intake valve walnut blasting learn me quick

Wife's lexus IS250 with the DI V6 has 140k and never received an intake cleaning. I bought this blaster in the summer but never got around to it:

https://www.harborfreight.com/portable-abrasive-blaster-kit-37025.html

so now it's winter and the dam thing is struggling to start. It will turn over and try to catch but fail. It's intermittent so I'm going to try some fuel cleaner first but if that fails, who has actually done this at home? I have a decent 5 gallon compressor. 

brass tax please:

-do I really need this goofy BMW tool to reach into the runner? I doubt it will mate with my runners anyway..

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/810571738/bmw-intake-carbon-cleaner-walnut

-can't I just shove the wand or a length of rubber hose down the runner? 

-how long is this going to take realistically? I'm not in there to detail the valves, I want to blast it as quick as possible and button it back up, this car is probably going to be traded next year.

-do I really need all those fancy carbon dissolving sprays (hens teeth in Canada) various picks, brushes etc? 

GM has a product called CLEENS, it's an aerosol top end cleaner which dissolves carbon. I'm in Canada and have used it a bunch, just not for your specific problem.

I've put carboned up pistons in a pan and hosed them down with it to get rid of built up carbon.

I've also used it on carboned engines but not for dirty intakes.

The instructions say to start with a running engine.  Hold the rpm around 2000 and spray half the can into the intake while keeping the engine running. Then let the rpm drop and spray the rest in until the engine stops running. Let it sit for half an hour then start the engine to clear everything out.

I'd try it before I tried walnut shell.

The BMW tool you linked is for attaching a shop vac to suck the media out of the port when spraying.  The wand will go down a hole in it.  I have used the harbor freight media blaster & found the flow was too high for walnut shells & the wand could not easily be rotated to clean the full port.

Its doable but expect to make a big mess in the engine compartment, be sure to turn the engine by hand after while blowing air down the plug holes to clean as much of the media out as possible.

GM Top Engine Cleaner.  It's what we used when I was at the Lexus dealer.  Get a couple feet of vacuum line. Insert a restrictor (I don't recall whether it was a .030" or .040" orifice) in one end. Shove that end in the can. Attach the other end to a vacuum port on the intake manifold.  Start the engine and allow it to idle until about half of the bottle has been run through the engine. Shut off the engine and allow it to soak for an hour. Start engine and idle until the bottle is empty.  Remove bottle and vacuum line. Reinstall any lines and covers you removed. Drive car at moderate loads and RPMs for five minutes (there will be lots of smoke, especially at first).  Clear any warning lights that may have set (some cars would throw misfire codes due to bits of carbon holding the valves open as they left the engine).

FWIW, in the two years I worked there we never media blasted a single engine.  The only engines that weren't remedied by the application of top engine cleaner had deeper issues; as I recall we had two or three that had stuck rings (lack of maintenance) and needed to be torn down/re-ringed.

I haven't seen carbon issues on Toyotas, not to say that it can't happen.  Does it start more easily if you hold the throttle open a little?  Difficult starts especially when cold is often a sign of a dirty throttle body, it isn't opening enough when cranking.  More of an issue as the weather gets colder because that is when the engine needs more air and the computer is adding more fuel.

Personally I'd try the old spray a couple cans of carb cleaner down its gullet while holding the revs up method.  Kind of a backyard way of doing the decarbonizing that I do at work.

I've done this job on my 2009 MINI Cooper S, I do have the BMW tool (interesting that the tool you linked is clearly 3D printed, mine is a factory tool and aluminum - but I bet this will work every bit as well as long as it fits the port openings) and I also used the HF pressure blaster, but used a ball valve to throttle down the amount of media going into the port. It worked a treat, really made everything clean as new again. Admittedly, having the right tool made the job a little easier. I made my wand out of a piece of fuel line tubing bent at a 90* angle attached to the blast gun. It fit thru the hole and I just wiggled it around as I was blasting. The blue tool linked is to vacuum out the debris as you are blasting - I just used my shop vac.

I did the ports one cylinder at a time, rotating the engine over with the nut on the end of the crank to make sure the valves were completely closed. I also pulled the valve cover so I could see the cam lobes to make sure the valves were closed, and blew everything clean with air when each was done. I don't know if a 5 gallon air compressor will provide enough to do the job.....

Just FYI, it made little to no difference in the smoothness of the engine or the fuel economy, even tho mine were caked up heavily.

I did the walnut cleaning on my mk6 GTI last year. The worst part was just getting to the cylinder head.  Pulling off all the various crap attached to the intake manifold, fuel rail and injectors in the head, and the intake itself.

I picked up a similar 3d printed tool to attach my shop vac and have a small port to spray thru.  I used a gravity fed handheld blaster from Amazon that worked ok when the media was fresh. 

My blaster took a ton of air, so my 60gal compressor was running for a bit during the job.  I also used some brass brushes and a CRC intake valve cleaner. They all came out pretty good, and the car ran much better when cold afterwards. It's worth noting that I also replaced the intake manifold at the same time since it was throwing a code for the runner position - so it's possible the driveability improvement wasn't solely the valves.

Personally, I'd try the aforementioned chemical treatments first since the level of effort is so low vs spending a day messing around with mechanical cleaning.

If you do go ahead with cleaning the valves, make sure you have the right tools to pull and reinstall the injectors, and if there are any super secret methods or tools to install the injector seals. Don't forget to plan for the gaskets you'll need to replace along the way.

thanks, never thought the canned stuff would work but I'll give it a shot. (ha) 

BG K44 Platinum fuel system cleaner  was what a mechanic at the Cadillac dealer said they used,

Has anyone used it ?

and does the loose carbon screw up the catalyst converter ?

Q for those in the know:  use of Top End Cleaner poses no risk to catalytic converters?

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

It was designed by GM to be catalyst safe...... BUT.... depending on how far along the engine is and how much junk burns off will may cause some issues for overall longevity. So it might die at 150k instead of 200k.

I've used this stuff on the Expedition and my daughter's Escape:

I noticed a slight improvement in fuel economy in the Expedition after treatment. Honestly, I'm not sure how effective it is or isn't because I've never had the intake off to actually see how bad my valves are (or were). But, I figure CRC generally makes good stuff, and this is specifically for this kind of engine. Instructions are similar to the GM stuff mentioned above, spray it into a warm engine while maintaining a certain RPM level, then let it soak for a while, then take it out and drive it.

We had two IS250's that we used to test a couple different brands of carbon cleaner at my shop. We used a BG kit and a Wynns kit. The Wynns carbon cleaner foam did a better job of actually dissolving most of the carbon build up. There was an issue with the dispersion on this particular engine when spraying through the throttle body, the design of the intake manifold caused most of the cleaner to go to one back and didn't clean much on the other bank. It is fairly easy to remove the intake manifold, so we wound up just soaking the valves in cleaner and came back in the morning and sucked the junk out. We do a lot of GDI services out here and find the higher mileage vehicles usually don't get clean when doing the service through the throttle body, even with multiple services. We've even used our $3k ATS carbon clean machine on some higher mileage cars to find the valves are still dirty. I personally have not done the walnut blasting, but it definitely works. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Q for those in the know:  use of Top End Cleaner poses no risk to catalytic converters?

Only if you really flood things out so you get a misfire, and then it damages the cat about as much as a rich misfire.

Practically speaking, not really.  In one case I was able to clean a converter with a decarbonizing and make a P0430 go away.

Mode 6 data showed it was still kinda close to failing, but an inch is as good as a mile.

I did it on my mk7 gti. I'd do the walnut- I do t think that chemicals will do the same thing. 
This tool worked well. 
 

I haven't had any luck finding one of those fixtures for the Ford Ecoboost 3.5, which is kind of strange considering how many F-150s are out there with them.

The pictures online show the 3.5 eco boosts have an oval intake port, so I would think the BMW n54/55 adapter would work fine.  Bend a piece of fuel line that will thread onto the end of the media blaster at an angle that will let you hit the whole port.

On the n55 BMW's the repair instructions call for walnut blasting with the valve slightly open.  I'm not a big fan of this as it is very hard to get the walnut shells out of the cylinder. 

I have a suspicion that the hard-start issue won't be significantly affected by the cleaning....   I hope I'm wrong but have you done diagnostics sufficient to eliminate other possibilities??

Caperix said:

The pictures online show the 3.5 eco boosts have an oval intake port, so I would think the BMW n54/55 adapter would work fine.  Bend a piece of fuel line that will thread onto the end of the media blaster at an angle that will let you hit the whole port.

On the n55 BMW's the repair instructions call for walnut blasting with the valve slightly open.  I'm not a big fan of this as it is very hard to get the walnut shells out of the cylinder. 

I suppose the idea is to clean the valve seat as well, but I agree with you. I wouldn't want all that stuff in the cylinder. I know it's "just" walnut shells, but still...

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Q for those in the know:  use of Top End Cleaner poses no risk to catalytic converters?

Only if you really flood things out so you get a misfire, and then it damages the cat about as much as a rich misfire.

Practically speaking, not really.  In one case I was able to clean a converter with a decarbonizing and make a P0430 go away.

Mode 6 data showed it was still kinda close to failing, but an inch is as good as a mile.

And if you are starting on a cold engine with a room temp catalyst- most of the misfires will be right off the start- and it will clear up as soon as the engine goes closed loop.  You *might* get a cold engine emissions performance code based on how bad it runs off the start- but since you know what caused it....  Anyway, by the time the catalyst is warm enough where hard misfires would damage it- it's unlikely to be misfiring anymore due to the cleaner.

I can't see any additives that a cleaner would use damaging the catalyst at all.  

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

I haven't had any luck finding one of those fixtures for the Ford Ecoboost 3.5, which is kind of strange considering how many F-150s are out there with them.

Have not seen carbon issues on them.  I had one apart for preventive timing chains/water pump at 270k and it didn't look too bad in there.

alfadriver said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Q for those in the know:  use of Top End Cleaner poses no risk to catalytic converters?

Only if you really flood things out so you get a misfire, and then it damages the cat about as much as a rich misfire.

Practically speaking, not really.  In one case I was able to clean a converter with a decarbonizing and make a P0430 go away.

Mode 6 data showed it was still kinda close to failing, but an inch is as good as a mile.

And if you are starting on a cold engine with a room temp catalyst- most of the misfires will be right off the start- and it will clear up as soon as the engine goes closed loop.  You *might* get a cold engine emissions performance code based on how bad it runs off the start- but since you know what caused it....  Anyway, by the time the catalyst is warm enough where hard misfires would damage it- it's unlikely to be misfiring anymore due to the cleaner.

I can't see any additives that a cleaner would use damaging the catalyst at all.  

Top end cleaning procedure involves running the cleaning solution in a fully warmed up engine set at a fast idle (Chryslers are annoying for this, they will cut to idle if you hold the throttle up for a certain period of time) and occasionally give the throttle a solid romp to clear everything out.  Done right you will get huge whitish-bluish-black clouds of vapor/smoke/soot as the cleaner blows the stuff out.

On a really gunked up engine the local mosquito population will be set back for weeks 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

I haven't had any luck finding one of those fixtures for the Ford Ecoboost 3.5, which is kind of strange considering how many F-150s are out there with them.

Have not seen carbon issues on them.  I had one apart for preventive timing chains/water pump at 270k and it didn't look too bad in there.

Not all engines suffer from bad intake system deposits.  As I've posted before, this has been true for a long time- well before DI.  

(although from an emissions standpoint, it's curious that so many cars have problems via the PCV system- which can be a problem of catalyst poisoning)

Posting to be able to follow and learn as this continues.

My Hemi Jeep may benefit from this, since the intake looked worse that the TB.  I wonder if the MDS makes the build up worse on the cylinders that shut off...