Gone4broke

https://youtu.be/_TEbyCEyvbk?si=_vHszaJPJUxemv-E

Has anyone tried this method to clean carbon deposits??

It seems too good to be true so just waiting for someone to comment and tell me why this won't work on our cars.

Gone4broke

Also, has anyone tried walnut blasting the valves? There's a $35 walnut blaster at harbor freight and my intake system is all apart in my garage right now so if I can clean the valves for 35 bucks and some walnut media ?

firestart9

Someone answer this dude!

Gone4broke

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I asked my buddy who was a Toyota tech and he told me "you're going to blow your engine up."

But since this is a second "fun vehicle" and I already had everything apart I went ahead and started it.

What I will say is the zip tie drill is not enough by itself, I bent an aluminum tent stake at the end and have been using that to loosen carbon deposits along with crc valve cleaner.

My method is to find out which two cylinders are TDC, spray crc valve cleaner, let it soak for 15-20 min.

Use the stake to scrape and loosen as much as I can. Repeat this process using the drill and zip ties.

Also be sure to vacuum out the ports each time you're done scraping, I just duct taped a small diameter hose into my shop vac and that plus shop air im able to get everything out of each port so it won't fall into the cylinder upon starting.


I'm going to finish today as the last two sets of valves have been soaking overnight.

When I try to start her up tomorrow I'll report back whether my buddy was right or not 😂


If anyone could chime in on walnut blasting that could potentially be way faster than what I'm doing.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Carbon in general is baked on and very stubborn to remove. Given the head is aluminum and it scratches easily one wants to limit things that gouge it, only because it makes the next round of stickage happen a little quicker. Is a zip tie softer, sure. Does it work in all cases, I doubt it. Personally I would try to avoid chemical softners as many cases will have it leaking past the valve and taking the thin film of oil from the cylinder.
I'd opt for walnuts but that requires a compressor capable of some volume of air and not everyone has this.

GL OP

firestart9

What does spraying CRC intake cleaner do tho? Is that safe?

Gone4broke

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It's basically a really strong solvent for carbon buildup. I don't think any has leaked into my cylinders because I soaked them for a good while and none of them lost and fluid before vacuuming it out. I'll change the oil after I finish cleaning them anyway but they really needed to get done.

My gaskets get here today so I should have everything put back together tonight or early tomorrow morning so I'll report back how it goes. I did do a seafoam treatment through the intake before I started all this and I got the smoke show but judging by the valves it really didn't do too much. As the other guy said the carbon is pretty baked on.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Glad you clarified the CRC was still in there and didn't leak past the valve. Of course another aspect of filling an intake runner with solvent is the loss of oil on the valve stem and guide, and subsequent added wear until oil is restored.

PS for others using CRC or other products, most of these are flammable! Use a large volume syringe to remove the spent liquid. It's much safer than sucking it up with a vacuum cleaner and risk of explosion.

Gone4broke

Would it be a good idea to wipe a little bit of oil on the valve stems before reassembly? My plan is to fire it up drive it around until the smoke clears out and then change the oil.

Gone4broke

Update: I did not blow up my engine, suck it Scotty. Hard to give an honest review though because I also installed an oil catch can and blocked off the breather hose that goes to the air tube. In doing so my engine ran super lean and was throwing codes left and right, I fixed those things though and the codes went away and my fuel trims returned to normal, I'll test drive it tomorrow when my longer hose comes in so I can mount the catch can.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

It's way easier just to use water. Get the engine up to temperature, pull off the EVAP hose, hook up a quart (or more) of water in a container through a small rubber tube, run the engine at 2k rpm, and let the water flow. It won't hydrolock, and it will do an amazing job of removing carbon from the valves, ports, and piston crowns. I've been doing this for years before I rebuild an engine to save a whole lot of cleaning time.

jgscott

iTrader: (1)

Yep it's, sometime called Steam cleaning.

Gone4broke

Is this basically the same as doing a seafoam treatment through the intake?

What makes water work better than a hydrocarbon based product like seafoam?

Gone4broke

My only question is how hot does that water really get before it gets to the valves? Wouldn't the majority of the heat be inside the cylinder? I know the piston face will get cleaned real nice but how does it work on the carbon that's outside the cylinder on the valves?

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

You're missing the concept. The water doesn't get hot, it's cold, and it thermally shocks the carbon so it falls off the hot metal.

No, Seafoam is nothing like this because water has a very high heat of vaporization. No VOC even comes close to water for absorbing heat. Water isn't dissolving anything here, it's just providing a thermal hammer.