HOW TO: Clean your valves - easy & cheap

[mczimer]

Due to the nature of direct injection, these engines will accumilate a large amount of carbon build-up over time. The only way to remove it is manually scrubbing, or media blasting the valves. Using seafoam/engine cleaners/ect will not do anything measurable to this buildup, this cleaning is basic maintenance in order to keep your engine running at its best.

Do this every 40k miles, and I also recommend deleting the EGR valve, swapping your PCV valve, and installing an OCC kit at this time to keep the intake manifold clean
Guide to Preventative Maintenance and Modding

Links to info on DI and other DI cars, showing how common it is for the industry to clean:
Carbon Build Up Info
VW Golf
BMW
*Note: BMW/VW/COBB all offer valve cleaning at their dealerships, among other places- it is an industry standard to clean them

Why clean? Better performance (recovered flow), smoother idle, smoother driving, save money, and to learn about your car!

Here is the BEST method for cleaning your valves: before/after soaking/after a little blasting



Equipment needed: (noted below, with pics)

• An air compressor setup
• Media gun/abrasive gun (open/close valve-but not necessary)
• Fine walnut media **Note: HF has a different categorization than other places for the grit on the media**
• B12 -2 cans (1 could do, if you are tight on cash)
• 1' section of clear hose from Home Depot - 1" ID, available by plumbing
• A towel you can sacrifice
• Two way fluid transfer pump
• Masking tape
• Safety glasses/gloves (IMPORTANT)
• Camera- to brag once you are done

Brief Overview of procedure:

1. Remove IM, followed @jbarone instructions (here)
2. Ensure which 2 valves are TDC- top dead center/closed
3. Soak those valves in B12 for at least 1 hour & cover other valves with masking tape
4. Suck out majority of B12 using two-way fluid pump
5. Air blast valve to remove remining B12, while using a towel around gun tip to catch carbon/B12 coming out (goggles/gloves on) (90psi for all air use)
6. Blast valves with media in 2sec pulses for 30sec, vacuum on, repeat until happy
7. Suck out media with small hose, then air blast for 10sec to remove anything else
8. Tape over cleaned valves
9. Proceed on other valves in same order (TDC/soak/suck/blast/clean)
10. Photoshoot

TOTAL COST, without air compressor = only ~60 bucks, and you have 24.8/25 pounds of media left to help many others and clean again!


In order to achieve these results, the process goes as follows:

STEP 1
Soak 2 TDC-top dead center valves in B12 (maybe-substitute denatured alcohol/seafoam/methanol)
Top dead center is achevied by removing the passenger front wheel, then a little plastic guard which is held on by 3 plastic screw-you can't miss it, then you will see this:


The (14mm) tensioner pulley is on the left-turn this clockwise to loosen the tension on the belt before/after messing with the PS pump. You will need someone to remove the belt from the PS pump as you relieve the tension

The (21mm) crank pulley is on the right, turn clockwise to turn the engine, it will be at TDC when it gets toughest to turn (check valves are TDC by looking, then pouring some B12 in and see if it stays put)

**Note: Only 2 valves will be entirely TDC at a time. On mine, one valve was 90% closed, so take note for next time (ie- valves 2/4 and 1/3 are TDC grouped for me)

**Note: I do recommend removing the belt from the power steering pump before turning the crank pulley (before tilting the PS pump to the side during the Intake Manifold removal is even better), but it is not needed

STEP 2
After soaking the TDC valves either overnight (prep night before), or for 1+ hours, use either your shop vac (if you wish to ruin the filter and spend time cleaning it-trust me on this) or a two way fluid transfer pump (Here: 5 bucks at HF) to suck out as much B12 as you can into a container

Now take your gun, wrap the towel around the tip. Now insert/jam it into the valve to AIR blast all the leftover B12 out (it will shoot out, so wrap the towel in layers to make it thicker, and apply pressure)
**Note: Always use safety goggles and some gloves


STEP 3
Now, apply the one foot section 1" clear ID tube from Home Depot ($2) into the valve runner, as in this picture:

**Note: I soaked one valve for only ~1hr and got the same results, but it took a whole 2-3 minutes longer to clean!

I drilled a hole just small enough for my gun tip to fit into, roughly 1" from the base of the tube, then I stuck the gun/hose into the valve runner and apply the vacuum cleaner/shop vac to the open end.
I blasted at 90psi-the gun max operating pressure (BMW instructions say 6 bar, which is 116 psi BMW Link)

Blasting was done in pulses of 2sec for about 30 seconds total, then the valves were nearly spotless! Of course, I kept going to make them shiny and pretty, but honestly, this can be done on all the valves in under 10min.

**Note: I turned the vacuum on periodically to suck up excess media, since the tube collects much of the media. Keeping a vacuum on a "low" setting throughout the blasting could also be done, but you will use more media, as noted below. I also held the gun sideways (hood-style) to avoid any jamming, which worked best.

Unlike the prior write ups, I used a gun from harbor freight which had an open/close valve for the media. This allowed me to only blast air, which cleans very well on its own. This also allowed me to use less than 1 hopper of media for ALL the valves (out of the 25 pounds I got from Harbor Freight). Blasting only air into the valve periodically in essence reuses the media which is laying down there; think of it as a balloon which you let loose in a box-it smacks into everything. Another great point of using this gun was the ability to air-clean the engine bay, since 100% of the media is never going to be contained.
Gun used:
Gun has standard 1/4" air hose fitting and was sealed at the threads using tephlon tape (standard air tool procedure according tpo the neighbor)

This is what my setup looks like, note the vacuum attached on the end:


STEP 4
After blasting was to my liking, I stuck a small plastic hose attached to my vacuum into the valve to suck up any excess, then I blasted the valve with AIR for 10sec to clean anything remaining out (although it would just burn off, walnut is combustable).

**Note: cover the finished/remaining valves with masking tape to avoid any richochet media going in. I also taped the gun's hopper closed since I was holding it at all angles


That's it guys, let me know if you want clarification on anything. As a sidenote, you could probably acheive very clean valves simply by using the air and soaking (as noted in this thread, post #15) Props to @timjs for inspiration on this project. I think B12 does an identical job to the Mazda Zoom Zoom Cleaner, possibly in a less concentrated form; but, nonetheless, it is just as effective for a fraction of the cost. Zoom Zoom Cleaner is originally designed for rotary engine cleaning, link to RX8 forum info

I used the liquid B12, since it is cheaper and the spray does nothing we need

[Blackrider]

Good writeup! Really the only thing I did differently was I used pneumatic pressure to turn the crank, but I have a setup for that!

[3Gee Tee]

Tagged, thanks!


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[exentix]

What was the mileage before doing it? Did you run an occ or egr delete?

[Haltech]

Stickied and copied to how to section. Thanks for the awesome write up.

[06Speed6]

Nice work man, it looks fairly clean too with the vacuum setup

[theurgy]

This, especially the part about how to crank the engine is probably one of the most useful bits of information I needed.

[mczimer]

Originally Posted by 06Speed6 Nice work man, it looks fairly clean too with the vacuum setup

Yes, with the combo I used, there was no cleanup

Originally Posted by exentix What was the mileage before doing it? Did you run an occ or egr delete?

Car has 63k. Valves were cleaned 15k ago.... this is maintenance

Originally Posted by theurgy This, especially the part about how to crank the engine is probably one of the most useful bits of information I needed.

Glad to help guys, I figured explaining the process in as much detail as possible with pictures will encourage more people do this

I also was trying to figure out where my thread had gone.... I guess it's here now. @Haltech, I did this on my MS6, so if you can put it into that area as well, I would appreciate it.

[crazyp]

Nice write-up. Was easier for me to put the car in first gear and jerk it back and forth from the front until the valve I was working on was closed. I didn't want to take the wheel and splash guard and everything else off. Next time I'm going to use the walnut instead of the gun cleaning kit.

Thanks!

[mczimer]

Originally Posted by crazyp Nice write-up. Was easier for me to put the car in first gear and jerk it back and forth from the front until the valve I was working on was closed. I didn't want to take the wheel and splash guard and everything else off. Next time I'm going to use the walnut instead of the gun cleaning kit. Thanks!

I think it took me 5 minutes to take the wheel off, & turn the crank

[crazyp]

Originally Posted by mczimer I think it took me 5 minutes to take the wheel off, & turn the crank

Hey man I'm sure its real easy but 5 minutes is pushing it. Take wheel off, take cover off, take belt off. Put belt back on. put cover back on, then wheel. sounds like 20 minute job to me

Just try it my way next time you'll see what I mean.

[ztnedman1]

For the Gunpu there is NO need to remove wheel or belts.

Since we dont have to move power steering to remove intake mani just leave belt on and when you need to turn crank just grab the belt at the vertical part at the front and pull up. Walla! More reason to go Genpu!

[Mi06Speed6]

Thank you for this writeup. I'm dreading doing mine since I've got 92k miles, no OCC and haven't installed the EGR delete in my garage yet. Hoping to do both after a major cleaning like this. Def a bit of motivation to do this. Hopefully there will be a group that wants to do this in central FL soon.

[3Gee Tee]

Originally Posted by Mi06Speed6 Thank you for this writeup. I'm dreading doing mine since I've got 92k miles, no OCC and haven't installed the EGR delete in my garage yet. Hoping to do both after a major cleaning like this. Def a bit of motivation to do this. Hopefully there will be a group that wants to do this in central FL soon.

There is, check out the central FL NATOR section. We just had a meet in Tampa tonight.


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[manila]

Nice write up OP!

[BAT-man]

awesome write up, once I hot 30k miles - I'm coming back to this!

[Spectrum24x]

Would running some seafoam give you the same results with much less effort?

[mczimer]

Originally Posted by Spectrum24x Would running some seafoam give you the same results with much less effort?

Sea foam does close to nothing

[BAT-man]

It does do something but in this direct injection engine, the injectors do not spray the fuel (mixed with Seafoam) into the intake runners (and subsequently - indirectly onto the valves). The DI spray occurs within the combustion chamber, and the valves don't get washed as a result. Unfortunately, there is no way to get the Seafoam to do its job in our engines, unless you're worried about the oil passages, but I've always been apprehensive regarding putting anything but oil... into oil. Just thinking what a diluted mixture probably does to all the bearings/rings makes one cringe.

sil80

[ASHMS3]

Nice write up OP!

[FrozenFloridian]

subbed

[Brc187]

Subbed.
Why walnut shells? Why not use glass beads or even soda blast?

[mczimer]

Originally Posted by Brc187 Subbed. Why walnut shells? Why not use glass beads or even soda blast?

Walnut is soft, meaning it will not damage anything; it is also combustible, so if anything enters the head it will burn off without any repercussions.

[Brc187]

Originally Posted by mczimer Walnut is soft, meaning it will not damage anything; it is also combustible, so if anything enters the head it will burn off without any repercussions.

Combustible, that makes sense now.

[p057]

note that even though it IS combustible, if you have too much "wet" b12 and some walnut in there, the car may be a little more resistant to start... This happened when we did @NavySailorMS3;'s car. took about 30 cranks before it finally turned over and it stunk of burning walnut and zoom spray.

[bsteimel]

i'm subscribing to this thread. I have about 34k on the odometer and plan on doing this when I pass the 40k mark. Just so happens that my cousin bought a media plaster and it's in the box after buying it 2 years ago. That makes life even easier. This looks a little complicated but I'm ready to take on the task. I'll let you know how it works out after I do it. Sometime this winter probably.

[glockman25]

I plan to do this soon and try to delete the butterflies and gasket match port and polish my intake and do Toyota diesel seals

[coopsspeed]

Nice write up, definitely gunna use this when i get to mine

[DrewGen2]

Great write up! Very thorough. I removed my throttle body for my egr delete last weekend. With only 3200miles on car the back side of throttle body and intake plenum had already gotten a black film of residue on it. I can see why our valves look like this after 10k plus.lol


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