Lastly, I thought I would put up some carbon cleaning tips that work for me. If anyone has any questions let me know.
After you get the intake off and inspect the state of the carbon, you need to start looking into what cylinders you’re going to start working on first. One good way to make sure the valves are shut all the way and not just part of the way is to spray some starter fluid into each cylinder that appears fully closed.
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After all, if you’re going the chemical route you’re going to be spraying a much harsher chemical into the ports. If you first start with starter fluid to test each cylinder, the fallout of getting starter fluid into an open cylinder isn’t a big deal. The starter fluid will just evaporate shortly after if left.
What I do is spray a little starter fluid into the cylinders I want to start with and see if it pools. If it pools and doesn’t leak into the cylinder I know when I spray the chemical cleaner into the port and start working the area with wire brushes that nothing is going to fall into the cylinder.
One issue some guys have after a carbon clean is 02s failing. That can in part be from, getting chemical leakage into the cylinder and also getting carbon sludge leaking into the cylinder and then when the car starts up that leakage goes into the cats and past the 02s.
After I have let the chemical sit in the ports for a while and I have gotten all the carbon off with a wire brush and a drill I vacuum out the leftover gunk.
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Each time you clean make sure you’re cleaning with the brush and that you’re cleaning in standing fluid. It helps.
After you’re done and you think the cylinders are clean. Hit the cylinders with some air.
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It looks clean. But no, there is one more thing you should do. I took this picture just before I did my final step.
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After each cylinder is clean and I use air to blow out the cylinder. I go back and fill each cylinder I just cleaned with washer fluid and come back with a bright light. Almost always I find some little-hidden collection. The second pass is so important due to the fact that we can’t pull our cats out as easy as the other platforms. So if you get carbon or debris in your cats your just causing possible long term issues.
As the last tip. One question I hear a lot is. How do you turn the motor over to close the valves on the cylinders that were open?
Simple. Get a 1/2 inch wrench and socket that fits over the alternator nut. You can easily spin over the motor by simply turning the alternator nut clockwise. Just remember that you should have all your ports covered before you spin over the motor. If you can’t get the motor to spin over due to there being too much resistance. Just pull out the spark plugs and the motor will spin over by hand at that poitn.
Intake flaps are fine and show functionality via the two sensors in vcds, however the “tumbler” flap is broken.