I have tried to find a place that can walnut blast the intake valves for me, but nobody says they can do it. I do not have the time or space to do it myself, or the know how really. Does anyone know of any place in Orange County, CA or near there that can do it?

I am almost at 100k miles and have a PRS PCV waiting to be installed, but i really want to get these valves cleaned.

Also, is Seafoam a good alternative or really just a waste of money?

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

seafoam wont really work on the hard carbon deposits.

try to find a BMW/Audi/VW shop, they have been doing the walnut blasting for years. but beware, it is expensive.

 

Sea foam should not be used to clean valves. It will not do anything.

A shop will charge you $1,000 or more to do this I'd guess.

It's a 4-8 hr job depending on the person.

 

Yeah, ecaulk and I did it to our cars and it took us the better part of 8 hours to get them looking clean. that was with walnut media and valve cleaning stuff.

 

and it was the first time doing it, I'm sure we could knock it out in about 4-6h now

 

and the long time part isn't the technical stuff, it's all the prep work. it's not THAT difficult to remove the IM (just a little tricky maneuvering it).

 

I found it tricky the first time.

Second time I gave it a good yank and it came right out.

My second time cleaning with GM top end cleaner ran me less than $50 and took 4 hrs.

 

Yeah but how many beers were involved?

 

Surprisingly not that many lol

 

many

but to be fair, it was a lot of taping off more than cleaning.

 

Only place I found said $2500 and that is not in my budget. I have asked some BMW places and they all give me the same "we are busy with BMW's" answers. Is there any other alternative to go with that will do anything to help? Should I just install the PCV and leave them as is for now?

Too bad you guys are in CO. But realistically what would it cost to buy everything needed to actually do it myself? and how much knowledge do I need to follow a good "How-To"?

 

its really not that difficult.

do you have an air compressor?

if you do, you need a media blaster. harbor freight has a decent one. you can get walnut media online for cheap.

the process is simple. Tape off everything that you dont want walnuts to get in. take off your intake manifold and rotate your crank to close each cylinders valves.

you then soak the valves in cleaner, we used brake clean, GDI Valve cleaner from CRC and soaked the valves. once you let it soak for 10-15 minutes you can pick it clean using a cheap set of dentist tools.

once you get the majority of the big deposits off, you soak up the rest of the fluid with rags and then use your walnut media to blast the **** out of each valve.

repeat until clean.

 

heres our boss tape job

 

oh and we had a shopvac to suck out the media when we were blasting.

 

I didn't use the media, but saying that you will get a better clean from it. I have a 2nd vehicle and don't drive mine in the winter hardly at all, so I just did 2 cyl at a time by letting the valves soak for several hours, and used gun bore brushes, picks, etc to clean mine. Bumped the motor over to close the other 2 cyl valves and then did them. Took a weekend, and quite a bit of time, but I'm particular also. It's not hard, just time consuming. Cost all of about $50 which included another occasion valve and intake gasket. But you need to make sure the valves are closed.

 

yeah we found the media was unable to clean the really hard/caked on deposits. letting it soak and then picking it off worked better. the media was better at getting everything clean tho.

 

u don't have 3 hours and a driveway?

 

This is a decent explanation as well: https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-...emoval-304188/

Be sure to use a vacuum while you walnut blast as well, it saves a LOT of mess.

I bought a blaster and walnut media from harbor freight. I'd be surprised if I spent more than $50 on both. Chemtool B-12 also works well to soak with.

I thought I had some before and after pictures from when I did it on my VW but I can't find them.

 

I will look into doing it if it is as easy as you guys say. Only problem with doing it at home is my kids try to "help" and at 3 and 4 they don't really help. But I can send them somewhere with their mom. I will look up the stuff on harbor freight.

If anything goes tremendously wrong, be on the lookout for a "I tried to clean my valves and now my car doesn't run" thread.

Thanks for boosting my confidence up on this. I got a spare car if it takes more than 3 hours.. which I'm sure it will.

 

i still have to do mine for the first time as well. the how to and the guys on here make it easy for me to do. the walnuts are nice because if you dont get everything they will just burn off and same with the spray. so its all good!

 

If I had a Cali trip planned in the near future I'd say I could swing by and give a hand, but I'm heading east for my next vacation not west.

 

take pictures as you're taking things apart. it will help a lot trying to figure out which hoses go where. since it's likely your first time, i would label things and take pictures of the labels to make sure it's clear. The evap purge solenoid is kind of confusing for someone unfamiliar. you can just label with numbers or letters and take pictures, but if you want to learn you can look up what parts they are and label them as such. when you remove bolts and nuts, but them in labeled bags. organization is key to a successful repair project. this is actually a pretty good project to take the next step past oil changes.

I know what you mean with the kids. when my 2yo comes into the garage, i have to stop whatever i'm doing and get him back inside or he'll destroy things or himself. my 5yo is old enough that he can come out, but he ends up bored after a few minutes and goes back in. i often lock the door so that i can just finish without taking more time than necessary.

 

you would think walnut shell would burn off but no, when I opened my old engine it had she'll squished on the piston still shell colored. And I had done the blasting like a year earlier. Try ur best to get everything

 

You can get small kits that have 8 different colored small rolls of electrical tape. Works real well to remembering what hose goes where.

 

Damn, I definitely could have used the help. You should plan a spur of the moment trip...

But seriously, I appreciate all the insight and tips so far. Keep them coming. I have Cinco de Mayo penciled in as my project day. Gives me some time to order everything I need and get more info. Plus I think it is the first time I have a spare moment.