valve seat and the back side of the valve that would've been hard to get to.
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CRC makes a GDI valve cleaner that I used when I did mine. Had intention of using the shops media blaster but of course it had to shit out halfway through the first cylinder. Ended up swapping back and forth between the CRC stuff and carb cleaner with picks and some flexible plastic brushes. Ended up with some damn clean valves for doing everything by hand.
Edit: I let the valves soak in the GDI cleaner for a bit before going to town with it and carb clean. It's interesting to watch the white foam it makes turn black and liquify the carbon to the point a rag can remove all but the most baked on gunk. |
I let mine soak overnight and used various pics, including a round one, and gun cleaning brushes and swabs and mine turned out pretty good.
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The GDI stuff from CRC is pretty strong cleaner, I've used it on my gdi audi but I can't get a borescope to see before after differences. It would be a good cleaner to use.
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I used gm top engine cleaner on my ls and it worked great, I really need to do my ss soon. 42k and im sure the previous owner never did it. the stuff from gm works great if let to soak for the appropriate time. Used brake cleaner after a good soak and the carbon disappears. We use it on the 3.6di all the time.
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So there is no need for walnut shit going everywhere? This is good news
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Originally Posted by ThoR294
(Post 7626312)
So there is no need for walnut shit going everywhere? This is good news
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Originally Posted by Tdubbs
The walnut blasting is still going to produce the best results. You can get good results with just cleaners, but expect to spend some more time per cylinder to get a result worth the effort.
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Originally Posted by no_ss
(Post 7626322)
The only benefit of walnut blasting is faster process. You can get just as clean with cleaners and picks.
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cleaning up the walnut shells may take longer LOL. plus, I have a friend with me so we can tackle 2 cylinders at once.
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It's really not that big of a mess if you blast for a bit then vacuum out, and while you're blasting hold the vacuum line near the intake runner you're blasting. Then after you get done you'll have a bit to vacuum around the engine bay depending on how well you taped everything off, and some on the floor that you'll keep finding for awhile
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Originally Posted by ECaulk
(Post 7626341)
It's really not that big of a mess if you blast for a bit then vacuum out, and while you're blasting hold the vacuum line near the intake runner you're blasting. Then after you get done you'll have a bit to vacuum around the engine bay depending on how well you taped everything off, and some on the floor that you'll keep finding for awhile
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So for those who soak overnight, do you soak 3 cylinders one night and then the 4th cylinder the next night? I thought you couldn't get all valves closed at the same time.
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Originally Posted by Solaris99
(Post 7626346)
So for those who soak overnight, do you soak 3 cylinders one night and then the 4th cylinder the next night? I thought you couldn't get all valves closed at the same time.
I guess soak over night, soak up cleaner in morning out of 3 cylinders, rotate engine, start soaking other cylinder while cleaning other cylinders. |
I have like 5 methods of transportation (see sig), so downtime isn't a big thing for me hahaha
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Cleaner washing the oil film from the cylinder walls is a worry I'd have.
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Originally Posted by ECaulk
(Post 7626379)
Cleaner washing the oil film from the cylinder walls is a worry I'd have.
If your valve seats are bad you would likely be seeing other issues. |
Originally Posted by umrdyldo
(Post 7626381)
As far as i could tell the 3 cylinders have valves that are closed. If your valve seats are good, then the fluid should not leak into the cylinder.
If your valve seats are bad you would likely be seeing other issues. |
yeah the solvent really wasn't as useful as the walnut blasting
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I didn't soak overnight. No need to.
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