ULTIMATE engine detailing?

[Don M]

Through surfing the net and reading a ton of different sources, I discovered that the engine in my Camaro (3.6 V6) is a GDI engine (Gasoline Direct Injection). For those that might not know, this is where the fuel is injected directly into the cylinder and the only thing that passes over the intake valves is filtered air from the intake and fume laden air from the PCV system. GDI is good for horsepower, good for fuel economy, throttle response etc. BUT it is a bad thing for carbon and grunge deposits on the intake valves and runners, since no fuel or cleaning additives EVER touch the backs of the valves to keep them clean and the deposits continue to build up. Here is a picture of a 3.6 V6 Camaro with the LFX engine (same as mine), but this engine has ~25,000 miles (mine has 50K)

I can only assume that my engine is worse than this, having double the miles.

What I plan on doing (in the spring when it's warm out) is pull my intake manifold and manually clean the valves and runners with solvent, brushes and rags (if I'm lucky, I'll be able to rent a walnut or soda blaster to help get the hard carbon deposits off the valves).

Fortunately, a member of Camaro5 did this to his own car (the pic is his engine before cleaning) and wrote out an awesome walk-through on how he did it WITH pictures, so I'm not going in completely blind.

I WILL be pulling the spark plugs to make the engine easier to turn so I can make sure the intake port I am working on is closed, so nothing nasty gets into the cylinder.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions on what solvent I should use or cleaners to avoid (plastic manifold, aluminum head, steel valves). The manifold is going to be cleaned off the car, most likely with DAWN dish soap, rags and hot water, but I'm still looking for a good solvent for the grunge on the valves and runners. I was also wondering about using *Chore Boy (pure-copper scrubbing pad - like an SOS pad, but no soap & made of course copper threads).

Any help or tips would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[KirkH]

Water injection would blast steam clean those intake valve tops. A system for your car would be about $500 but it would clean the valve tops and keep them clean in the future. Also, using a fuel injector cleaner with PEA (polyethylamide) will help clean the valves.

I have a 6th gen Camaro with 11,000 miles. I have used a PEA fuel injector cleaner with every fill up and am getting ready to add water injection.

 

[TTQ B4U]

What I plan on doing (in the spring when it's warm out) is pull my intake manifold and manually clean the valves and runners with solvent, brushes and rags (if I'm lucky, I'll be able to rent a walnut or soda blaster to help get the hard carbon deposits off the valves).

The process isn't too bad. Walnut blaster is a typical way to go.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions on what solvent I should use or cleaners to avoid (plastic manifold, aluminum head, steel valves). The manifold is going to be cleaned off the car, most likely with DAWN dish soap, rags and hot water, but I'm still looking for a good solvent for the grunge on the valves and runners. I was also wondering about using *Chore Boy (pure-copper scrubbing pad - like an SOS pad, but no soap & made of course copper threads).

McKey's APC is great stuff and likely all you'll need. It is very concentrated and can be left to dwell a bit and work wonders. I used it to clean our van's engine that had never been done ever and it cleaned up great with little effort.

I used Adam's in and Out spray to give it a finished look. Super easy to use and works great.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Even with the valve closed, I don't know how you can do the kinds of things your talking about (scraping, blasting) without leaving "stuff" around the contact line of the valve, that you can't get out, that will drop in the cylinder the first time it opens.

I believe you that people do things like this, I just can imagine the fix being worse than the problem.

On another tack...I don't know how the mfrs. can do this with the PCV on GDI cars. Back when there were carburetors, the PCV line frequently went into the air cleaner, had it's own little filter, and then whatever was left had to go through the air filter to get into the engine. Seems to me they need to go back to that for these GDI engines.

 

[Don M]

Water injection would blast steam clean those intake valve tops. A system for your car would be about $500 but it would clean the valve tops and keep them clean in the future. Also, using a fuel injector cleaner with PEA (polyethylamide) will help clean the valves.

I have a 6th gen Camaro with 11,000 miles. I have used a PEA fuel injector cleaner with every fill up and am getting ready to add water injection.

I've read about the PEA solvents and that they are said to be the best carbon removers. I can see how adding it to the fuel tank could help the combustion chamber, fuel injectors and the bottoms of the valves, but since the tops of the intake valves see no gasoline wash at all, the only way I see cleaning the tops is to physically get in there and either walnut/soda blast it, or manual scrubbing or both.

I think the water injection is a good idea to prevent build up, but I don't like the idea of blasting chunks of carbon off the valves where they can get sucked into the cylinder and perhaps cause damage to the piston rings, piston walls or even get stuck between a valve and the head, causing a bent valve (I've seen pics of that happening).

 

[KirkH]

I have a catch can installed on mine as well.

That carbon is not hard. It is soft. It gets blasted through with no problems.


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[Mantilgh]

BERKEBILE 2+2® Instant Gum Cutter for the gunk on the inside.

I've never looked to see what's in this stuff, but it works really well.

 

[Ancient1]

What I have been doing on my car is using BG GDI Fuel/Air Induction Service once a year around the same time I do an oil change. BG does have a warranty that as long as you start the process before 75k and do atleast every 15k and have problems it will pay for the repair. Since I only average about 6k a tear on my car once a year is fine and cost is about the same as my oil change around $120.

 

[PaulMys]

I have a catch can installed on mine as well.

That carbon is not hard. It is soft. It gets blasted through with no problems.


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+1 on this. I installed one on my 5.7 liter Hemi right after I bought it new. After reading from guys who had found similar deposits as the OP's in their intake systems, it was $$ well spent.

The gunk I get out of there every 4 months is pretty nasty. I'd hate to think of that getting blown back into my engine.

 

[MPBGT]

With Direct Injection you have 2 major issues.
1) exactly what you described with carbon on the valves.
Ways to address
A) exactly what you said take it apart and scrub it. BG sells a kit that literally comes with pipe cleaners to work on it. I would just use good carb and choke cleaner.
B) use a air induction cleaner through a compressed air tool with a top end cleaner or CRC makes an aerosol version. You do this with the engine running. How effective probably depends on how often you do it.
2) The second problem is the injectors. Old school carbs run at maybe 6 psi. A new Ecoboost DI Ford runs at about 2500 psi. You get much tougher deposits that form much quicker. PEA is not strong enough to clean these deposits. Typically poor idle and the first noticeable issues are due to dirty injectors.


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[KirkH]

B) use a air induction cleaner through a compressed air tool with a top end cleaner or CRC makes an aerosol version. You do this with the engine running. How effective probably depends on how often you do it.
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Yes I forgot to mention the aerosol cleaner. Good post.

 

[Don M]

Thanks for all the great posts, the only concern I have about spraying cleaner into the TB while the engine is running is if my valves look anything like the ones in the pic, I don't want a ton of deposits entering the cylinder all at once and risking damage. That's why I want to manually clean it first. Then I'll put a catch can on it and use the CRC DI Intake Cleaner on a regular basis (probably quarterly ... I drive that much).

I do have a large air compressor at my disposal so I do plan on blowing out each runner before finishing with it to get all of the loose residual bits & pieces out before the engine gets started again and if I do get hold of a soda blaster, any remaining debris will be so small & soft they shouldn't cause any damage. Even walnut shells, if they get in the cylinder, are too soft to cause damage and will burn up if they get into the cylinder.

 

[fightnews]

With Direct Injection you have 2 major issues.
1) exactly what you described with carbon on the valves.
Ways to address
A) exactly what you said take it apart and scrub it. BG sells a kit that literally comes with pipe cleaners to work on it. I would just use good carb and choke cleaner.
B) use a air induction cleaner through a compressed air tool with a top end cleaner or CRC makes an aerosol version. You do this with the engine running. How effective probably depends on how often you do it.
2) The second problem is the injectors. Old school carbs run at maybe 6 psi. A new Ecoboost DI Ford runs at about 2500 psi. You get much tougher deposits that form much quicker. PEA is not strong enough to clean these deposits. Typically poor idle and the first noticeable issues are due to dirty injectors.


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is the bg service good? i didnt even know about it, thinking of getting it done now that i know where to go. i dont have the knowledge to do it myself