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Ecoboost Intake Valve Carbon build up ?

RAAMaudio

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Walnut blasting seems like a great idea but I have not looked into it much so have a couple questions.

1) pull off the DP so cars with a cat do not get it plugged up?
2) method used to clean our the cylinders and turbo afterwards?
3) is this something one could make their own fittings and use a media blaster they own?

I understand shops have to charge quite a bit to cover overhead, labor, make a profit, etc... but us DIY people could save a lot of money and time as no need to take the car in a drop it off, etc...
 


Sekred

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Walnut blasting seems like a great idea but I have not looked into it much so have a couple questions.

1) pull off the DP so cars with a cat do not get it plugged up?
2) method used to clean our the cylinders and turbo afterwards?
3) is this something one could make their own fittings and use a media blaster they own?

I understand shops have to charge quite a bit to cover overhead, labor, make a profit, etc... but us DIY people could save a lot of money and time as no need to take the car in a drop it off, etc...
The blasting is done with the intake valves closed and then the crap is vacuumed out of the port. No way you want any of it entering the cylinder ;).
 


J2FoRS

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The intake we pulled off at 7k miles was covered in oil and had carbon all over the back of the valves. And that car was driven hard.
Srt4's have success with water/meth, not sure why we wouldn't.
So at 20k it's basically to late then?
 


Sourskittle

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Mine has 37k one it,
But I'm not losing any sleep over it, but I've run water/meth through it too.

Srt4's are not direct injected, but they end up with oil in the intake and the same mess on the valves.
 


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It's never too late for an OCC. Your just preventing more carbon buildup. I love to do a full cleaning service with walnut blasting AND catch can install, especially if you are doing the crank case vent on the block, it makes it that much easier to do the install. Plus you have a clean start and slow down the process of getting dirty again.

Yes... for the walnut blasting I bring the cylinder to TDC so that the valves are closed and then blast and vacuum and make sure all the pieces are out of the port. It gets really messy but its all worth it. I end up having to air blast the car and my whole shop and still see the pieces of walnut everywhere.

That being said, the reason we use walnut media is because it is combustible so it will burn up. My only concern is the pieces going through the turbo. The cat would burn the stuff up before it clogs.

I usually charge removal and replacement of intake manifold plus 1-2 hours of blasting. (R+R of intake manifold on fiesta is 3.0 hours). I like to replace the intake manifold gaskets while I am in there, especially on higher mileage cars. The Mazdaspeed has a metal gasket that only likes to be used once but the ecoboosts and bmws have rubber that can be reused, but for 10-20 bucks you might as well. So, $400-500?

I have the walnut blasting tool for the n54/55 and its AWESOME. Makes the whole process super clean and I don't get carbon blasted back onto my face, which is nice. I have plans to design and CNC a similar tool for the mazdaspeeds and I would be willing to do so for the fiesta and focus if there was enough interest.

I disassembled a 2.3 ecoboost with only 300 miles on it and already saw oil on the back of the valves. However, those were the hardest 300 miles any car should ever see, aka about 100 quarter mile drag runs, so it may not be the best comparison.

Here are before and afters from a 80k mile N54



 


MOFiST

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I wonder if this type of part could be made for our cars.



I was thinking a 3d printer might even work.
Otherwise there's the ghetto engineered version which would still do the job.

 


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I thought seafoam dramatically shortens the lifespan of turbochargers? I might be mistaken.
Depends on the usage.

You can use seafoam:
- in your engine oil just before an oil change
- in your gas tank
- in your intake

Using seafoam to clean your intake or in your gas tank is completely safe for turbo cars. The problem is if you use it in your oil to break up junk in your crank-case like you can with regular cars. The problem is that most turbos are lubricated by oil in the crankcase and you are effectively thinning out the oil with detergents which breaks down the oil viscosity and its ability to keep the turbo bearings lubricated.

You can get away with this in the engine as it spins at about 800 RPM at idle, but even idling a turbocharger can spin up to 10,000 RPM depending on the vehicle. So even at idle that thing needs to be well lubricated.
 


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Hey guys, coming from a current MINI owner/future ST owner (think i'm gonna order tomorrow!) the MINI has a similar 1.6L direct injected engine and the same carbon issues. I've used seafoam before and recently put in some PCV block offs and a catch can. Really, all the catch can is going to trap is water condensation and a little bit of oil, not enough to really make a difference. BMW has a special walnut blast setup just for MINIs and its the only thing that helps. I had it done at about 65K at a cost of around $700 and it made a huge difference. If you're brave, hunt around on northamericanmotoring.com and they have some pretty in depth DIYs for cleaning valves yourself. If you've got the time and patience you can get pretty good results.
 


RAAMaudio

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All gas has some detergent in it, not sure if the Chevron is better or not, maybe just advertising.

If there is any proven benefit from using it that would be great to know of course, post it up if you have any links, please:)

Shell is charging a premium for their fuel and my car ran worse on it, less power, less mileage....
 


dyn085

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People can take most any general online fuel advice about brand/or octane and pretty much throw it out the window. Unless someone local and within your typical fuel-up area has done actual fuel testing it's a moot point and completely irrelevant. I had a local Shell in NC that worked better on 87 than my local Chevron in WA does with 92, but that only tells me about those two stations in particular. There was another Shell a few miles down the road from the first Shell that was noticeably worse, but it was rarely frequented and was a significantly older station.

Regarding Chevron with Techron, that is the only fuel system cleaner I personally use besides BG 44k. Keep in mind that no matter how much you use it it will not clean valves or prolong valve cleaning in any way because of the direct-injection system.
 


RAAMaudio

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The Shell was in Carson City NV, car ran better on Arco there, the Shell was relatively busy, Arco always had a waiting line.

Absolutely correct, no fuel will clean the valves since they never see the fuel, just air, why I was going to a 5th injector but ended up with WMI instead, to help a bit I hope.
 


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I decided to do an experiment....

I have not used a catch can for the first 15k miles of ownership.

Once I hit 15k miles, I will take off manifold, inspect valves, walnut blast, and install a catch can. I will reinspect at 30k to see the difference of a catch can. May clean again and do meth injection from 30-45k.
 


twolf

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So out of curiosity (I have not read the thread) has anyone posted pics of their valves along with how many miles they have?
 


TyphoonFiST

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Is anybody using chevron Techron on a regular basis to help with valve cleaning etc
You do realize that the 1.6 is direct injection.....which means fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber and not able to wash the intake like other types of injection setups. So utilizing Techron will do you no good because it's not cleaning the Intake valves as the fuel no longer washes them with fuel. Just food for thought...
 


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