Express Carbon Cleaning through IAT sensor (non seafoam) (B7 2.0T)

[shahk62]

With a lot of solvent based Carbon cleaning on AZ using seafoam it's quite annoying that seafoam isn't available in Australia (or at last I can't find it). I know that I'll be flamed for not doing a manual clean but I'll get to that stage eventually. You will need a friend or someone to just help you turn on and off the car/keep the car revs up.

Though there are no shortage of solvents around I settled on the liquimoly engine intake decarb

Steps are nothing fancy - after warming up the car use a long (or short bit and extension) T30 torx and whatever socket wrench size (I used 3/8inch) you have take off the screw which holds on the intake air temp sensor

Pull off the sensor gently taking care not to damage the sensor and then insert the hose in as far as it'll go and just give it a short burst. Slowly pull the hose out giving short sprays each time. Don't spray for more than 5 seconds before the next step otherwise you may have issues starting up. Leave it for a few minutes to start its work.

Leave the hose in the hole and use your finger to create somewhat of a decent seal for the vaccum as per below while you do the below. (Gloves ideal)


Get your mate to turn on the car with the foot on the accelerator and Keep it revved up for to 2-2.5k rpm for about a minute. The car might hesitate starting and sound like it will stall. That is normal. While the car is on and your finger is keeping somewhat of a vaccum seal on the IAT housing spray the cleaner in short bursts while moving the hose in and out of the manifold. The car will hesitate and revs will drop a little however that is normal. The key is short bursts which will allow the cleaner to get in there and not overload the valves and intake with the liquid.

Do this until approx half the can is used up then turn off the car and again spray short bursts up to a max of 5 seconds starting from the hose all the way in and slowly pulling it out and again let it sit for a few minutes before repeating the previous step.

Once the can is used up, turn off the engine gently push the intake sensor back in, and reattach the screw being careful not to cross thread or over tighten. Just a little past finger tight is enough. Any more and you risk cracking the plastic.

Not sure on before or after from a valve perspective but if you look at the below picture of the hose (and this is after wiping) it at has probably at least dissolved some of the deposit causing oil residue in the intake manifold and maybe some of the softer carbon bits.

Happy cleaning!


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[MooZ]

Did you notice any difference from doing this? I have considered doing it, knowing full well it won't be anywhere near as effective as an actual cleaning with the manifold off.

[EvolutionArmory]

The proof is in the pudding or so they say.

With no before or after pics, who knows what you cleaned off if anything.

Throw a borescope in there and see if the valves are clean. We used every solvent under the sun at the dealer in 2009 when these cars started to have carbon problems. Nothing worked. Hand cleaned them all. 😀

[SilverStargazin]

I personally believe this is a waste of money. Carbon cleaning needs to be picked or walnut blasted.

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[oVeRdOsE]

I personally believe this is a waste of money. Carbon cleaning needs to be picked or walnut blasted.

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+1

I've soaked my divider and valves in sea foam and brake cleaner for hours, and it didn't remove much. I had to use a brass brush, and do the final clean with soda.

a lot of elbow grease. And my car had only 110 000km (69k miles), with a catch can, so it wasn't that bad at the beginning.

[Jay-Bee]

I ran the CRC Valve and turbo cleaner last oil change supposed to be really good stuff with high PEA that kills carbon, didn't have a chance to borrow a scope but my engine only has
~50K kms on it, it may not have cleaned much but it sure it's helping as a preventative thing.

Gotta love working with NAPA I get chemicals for wicked prices, so i'll prob blast one of these every oil change.

[Willënskraft]

I ran the CRC Valve and turbo cleaner last oil change supposed to be really good stuff with high PEA that kills carbon, didn't have a chance to borrow a scope but my engine only has
~50K kms on it, it may not have cleaned much but it sure it's helping as a preventative thing.

Gotta love working with NAPA I get chemicals for wicked prices, so i'll prob blast one of these every oil change.

Lol NAPA/GPC headquarters is around my area.

I do the same. Theoretically to slow down the carbon build up process. But nothing beats manually cleaning the valves.

[Jay-Bee]

Just a note to OP's instructions, dont push the tube/straw into your intake manifold, keep it as close to the IAT hole and throttle body to get best dispersal across all 4 cylinders, push it in too far and you're only washing off that one runner/port.

[arankaspar1]

Just a note to OP's instructions, dont push the tube/straw into your intake manifold, keep it as close to the IAT hole and throttle body to get best dispersal across all 4 cylinders, push it in too far and you're only washing off that one runner/port.

Completely agree.
I cleaned mine manually with the CRC stuff when I put new injectors in. I let it soak overnight before starting to fk with it.
They weren't in terribly bad but I will say this is a huge PITA using only a hooked pick tool and having that 4th cylinder wide open lengthens the process. Tbh I don't think it got the same love as the rest bc I lost my patience.

A brass brush might be the way to go but you'll be sorry if one of those bristles comes out and you don't see it.

Has anyone gotten the engine HOT HOT and THEN sprayed CRC and let it soak? I have a bore cam, I'm going to try this out and post pics.

[D.Chorney]

Where do you spray this in? At the iat aswell? Or did you pull the intake tube off the filter housing and spray upstream of the turbo?

[D.Chorney]

I ran the CRC Valve and turbo cleaner last oil change supposed to be really good stuff with high PEA that kills carbon, didn't have a chance to borrow a scope but my engine only has
~50K kms on it, it may not have cleaned much but it sure it's helping as a preventative thing.

Gotta love working with NAPA I get chemicals for wicked prices, so i'll prob blast one of these every oil change.

Where do you spray this in? At the iat aswell? Or did you pull the intake tube off the filter housing and spray upstream of the turbo?

[DansB6]

I’d recommend not wasting your time or money doing this. This is not a carbon cleaning and will virtually do nothing. The only way to clean the valves is to perform an actual carbon cleaning using a media blaster or hand tools.

[Jayz691]

Totally agree, walnut blast(or scrape) the valves. I used seafoam and the CRC spray to clean injector tips, flaps, dividers, etc, and had to scrub with small wire brushed. Just spraying and soaking did virtually nothing..

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[Theiceman]

this guy is great . my kind of troubleshooter

https://youtu.be/sN-DYl_pZ6E

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[Jayz691]

this guy is great . my kind of troubleshooter

https://youtu.be/sN-DYl_pZ6E

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Thats a great video. Great explanation of everything, and real testing of these "spray" carnon cleaners, that don't work, lol.

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