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I'm looking for a competent shop near Chicago that does walnut husk or whatever intake valve cleaning that won't grenade my engine. Bonus if they have reasonable prices.
I haven't actually looked at my valves yet, and I'm not sure if it's really possible without pulling the intake, but the car has 140k miles on it and the valves have probably never been cleaned. Based on the pictures I've seen here, the valves could use a hefty cleaning...
The exhaust valves clean themselves by virtue of the fact that hot exhaust gets blown past them. The intake valves only have oily, relatively cool air flowing past them. Since this is a direct injection engine, there is no cleaning action from fuel as there is in port injected or throttle body injected engines. No gas touches the back of the intake valves so it doesn't matter where you're buying your gas from.
I suggest looking at any M278 engine tear down, any video where they pull the intake, or any video showing the valve cleaning process on an engine with more than 50k miles to see what the issue is before opening your mouth and proving to everyone that you're an anti-social moron.
wow I want you for a customer-----is your ash tray full yet, if so you need to trade the car as only the insane run around with a half full ash tray, but intake valves being dirty at 140K thats another question. If you buy gas in Syria, Yemen or North Korea I would say yep walnut the valves as the gas is ****,but Chicago or the USA I seriously doubt the need unless serious engine diagnostics say or have said otherwise.
As an after thought------which family member suggested cleaning the intake valves or did they mistakenly mean exhaust valves
OP M276 engine is directly injected.... so his valves have only seen thin vaporized oil.
Conventional port injected M272/273 engines wash their valves with gasoline but GDI valves can not.
The best thing to do is recognize than better oil is not vaporized, then no walnut cleaning necessary.
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Nov 24, 2024 at 06:17 PM.
Indeed. Having bought the car at around 130k miles, I'm inheriting quite a few potential issues. I can do better than was done in the past, but I'm working with what I've got.
Indeed. Having bought the car at around 130k miles, I'm inheriting quite a few potential issues. I can do better than was done in the past, but I'm working with what I've got.
that very true: you own it as is....
How much oil goes missing between your oil changes ??
Have you inspected your intake valves to see how much carbon has deposited??
About one liter per 5k mi oil change, but I only have one oil change worth of data under my ownership.
I haven't inspected the intake valves yet. Is there an easy way to do it without pulling the intake?
No easy way to see intake valves.
You can borescope or remove intake plenum.
Your engine consumes about 1Qt per 5KMi. Pretty average around 100kMi: Not too bad.
How about you cancel this oiling issue easily for free? Simply use better engine oiling:
Normal oil pump pressure Ester based API-SP oil
Greater viscosity.
Switch to a quality ESTER 5W-40 oil :
Castrol,
Amsoil,
Motul,
Mobil1
....
Better Oil will quit being vaporized under high heat and will remove more piston heat without burning.
Don't bother with intake valves, a pretty low hanging fruit.
Laggy throttle is caused by drafty stuck rings not coated valves.
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Nov 25, 2024 at 04:28 AM.
Using boroscope with 90 degree side camera and elbow grease to spin main pulley, you can see a bit of the intake valves opening and the carbon built up, not the greatest view but decent.
Cylinder 5 as per 26th June 2021 , no more than 32,000 KM for sure.
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Cylinder 5 with intake manifold removed, as per 12th Aug 2022. No more than 34,000KM for sure.
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No walnut machine, purely "hand job" , sweat and tears.
The best I could do
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I think my fuel comes from Syria or Yemen or North Korea
Last edited by S-Prihadi; Nov 25, 2024 at 03:34 AM.
Yes, spark plug hole. Thus must be the twin lens/camera, where the 2nd one is the sideview.
An articulating boroscope can't do it.
Articulating one is good for piston and valves face
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Front and side camera type.
Side camera boroscope, if without aftercooler blocking the main pulley ( M276.8xx Turbo ) and we can spin main pulley easy and see more of the valve back side. This is cylinder 1
Cylinder 1
...
Cylinder 2
Aha, it was 36,000KM. Sorry, I recalled it was 34,000KM
@S-Prihadi Aha, I did not think of using a boroscope that way, but I can do that. I was going to pull a few plugs for inspection of the plugs and cylinders since I don't know when the plugs were last changed. I didn't think about viewing the valves from that direction.
@CaliBenzDriver I already disabled the OPR solenoid, and I'm using LiquiMoly 5W-40.
In times past, I would pull the intake manifold and manually clean the valves myself. Then I would replace the manifold before the flaps break so I don't have to do that job again. Nowadays, I am too busy for something like this so would rather pay someone a reasonable amount of money to do this while I work and get paid... I just don't trust anyone to drive my car, much less disassemble it.
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