Cleaning intake valves BY HAND?

[jimmyducati]

Im going to be elbow deep in the intake side of the SHO this week anyway and was wondering what is involved in cleaning the valves by hand. I assume that the intake would have to come off for this, and since it will be off to replace a bad injector I might as well give this a try!

Has anyone done this, is there an instructional online to be found?

Suggestions as far as brushes, solvents, how to put each cylinder at TDC to avoid carbon dropping directly into the cylinder?

More importantly, anyone want to come down to southern indiana and lend a hand??

Hopefully if everything comes in, I will be installing Torries 3" DP's, a 3 bar and a LMS meth kit at the same time!!! Lots of free experience and more importantly free beer for anyone who wants to learn/drink/fix a car!

[whitltng]

The meth kit alone  should  clean your valve..
If you still want to clean them...
Turn crank  bolt to achieve  tdc...use wire brushes  from harbor  freight  or home Depot. ..best thing to clean with is b12  carb cleaner ..any auto parts... 

But a night of race with meth should clean them real nice

[jimmyducati]

I know the meth will keep a clean engine clean, but I have 97k miles on mine without any cleaning being done.. Not confident that it will get what is already there clean. Even if it would, I don't want all that stuff passing through the engine and turbos.

[ZSHO]

I know quite a few members have had good results using the 3m total fuel treatment.  Z               http://www.amazon.com/3M-39089-Fuel-System-Tune-Up/dp/B009PPL604/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1440440060&sr=1-1&keywords=3m+fuel+system+cleaner

[BadHabit2Break]

There was a guy with a BMW that did the crushed walnut method, I believe it was on youtube.

[glock-coma]

I know quite a few members have had good results using the 3m total fuel treatment.  Z               http://www.amazon.com/3M-39089-Fuel-System-Tune-Up/dp/B009PPL604/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1440440060&sr=1-1&keywords=3m+fuel+system+cleaner

Unfortunately with gdi the fuel treatment will never touch the intake valves.

[BiGMaC]

Not to start any debates, but for info....
Ford does not recommend any type of intake valve cleaning and if there is a certain level of valve incompetentence they just replace the whole head if you have warranty.
Also, for what it's worth no fuel additives or solvents are recommened by Ford beyond those already in top tier gasoline. The word from Ford engineers is that all of them accelerate turbo failure due to increased heat and solvents incompletely burned... And that they are working on a fix as this problem is present in all GDI engines and worse with forced induction.... And compounded by the variable valve timing which allows both intake and exhaust valve to be open simultaneously at the end of the exhaust stroke... The idea is to improve scavenging, but you also get exhaust on the intake valves.

I personally believe that the 3.5 GDI in the '17 Ford GT is a step in the direction of a fix by adding a parallel multiport injection system to the GDI and running both... The car has an advertised 600 CHP which is equivalent to about 430-450AWHP, a power level many of us are running.... Point is there is no fueling issue at these power levels so the parallel MPI system must be for something else... Cleaning the intake valves.

Just my $0.02... They need cleaning... Just know the potential and make an informed decision.
There are three You tube vids by Ford Tech Makuloco discussing this. ... Just google the following and they all come up first in the list:
ford tech makuloco warning to ecoboost owners

[ZSHO]

ITS ALL GOOD BROTHERS,most importanly is your input that mostly matters.  Z

[SHOdded]

I know quite a few members have had good results using the 3m total fuel treatment.  Z               http://www.amazon.com/3M-39089-Fuel-System-Tune-Up/dp/B009PPL604/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1440440060&sr=1-1&keywords=3m+fuel+system+cleaner

Unfortunately with gdi the fuel treatment will never touch the intake valves.

The 3M product is actually 3 different approaches, including an induction system treatment, so in theory, it SHOULD help with the GDI issue:
Step 1 - 3M Intake System Cleaner
Step 2 - 3M Throttle Plate and Carb Cleaner
Step 3 - 3M Complete Fuel System Cleaner

[BiGMaC]

I know quite a few members have had good results using the 3m total fuel treatment.  Z               http://www.amazon.com/3M-39089-Fuel-System-Tune-Up/dp/B009PPL604/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1440440060&sr=1-1&keywords=3m+fuel+system+cleaner

Unfortunately with gdi the fuel treatment will never touch the intake valves.

The 3M product is actually 3 different approaches, including an induction system treatment, so in theory, it SHOULD help with the GDI issue:
Step 1 - 3M Intake System Cleaner
Step 2 - 3M Throttle Plate and Carb Cleaner
Step 3 - 3M Complete Fuel System Cleaner

The plate and intake cleaners are spray directly into the TB aren't they?

[SHOdded]

The Intake Cleaner (IC) is used with the engine running, the Throttle Plate Cleaner (TPC) is used with the engine NOT running.  So the IC actually makes it down the intake tract, while the TPC only attends to the throttle body itself.

Direct Quote from the Amazon product page:
EASY-TO-USE SOLUTION: 3 SIMPLE STEPS

Step 1 - 3M Intake System Cleaner: Follow the fresh intake hose to the outside of your engine's throttle body. Remove the hose boot clamp where it enters the throttle body with a screw driver to access the throttle plate. Insert the 3M Intake System Cleaner's attached hose past the throttle plate and slip the intake hose boot back on. With the help of an assistant, start the car engine while the work area is monitored. When the engine idle reaches 500-1,000 RPM, hold steady at this rate and spray the product's contents into the running engine. This process cleans intake manifolds, valves and combustion chambers. Use the entire can, which may take several minutes. Turn off the engine and remove the product hose.

Step 2 - 3M Throttle Plate and Carb Cleaner: Again, with the help of an assistant, place the vehicle ignition in the "Run" position, but with the engine NOT started, and depress the accelerator to expose both sides of the throttle plate. Spray both sides of the plate, as well as the throttle body with 3M Throttle Plate and Carb Cleaner. Wipe excessive cleaner away and/or let wet areas dry for a few minutes with the throttle plate open before you replace the fresh air hose boot, tighten it up. This process cleans your engine's throttle plate and lubricates key pivot areas.

Step 3 - 3M Complete Fuel System Cleaner: This last step continues the treatment of all critical fuel system components. Add 3M Complete Fuel System Cleaner to a full tank, at a recommended dilution ratio of one ounce of additive to each gallon of fuel. Start the engine, allowing it to idle for a few minutes before driving it for 10-15 minutes. 3M Complete Fuel System Cleaner cleans injectors, intake valves and an combustion chambers while your engine consumes this tank of gas.

[jimmyducati]

So I got antsy at work yesterday and had a bottle of seafood in the trunk, slowly feed half the bottle through the vacuum hose near the throttle body and got a bit of the white smoke most see and a bit of a lugging idle during the treatment. End result, on my 400 mile trip home, 26 mpg on the highway doing 75 (I'm usually at about 20-21 mpg) and a much smoother idle and running across the board. This leads me to believe I have (possibly had) a serious build up on/around the intake valves. Kinda makes me want to take the car to the dealer to have THEM install the faulty injector instead of doing it myself, and hint that they need to check the carbon build up while they have the intake off.

Is it safe to assume that they will replace the head without me requesting that be considered, or should I go in there with lots of ammo and request off the bat that the heads be checked? From my recent and frequent experience, EVERY service dept i have brought the car to has no clue about injector failures, misfires, carbon build up issue, PTU failures, RDU failures... Its almost like the SHO is (to them) the most reliable car in the world and they have never heard of such things??

[BadHabit2Break]

but does the 3M stuff work?

I have been using seafoam on my past cars.  Usually add to the gas about every other oil change.  I kept the TB clean as it was easily accessible.

[SHOdded]

I wouldn't talk about the heads/valves as if I knew the issues, but rather that I'd heard about these issues and wss it a possibility in this case.  Hopefully the Seafoam treatment was gentle enough to be a longterm performance improver.

[jimmyducati]

I really want to pull the intake myself and install the new injector to satisfy my curiosity about the carbon, and clean it if they are indeed filthy... But the chance of getting a pair of heads installed is almost to good to pass up! Since I'm just as likely to mess something up and cost myself money by pulling the intake myself, there is no sense in "saving money" by doing it myself. To the dealer I go!