Walnut Blasting / BG DI Service / Remove intake DIY?

[jmac404]

I am pretty sure my intake is gummed up with carbon. I get a miss when the engine is stone cold. I have done the CRC intake clean spray twice and it helps significantly for about 200 miles.

I've read where people with BMW i6 remove their intake and use nylon brushes and CRC intake spray to manually clean them. Any thoughts on the difficulty of this versus having a shop do a walnut blast through the intake manifold?

 

[toxicavenger70]

I am pretty sure my intake is gummed up with carbon. I get a miss when the engine is stone cold. I have done the CRC intake clean spray twice and it helps significantly for about 200 miles.

I've read where people with BMW i6 remove their intake and use nylon brushes and CRC intake spray to manually clean them. Any thoughts on the difficulty of this versus having a shop do a walnut blast through the intake manifold?

I do not believe that will help. Maybe a good throttle body cleaning? Or even change out the spark plugs on it.

 

[Gunkk]

OP: yes if the valves are coked up, you need to walnut blast.

 

[jmac404]

OP: yes if the valves are coked up, you need to walnut blast.

Have you seen the BMW guys who remove the intake and DIY it with the crc DI cleaner?

It's a long video but the gist is you remove intake so you can access the back of the intake valves, use the CRC cleaner and nylon brushes to clean out the carbon

 

[toxicavenger70]

OP: yes if the valves are coked up, you need to walnut blast.

How does this clean the valves? The intake is a separate from them.

 

[Gunkk]

To clarify:

Walnut blasting is done to the intake section of the heads (runners and valves) with the plastic intake manifold off the car. You don't walnut blast the plastic intake manifold.

The intakes on our cars are plastic. Plastic intake manifolds do not get hot enough to get coked up with carbon like the valves/heads and you do not want to be walnut blasting the plastic intake.

If you want to clean the intake runners, take it off the car. Get a bottle cleaning brush and use some Polyetheramine (aka Techron) based cleaner.

 

[jmac404]

To clarify:

Walnut blasting is done to the intake section of the heads (runners and valves) with the plastic intake manifold off the car. You don't walnut blast the plastic intake manifold.

The intakes on our cars are plastic. Plastic intake manifolds do not get hot enough to get coked up with carbon like the valves/heads and you do not want to be walnut blasting the plastic intake.

If you want to clean the intake runners, take it off the car. Get a bottle cleaning brush and use some Polyetheramine (aka Techron) based cleaner.

Thanks. The plan right now is to remove the intake, clean it with the CRC GDI spray (I think techron based). Rotate the motor to the intake valves are closed and spray/soak/scrub with nylon brushes to clean the valves and throats of the head. And change the plugs while I'm in there.

 

[jmac404]

FYI for anyone else who has finds this. Long story short, use a walnut blaster. You buy the 'portable blaster' at harbor freight for about $30 and it's required. You also need to soak the carbon with the crc gdi spray for at least a few hours to soften it. Then use soft brushes (brass or hard plastic gun cleaning brushes) to dislodge the large chunks. Use clean rags to soak out the gunk. Then walnut blast. Don't go into this believing that you can just spray a bit and then scrub it out. Maybe on an inline engine where you can do it once a year or something. It is a big job on our cars.

 

[Kraig Wilkinson]

I am pretty sure my intake is gummed up with carbon. I get a miss when the engine is stone cold. I have done the CRC intake clean spray twice and it helps significantly for about 200 miles.

I've read where people with BMW i6 remove their intake and use nylon brushes and CRC intake spray to manually clean them. Any thoughts on the difficulty of this versus having a shop do a walnut blast through the intake manifold?

Try using injector cleaner in fuel tank. Use it every tank full, for atleast a half dozen times or so. Helps big time. Not saying you dont have dirty valves, and I know injector cleaner dont clean valves. Try it out , I bet it helps. Good luck.

 

[jmac404]

Try using injector cleaner in fuel tank. Use it every tank full, for atleast a half dozen times or so. Helps big time. Not saying you dont have dirty valves, and I know injector cleaner dont clean valves. Try it out , I bet it helps. Good luck.

After manually cleaning these valves and intake path, 100% no way will any injector cleaner or spray clean off this build up. Maybe it will clean the valve/valve seat contact points, but that is it. My method was to rotate the motor until two piston's intake valves were closed and soaking with CRC GDI spray (it's basically techron injector cleaner x100) overnight. Even then, it took brass brushes and a walnut blaster, and then detail work with a pick to make any sort of headway.

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[Kraig Wilkinson]

Try using injector cleaner in fuel tank. Use it every tank full, for atleast a half dozen times or so. Helps big time. Not saying you dont have dirty valves, and I know injector cleaner dont clean valves. Try it out , I bet it helps. Good luck.

After manually cleaning these valves and intake path, 100% no way will any injector cleaner or spray clean off this build up. Maybe it will clean the valve/valve seat contact points, but that is it. My method was to rotate the motor until two piston's intake valves were closed and soaking with CRC GDI spray (it's basically techron injector cleaner x100) overnight. Even then, it took brass brushes and a walnut blaster, and then detail work with a pick to make any sort of headway.

Yeah man that carbon is no joke. Rock hard stuff. I cant imagine the carbon falling off the valves easily.

 

[jmac404]

Some things to note now that this is done

Go ahead and install a catch can while you have it apart and things are clean, before it gets dirty again.

I strongly suggest going ahead and cleaning the vvt solenoids and changing the valve cover gaskets while you have it apart. Fully removing the intake is a pain, an extra 30 min to clean the VVT valves and $40 in valve cover gaskets is just worth it while you're in there.

 

[12114]

Nice but I'm a complete idiot when it comes to taking the engine apart. Any clue at all on how to take the intake manifold off of a 1st gen genesis sedan? I have a 2012 r spec.. Has a video been done on this on the forums? I mean even a different car like Audi regarding this would probably throw me off...

 

[jmac404]

Nice but I'm a complete idiot when it comes to taking the engine apart. Any clue at all on how to take the intake manifold off of a 1st gen genesis sedan? I have a 2012 r spec.. Has a video been done on this on the forums? I mean even a different car like Audi regarding this would probably throw me off...

If oil change is 1/10 difficulty, brakes are 3/10, I would put this around 7/10.

This really isn't something you should do based on your description of skill level. I'm a pretty competent DIY mechanic and honestly I wish I had paid someone to do it. Not only are you removing the intake manifold (draining coolant, replacing gaskets) but the actual walnut blasting part is pretty tricky requiring you to manually turn over the motor and make sure valves are closed. It's one of those things where if you screw it up and you could grenade your motor.

 

[12114]

If oil change is 1/10 difficulty, brakes are 3/10, I would put this around 7/10.

This really isn't something you should do based on your description of skill level. I'm a pretty competent DIY mechanic and honestly I wish I had paid someone to do it. Not only are you removing the intake manifold (draining coolant, replacing gaskets) but the actual walnut blasting part is pretty tricky requiring you to manually turn over the motor and make sure valves are closed. It's one of those things where if you screw it up and you could grenade your motor.

Any chance you're stopping by Toronto any time soon so you can show how to do it ? Or anyone else for that matter? I can tip. I was also maybe thinking just spraying CRC directly into the valves instead of walnut blasting?

 

[jmac404]

Any chance you're stopping by Toronto any time soon so you can show how to do it ? Or anyone else for that matter? I can tip. I was also maybe thinking just spraying CRC directly into the valves instead of walnut blasting?

I mean this in the nicest way but this isn't something you want a random to stop by and get a tip to help with. It's a very large job that requires some specialized tools (walnut blaster, CRC DI cleaner, picks, etc)

A lot of BMW shops have this capability. I would call around try to find a shop that can help