LNF valve cleaning

Ross

Goblin Guru
Seafoam in the gas tank can clean the valves on a port injected engine like my LSJ, but your LNF is direct injected, and the gasoline & seafoam will never touch the gunk on the back of your intake valves. As far as I know, LNF owners take their intake off, and clean the intake valves by hand with a pick or dremel wire brush, or with walnut blasting.
 

AZmoto

Well-Known Member
There are Youtube videos where people have done before and after pictures of the valves after spraying cleaners on DI engines and there was no discernible difference. I cleaned the valves on my LNF with the CRC cleaner, picks and brushes and they came out great.
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Keeping the LNF intake valves cleaner can involve a couple things:
Bypassing the direct PCV port from the crankcase directly into the intake manifold. By adding an oil separator/catch can - with a check valve to keep boost pressure from backflowing into the crankcase - will help keep any oil mist out of the intake, under vacuum, to collect on the back of the valves. I believe that Powell and another company, can't find it again, make a PCV bypass system for the Ecotec.
Adding a water/methane injection system - like the Snow Performance - can keep the back of the valves 'washed' and help prevent carbon build up - among other benefits.
Both of these upgrades are definitely something to consider for the LNF direct injection inherent carbon issues.
 

Briann1177

Goblin Guru
Catch cans and methanol injection have been beaten to death in several other threads. Bottom line is spraying either Seafoam or CRC cleaner through the intake will NOT remove 50k miles worth of buildup. It's more designed as a maintenance item to be used every 10k miles after a thorough initial cleaning. I've done mine twice already. Whether or not it actually does anything, I have no idea. I do know it's super easy to do and relatively cheap so I figure it can't make things worse. There are YouTube videos that show positive results when used in this manner.

Whether you use a catch can, meth injection, valve cleaners, etc there is no cure to the carbon build up that happens with these motors. The best you can do is just delay the inevitable.
 
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Briann1177

Goblin Guru
And here is a pro tip if you do go that route. Don't spray it through your brake booster line on your intake manifold. With the port sitting off to the side, most of the spray will go into only two of the cylinders. Instead take your evap solenoid off and use that. It sits exactly in the middle so that the spray will be equally distributed to each cylinder.
 

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
Here is another thread:


I have had the Powell air/oil separator installed for the last 2600 fairly hard-driven miles. Although I have not torn it down for inspection, I do know with certainty that no more oil has gotten to the intake.
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Catch cans and methanol injection have been beaten to death in several other threads. Bottom line is spraying either Seafoam or CRC cleaner through the intake will NOT remove 50k miles worth of buildup. It's more designed as a maintenance item to be used every 10k miles after a thorough initial cleaning. I've done mine twice already. Whether or not it actually does anything, I have no idea. I do know it's super easy to do and relatively cheap so I figure it can't make things worse. There are YouTube videos that show positive results when used in this manner.

Whether you use a catch can, meth injection, valve cleaners, etc there is no cure to the carbon build up that happens with these motors. The best you can do is just delay the inevitable.
The catch can and water/meth injection are preventative methods, as stated, not methods for cleaning. And you are correct that there are other threads with this information, but these were worth mentioning here again for others - particularly newbies - who don't know this information has been brought up before. :cool:
 
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