[KyLu II]

Originally Posted by ironman1982

Excellent DIY!

A few questions for you if you don't mind concerning 6 AT:

I read elsewhere in another thread on this same topic that you have to be careful turning the crank by its bolt do to it possibly being reverse threaded (i.e. NOT your standard "righty-tighty" "lefty-loosy" threading). Something about utilizing a tool in the slots machined into the wheel around the bolt to turn it instead of the bolt itself. Is this accurate. Does the crank need to turn in a CW fashion then but not necessarily by using the bolt? Also I'm assuming you'd have to disengage the tranny by putting the car in N. Is that a possibility with the car off without any special disengagement of a shift lock or similar?

Thanks!

i dont know about the thread pattern but the way i was able to close the open valves was, i disconnected all the coils and "tapped" the crank, valves move really fast, it helps having someone watching.(im not sure if this is safe or not, i dont recommend it)
you can put the car in neutral 2 ways. 1) putting the car in "acc" press the breaks and you can put it into "N". 2) engaging it manually, there's a lever on the passenger side when you lift the shift boot.

have fun!

[ironman1982]

Originally Posted by KyLu II

i dont know about the thread pattern but the way i was able to close the open valves was, i disconnected all the coils and "tapped" the crank, valves move really fast, it helps having someone watching.(im not sure if this is safe or not, i dont recommend it)
you can put the car in neutral 2 ways. 1) putting the car in "acc" press the breaks and you can put it into "N". 2) engaging it manually, there's a lever on the passenger side when you lift the shift boot.

have fun!

Thanks for the info!

[yakev724]

Hopefully will get around to doing this in the next 2 weeks.

These look like a good way to get the inside of the valves clean

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-brush-C...ht_2888wt_1202

[frozenfire]

Originally Posted by yakev724

Hopefully will get around to doing this in the next 2 weeks.

These look like a good way to get the inside of the valves clean

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-brush-C...ht_2888wt_1202

I would get some higher quality ones. I did it using the cheap walmart ones (12 bucks for a set of 4 i think) and they started comming apart (the little blush wires fell off) it was a pain in the a$$ trying to get them all out. had to use compressed air and a magnet to pick up the suckers... Mine fell apart on cylinder 2, after that I went out and bought a ton and used 2-3 brushes per cylinder... bought 3 or 4 sets and used them all up (though one per cylinder may be more than enough) I was just real paranoid of it comming apart again and I REALLY didn't want little metal wire pieces going into my cylinder... Next time I do it, I will be ordering some high quality ones from the rifle catalogs my old boss use to buy hunting gear from... If you buy those ebay ones, I suggest you buy at least 2 per cylinder just incase... otherwise youll have to either go to walmart 1/2 thru (like I did) or wait till ebay ships them to you...

[blisstik]

Me and a buddy did this today. Took us about 7 hours. We used about 5.5 cans of B12. The hardest part was taking off the 3 screws of the evil box of wire harnesses. When we put it back, we simply skipped the middle bolt. It was pretty impossible to put back. That screw literally needs to be shorter.

Anyways, I installed my AFE DCI and an oil change after driving around town for a bit. What I noticed is the idle is steady and I have a bit more power but I think that's because of all 3 combined: valve cleaning, DCI and oil change.

Here's a link to the gun cleaning kit I bought: http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Cleaning-T...4603197&sr=8-1

I would try to buy a bigger kit as I was running out of brushes. They would get flat after each valve cleaning. Also if it gets gunky, use another brush to brush off the gunk and keep using it. That's what made me last using whatever is in that kit. The big brush is very useful for the walls.

[Rotorocious]

Guess who's back, back again.


The is the worst one out of the bunch. About 10k after the valve cleaning. No catch can, all stock PCV. With meth now.
Guess we just got to live with it

[rooringhusky]

Originally Posted by Rotorocious

Guess who's back, back again.


The is the worst one out of the bunch. About 10k after the valve cleaning. No catch can, all stock PCV. With meth now.
Guess we just got to live with it

Damn all that after only 10K!! Never thought our cars were this bad

[prelude2perfect]

Finally did mine last week. Thank you OP for this writeup. I thought it would have been a lot harder than it really was since I've never taken off an intake manifold before but, this writeup made it quite easy. That stupid middle screw on that mount was a pain in the ass so I just dremeled right through it, lol.

62,xxx miles, no OCC, meth for only the last 5k miles or so, no seafoam or any other treatment (although I am the second owner and have no idea what was done to the car before 38,xxx miles).

Before:























After:

[robbie211]

Took my car to LTBMW to get the valves clean as I'm just shy of 50K and I did not want to preform this procedure myself. I installed a catch can at 15K to help prevent build up but still my valves looked pretty bad.

After the cleaning the car idles smoother with no hiccups! I will probably have this done in every 30K.

[TenshiWingusu]

A trick i found for the rubber electronics holder. Once you get the charge pipe off and clear, undo the manifold bolts and pull the manifold out and rotate it as much as you can without pulling wires. Its tight and needs some work but once you have clear work room on the back of the manifold where the rubber holder is stick a bar or similar (we used a large paid of needle nose pliers) between the holder and the bracket and pry down. The holder slips right off it was super easy.

[jwalker87]

I did the same thing as the above post, but just unscrewed the bracket, like the OP. Much easier once the manifold is unbolted and you can access the underside.

[Surly73]

I don't have a DI engine so I can't test this myself, but I've seen people use Amsoil Powerfoam as the cleaning agent instead. Spray on, soak, drive. No scrubbing or extracting used carb cleaner with a vacuum. There's even a guy out there somewhere who drilled (and then capped) ports in his IM to spray Powerfoam in without having to remove the manifold any more.

Amsoil Powerfoam is made exactly for these kinds of deposits. When you burn it off I'm sure it'll smoke but it will probably cut the time for this job down significantly. The easier this is, the more likely people will do it more often.

Carbon cleaning like this is routine maintenance for a DI engine (in 2012 at least).

Here is a thread about the guy who modified his intake manifold. Post #2100195 has the details.

[jwalker87]

Interesting. Anyway, my problem is gone! I had a misfire at WOT above 3k rpm that would make me pull over and restart the car, but now it runs beautifully after cleaning the valves. Just make sure you plug all the connectors back in when you're done...

[neilvosko]

I am curious to see if e85 keeps valves cleaner

[Rotorocious]

Originally Posted by neilvosko

I am curious to see if e85 keeps valves cleaner

No gas ever touches the valves so probably not.

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by neilvosko

I am curious to see if e85 keeps valves cleaner

The build up on N54/N55s has nothing to do with fuel. They are direct injection and fuel never touches the valves - THAT is the origin of the whole problem. Changing fuel or putting additives in your fuel are going to do absolutely nothing.

[neilvosko]

thanx, that kinda sucks, but is there any preventative measure?

[Rotorocious]

Originally Posted by neilvosko

thanx, that kinda sucks, but is there any preventative measure?

Not really.
Marginal improvment results with seafoam, an oil catch can and meth.

[DC441]

I never saw it mentioned anywhere but is there a gasket betweent the head and intake manifold? If so, anyone know the part number so I can order it before beginning this work? Thanks.

[KyLu II]

Originally Posted by DC441

I never saw it mentioned anywhere but is there a gasket betweent the head and intake manifold? If so, anyone know the part number so I can order it before beginning this work? Thanks.

there is one but most likely you wont need to get buy a new one...

[Spun Crankhub]

great write up!

[david-m]

Nice DIY