I don't know how much I believe about these cleaners, but there's something that needs to be considered: it's a whole lot different when you run shit through an engine at operating temps than it is to soak them when everything is pulled apart. Heat and pressure play a role. I know it's not the same thing, but when my head gasket shit the bed, that number 4 piston was fucking spotless. And that's just water/coolant, and not a whole lot of it.

Walnut blaster. All DI motors have this issue.

IMO, if you're gonna clean like this. It's pointless. I did a spray through on a throttlebody at work and it just condenses in the bottom of the intake mani. BG cleaner is pretty potent too. Even keeping the car at 2K RPM while spraying.

Instead, I sell a manual throttle clean and I manually clean valves like everyone else does here. Costs more for the customer, but its by far the most effective.

Don't have the blasting equipment, but Mazda zoom engine carbon remover and a rifle cleaner did it up right and was not a lot of work. Would I frown on walnut blasting? Nope. Seems easier. Maybe next go aground.

Yup, the Mini guys swore by walnut blasting...I was just too lazy/cheap to do this when I had the cooperS.

+1 Walnut hands down is the best. i will say that the b12 does help loosen shit up though. I spent nearly twice as long blasting the valves that didnt soak overnight.

I do agree with you that its definitely the most effective solution, period. I would have to disagree that its the least amount of ass pain though. When we did these at BMW it was literally 30 seconds to disconnect an intake tube, 10-20 minutes of spraying this stuff in the intake (depending on air pressure applied) and a road test, and it worked unless the shit was really bad.

Mind you, we did these before BMW came out with their walnut shell blaster solution.

Do diesel engines suffer from this same problem, espcially since they are running EGR systems now?

Can't speak as to the diesel engines with egr but I've been working on a 7.3 powerstroke that has a sensor and tube that goes to the exhaust manifold to sense exhaust back pressure and that tube was completely sealed shut with crud. My guess is they probably have the same issue hence the popularity of the egr delete on the newer diesels.

Short answer: diesels are just different. Some even have aftercooled EGR.

Not THAT different to GDI. It boils down to they're both sucking in straight air through the intake valves. Well and exhaust gas I suppose..

This method absolutely works through the TB, primarily because we're removing buildup at operating temps. It's the same approach Mazda has been using the last 5-7 years with their entire lineup after piloting on the RX-8. My understanding is they will soak the cylinders overnight, spray the TB for several min at operating temps, then swap out the oil and plugs. They may also spray the intake including MAF if the PCV system has enabled excessive blowby. So if using aftermarket variants, it should be safe providing the chemical content doesn't exceed that of the Zoom cleaner.

It's obviously not as effective as IM removal; but not a horrible compromise in time vs. money.


EDIT: I'm sure most here already know but this is fairly close to Mazda's procedure:
https://youtu.be/zfNTZp6OrQ0?t=145

I'm currently working on a adapter that goes on the pressure side of the HPFP. We have a injector cleaner at work that you can run right through the injectors. Instead of hooking up to a intake vac source.. Run a pressure can at 60psi into the HPFP and run the car. Take the fuel pressure line at the HPFP and run a line back into the tank.

This would probably clean the passages in the HPFP as well.

I used to do this method on the GM 3.6L DI motor, except the fuel line going into the pump had a schrader valve right on the line. Its different on our cars.

Thread jack. Not thru the throttle body, but still related. FWIW.
I cleaned my valves a month ago with the typical manifold removal method. I tried 4 chemicals side by side on 4 valves for comparison. Soaked for about an hour. Scrubbed with a toothbrush. Then cleared the chemicals from the ports and let them dry while I worked on walnut blasting the other 4 valves. I tried to choose 4 valves that had about the same amount of filth on them for a 'fair' comparison. One of the chemicals was CRC based on this thread.
From my experience, B12 is Way better than the other 3 for the scrubbing method. It cleaned better. It left less residue. And when I came back later, the residue was not sticky like the other 3 were.
My .02
Picz...
http://i61.tinypic.com/1z64egh.jpg
Chemicals
http://i59.tinypic.com/29o0mye.jpg
brushing
http://i62.tinypic.com/f50zfs.jpg
post scrubbing
http://i58.tinypic.com/a13hgl.jpg
residual scraped out after chemicals and scrub brushing

Thanks for doing a side by side comparison! I still plan on doing a A B test with CRC stuff sprayed into the engine after 10k miles, once I have a little more time.

Just here to say +1 for the IM removal/B-12/walnut blasting method. 100% guaranteed to work, can easily do it in a day, and the car performs better.

Not to mention, if you are doing this, might as well get TIG's & an OCC if you haven't already. With what you take off to clean the valves, makes the installation of these very simple.

Plus 1. We did 2 cars side by side this past Saturday. Next event we will probably try 3 cars.

It would have probably been 3 cars but we had one guy stocking out.

Hoping to get mine done next time. Got to save up for an OCC to have ready to install. Also will probably do EGR delete too and the Tigs

@TheFlash or @thepatient77 have you noticed a difference with your tigs?

So I got a chance to do the A, B test of the CRC GDI cleaner today in combination with an oil change.

A: Take manifold off, take before photos of valves (potatoes 1 & 2)

Install manifold, spray CRC GDI cleaner according to instructions

B: Take manifold off again, take after photos of valves (potatoes 3 & 4)

Unfortunately, photos came out terrible.

However, I will say that the simple spray on cleaners actually did take a substantial amount of the goop off- but not nearly close to what a proper walnut blast would do.

The mechanism seems to be heat and some kind of strong detergent. After application the intake manifold and associated parts of the engine bay were quite hot. It took over an hour to even partially cool and for me to stop burning my hands in the "after" tear down. I didn't happen to have any of my long Q-tips to swab the valves, but all the nasty stubborn oily deposits in the manifold and throttle body simply wiped away.

Mechanism for delivery: inserting the straw into the boost tube post intercooler, pre throttle body.

Car: stock as stock gets MS3 engine, including EGR no CC.


The verdict: if it's cheap and available, sure, throw a can the car for a regular maintenance. HOWEVER, not a replacement for a yearly walnut cleaning. Or an additional helper to cut down on soaking for walnut blasting.

Thank you for doing this. Removing the IM twice is quite a bit of work!

(double check your pictures. Pics 2, 3, and4 all look the same.)

CRC told me that it will not damage the turbo, but I'm still hesitant to try it. That debris still has to go somewhere...

They probably are only concerned with their product damaging the turbo. But I don't know if the debris would cause much damage; it's not like you're at WOT.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

Some of the debris could still be in there when you do go drive the car. I read at least 1 comment on their YouTube video where someone cites exactly this happened to their car.

If you guys want a chem that cleans intake valves fast buy this stuff:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...SR240,320_.jpg

It's legit stuff. I cleaned some valves that I had out of an engine with it. 100k of carbon buildup gone in two wipes, it was removing stuff with one wipe that took me 10+ wipes with B12. This stuff is crazy strong, the whole can is warning labels and I definitely would advise to use it in a well ventilated area and to wear a mask. I don't know of any local places that sell it and I doubt any do but it can be had on amazon for ~$10 a can.

IMO there's no reason to spray that far upstream. Try spraying just before the TB.

You can leave the intake/IC in tact; just tape/wrap any exposed areas and be sure the IM is HOT.