[cm335d]

I'm gearing up for doing the Walnut Media blast procedure and remember seeing a youtube video that showed a technician using an old heater hose with a hole poked in it for the blasting wand to go in and then he hooked up the vacuum onto one end and stuck the other into the intake port. Has anyone done it this way with success?

[cm335d]

I found the video, here's the link in case anyone is curious:

[smass]

I don't think a heater hose would work. Even with the BMW tools, if there is not a perfect seal, shells get blasted everywhere in the engine compartment. Most of the videos out there are for gas engines. Diesel CBU cleaning is a lot harder to do. You will spend way more time on the intake tract around the valves than the actual valves. Gas CBU is just valves that are much closer to the surface than our diesel ones. And you can't do this job with our a bore-scope to see what is going on in there.

[jrod5k]

Agreed. Not an easy job and homemade tools trying to save a bit of money is just going to lead to frustration. The money you’re saving by doing it yourself; do yourself a favor and buy the vacuum attachments. I will say that the wands are quite underwhelming and appear to be just bent brake lines with different cuts on the end and could easily be replicated.

[335dlci]

You need the adapters

[RED-d]

I used a flexible plastic drain pipe with a hole in it for the wand at cylinder 6 because I couldn't get the BMW adapter back there. If I did it again I would use something similar. The increased range of motion of the wands was a huge help. The BMW adapter really limited the wand movement. I also didn't use a tarp to cover the engine after the first hr. I spent more time fussing with that than blasting my valves. The mess was minimal and a non issue for me.

[cm335d]

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it. I've scheduled the weekend of May 19th to do the walnut blasting and hot tanking of the intake manifold. Wish me luck!