So, you tried to fix what's not broken?

 

Maintenance. You could leave something go till it breaks or causes issues.

 

Granted. Show me where in the maintenance guide any such procedure is approved or required as part of routine maintenance, and I won't argue with you again, I promise.

 

I used it. My buddy who owns a shop was gonna do a BG44K treatment but I could not get over there to do it so I went with the CRC. Could not find it in my area so I messaged CRC on Facebook. They sent me a free sample![like]

I sprayed it into the opening of the small vacuum connection on the top of the intake tube just before the throttle body. Ended up with a smoother idle and a little better power. I wanted to use a boroscope to see before and after pics but was not able too. First time doing something like that in 55K. I like CRC products so I thought I would give it a try. Not a fan of seafoam.


http://crcindustries.com/auto/intake-valve-cleaner.php

 

Since our cars do not have egr the only buildup i could see in the intake would be caused from oil vapor residue. This sounds like it would definately take care of that problem. And because of the direct injection you wouldnt have to worry about the particles breaking off clogging up the injectors. glad too hear it worked out for you. I know i always panic when trying new things such as this especially on newer cars. Has anyone opened up the intake manifold and witnessed how these cars look in the 50xxx+ range with no cleaning.

 

The BMW solution for intake valve deposits is to have the engine inhale crushed walnut shells, physically blasting deposits off the valve surface. If this is what's needed, I really doubt exposing the valves to a minute of two of CRC spray is going to do much of anything. And if chemical treatments were really effective I doubt BMW would advocate the much-more-aggresive walnut shell route.

I have yet to see any report of intake valve deposits on a normally-aspirated Focus. For example, PratoN just turned 100k in his with no such complaint.

 

The BMW solution for intake valve deposits is to have the engine inhale crushed walnut shells, physically blasting deposits off the valve surface. If this is what's needed, I really doubt exposing the valves to a minute of two of CRC spray is going to do much of anything.

Indeed. Especially through a straw, in short bursts, no less.

 

Yeah, I wonder about the crushed walnut shells as well though I have it used on jet engines. If there is any significant buildup there's little chance a few seconds of spray will do much of anything. I'd worry about a chunk coming off and having the piston crush it against the head or valves.

I have to believe that I f buildup becomes a problem that taking the heads off will be the only viable solution and that could be kind of expensive.


Brian

 

ive used it plenty of times..they also make an electrical parts cleaner...i just spray onto micro fibers and wipe my throttle body or maf with the electrical cleaner

 

Wavsine - if I saw Brian's report correctly, he mentioned the head replacement for carbon deposits on the intake valves on the V6 Ecoboost engines.

Carbon deposits on the intake valves of the duratec TiVCT would come from both PCV gasses & oil on the valve stem, reduced by the patented "washing" of the valves when injected gasoline gets into the intake through planned reversion from valve timing changes.

Chemical "decarboning" has been around as part of some tune up routines since at least as long ago as the 50's (prob. before, only saw the proof of that long ago personally). Spraying Carb Cleaner down the intake until you stall out the engine, waiting then starting it up & revving it as you smoke cloud the neighborhood is an impressive display. Favorite brand names prob. change more than the chemicals used, at least a couple std. ones are very popular.

Cleans enough from inside the combustion chamber to make a show, generally less from the valves.

 

Wavsine - if I saw Brian's report correctly, he mentioned the head replacement for carbon deposits on the intake valves on the V6 Ecoboost engines.

Carbon deposits on the intake valves of the duratec TiVCT would come from both PCV gasses & oil on the valve stem, reduced by the patented "washing" of the valves when injected gasoline gets into the intake through planned reversion from valve timing changes.

Chemical "decarboning" has been around as part of some tune up routines since at least as long ago as the 50's (prob. before, only saw the proof of that long ago personally). Spraying Carb Cleaner down the intake until you stall out the engine, waiting then starting it up & revving it as you smoke cloud the neighborhood is an impressive display. Favorite brand names prob. change more than the chemicals used, at least a couple std. ones are very popular.

Cleans enough from inside the combustion chamber to make a show, generally less from the valves.

Yep, I remember when I was a kid pouring B-12 Chemtool down the carburetor and creating one of the most impressive and disgusting clouds of smoke my neighbors had ever seen.

That was before throttle body injection, port injection or certainly direct injection. If chemicals or spray cleaners would work to remove these tough carbon deposits from the back of intake valves in DI engines, BMW, Audi and others would be using them as they would be far more economical than the walnut shell method. They are ineffective, thus the need for walnut shell media blasting.

As for the patented method for washing the intake valves, if you are referring to this:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...e+cleaning+method+direct+injection"&RS="Valve+cleaning+method+direct+injection"

suss cast doubt on its implementation in the Ecoboost motor:

"It has not been shown to be used in practice in the control schema used with the EcoBoost I4 as there would have to be a control routine for periodic injection of fuel at least with the intake valves open on the compression stroke to push the fuel out of the cylinder and over the back of the valve."

 

Agreed

I liked your prev. post in this thread BTW, tried to add a little along with that & address a few of the other recent posts.

AFAIK we're guessing that Ford is using that cleaning trick in the std. direct injection engines, don't know about the Ecoboost I-4 for sure (know it has more problems than the N/A engine) and know Ford has replaced heads for carbon issues in the V6 Ecoboost.

I can't say there's NO effect from chemical cleaning on the valves, betting it's less than promotion of cleaners implies.

 

Hi everyone. I usually don't post on this forum and only just read.

I noticed that my engine has progressively been running a little rougher as I get more mileage (56k miles on my 2012). Especially at idle and light acceleration.

I saw this post and decided why not spend 12 bucks and try it out this morning.

Results? The directions were pretty easy. After the 1 hr waiting period I drove and immediately heard engine knocking with hard acceleration. I was alarmed. The knocking subsided after about 5 minutes.

The engine did not really smooth out at idle (maybe a little? it was probably my head just tricking me but if there was improvement at idle it was very slight. I will say this... there was a DEFINITE improvement in roughness and vibration upon light acceleration around town. The engine was MUCH more quiet and smooth. Night and day difference. I took a ride with my cousin who is a car nut and always makes fun of my car for its transmission problems and rough engine and he was surprised by the difference.

Believe it or don't believe it but the product produced results. I recommend it and for 12 bucks why not? Hopefully I'm not starting my irst topic about my engine self destructing in a week.

Try it out if you have more miles! Thumbs up!

 

Placebo effect? Glad it turned out good for you

 

thats what they used for the ms3s crushed walnut shells. I knew it was something weird like that i just couldnt think of it in my earlier post.

 

Anyone who's actually cleaned carbon off a part knows that just spraying something at it will do absolutely nothing. It's like trying to remove paint with a spray bottle of water.

 

That's my point, too. If the problem really exists, a spray can will be ineffective, while if it doesn't exist, said spray can is unnecessary. Further, I don't find the argument that CRC is not a "fly-by-night" company to be particularly persuasive. Plenty of junk out there being peddled by "reputable" companies.

 

bump:

so i know that using one of these cleaners to fully clean the intake valves probably wont work but what if you used this as preventive maintance from an early mileage. For example i'm at 16,000 miles, so does anyone think think this would be a good idea to do see now and then again every 15,000 miles to prevent carbon build up. it would be pointless to clean large amounts of carbon but it might be helpful to clean small amounts.

 

Carbon build up can become a problem as the mileage goes up. Im talking somewhere in the 100k plus range. Regular maintenance, good oil, and good fuel will help minimize buildup; however there will always be some sort of accumulation. Having said that, it really isnt necessary to do this type of cleaning regularly. Doing something like this, at least me personally, would be if my engine were starting to act rough, without throwing some sort of code, and all other simple items were checked (spark plugs, MAF, airfilter etc.) so basically anything obvious. Short answer is no. I dont feel its necessary as part of regular preventative maintenance.

Personal note though: I have experienced this being effective, except i did this sort of thing with Seafoam. This was on an 01 Acura CL-S with 120k some odd miles.

 

It's not like the carbon needs several weeks to cure/harden, and treating it with something before that time will remove it.

Burnt on carbon is very difficult to remove, even with tools...spraying chemicals onto it won't do much, especially chemicals that are safe to run through your engine.

 

How would a tune effect the intentional valve overlap and exhaust valve timing for washing the valves and making an EGR unnecessary?

 

I removed the intake and sprayed a little CRC on each valve. Did not turn the engine to close any of the valves. Only sprayed small amounts in each port. I have a catch can and had small amounts of build up. My ST has 12k miles. The build up was desolved. Put it back together and fired it up. It stunk for a few minutes then cleared up. I removed the catch can and switched to a breather plate which is a lot less work than emptying a catch can. I’ll be performing this procedure ever 10k miles. I think it a lot better to clean it often then to let it build up.