Let’s Get Blasted

Let’s Get Blasted –
Intake Valve Cleaning Service using Walnut Shell Blasting Tool

EXAMPLE below of a dirty intake tract and valves and a perfect candidate for walnut blasting cleaning –

WHAT?

There is an issue affecting most car gas engines these days, that is a direct result of two fundamental changes in the design of current combustion engines. Upgraded emission requirements, and direct injected engines. The result is the intake valves are getting large amounts of carbon build up on the intake valves, affecting the performance, fuel economy, and just normal operation of the engine. We hear our customers say, ” I have no check engine light, but my engine doesn’t pull like it used to”, “my fuel economy is dropping, yet I don’t have any check engine lights”, “my engine stumbles on acceleration”. All of these comments and more can often be attributed to the carbon build up on the intake valves.

WHY?

Why is this now happening? In the constant drive by car manufacturers to improve efficiency, performance, and gas economy, they have made a fundamental change in the design of the fuel injection system. They have moved the fuel injector from the intake track, to being directly in the cylinder (referred to as “direct injected engines”). The fuel injectors used to be in the intake runner, close to the intake valve of the engine. When the fuel injector was in the intake tract, the fuel would act like a cleaning agent and clean or prevent oil and carbon deposits from accumulating on the intake valves. Why is there oil in the intake tract in the first place? With the continued evolution of the emissions systems, one of the elements is the capture of crankcase vent fumes, and re-directing them into the intake tract to allow them to be digested as part of the combustion process, therefore ensuring the fumes don’t vent to atmosphere, and they go thru the catalytic convertors to get cleaned and altered before exiting the exhaust system and entering the atmosphere. The combination of these two elements has caused the intake valves to now become a collector of oil and carbon deposits.

The normal time frame for this to become bad enough that it affects the engine operation is in the area of 30-40k miles of use. Cars that we have done this service too where we have seen this first hand are cars like the BMW 135/335/535/X5, MINI Cooper, MINI Cooper S, MINI Clubman, Audi A4, Audi A5, Audi A6, Porsche Cayenne (all models)

What can be done?

There are a couple of approaches. Direct fix (Walnut blasting of the intake valves), and indirect (adding an additive like SeaFoam to the vacuum tract of the engine (not just adding to the fuel)). Adding a cleaning agent to the fuel doesn’t help, and doesn’t change anything (although we would recommend using only gas like Chevron and Shell for all performance engines).

BRracing now offers the Walnut Blasting Service, and has the proper equipment and elements to do the full cleaning of the intake tract and intake valves (only dealers and a very few independent shops have the complete equipment to do this service…don’t be misled).

We have to remove the intake system, and once we have direct access to the intake valve area, we use the blasting tool to spray very small walnut shells into the intake tract / valves, and it removes all carbon build up / debris / anything else in a non-harmful manner.

One of the reasons for using walnut shells (very fine particles, not actual big shells) is that if any is not removed (during the service, the jet blasts the shells into the intake tract, and the vacuum sucks out all the remains), they just get burned up in the cylinder when the engine is next started (but we have never seen any residue, the cleaning is very complete).

RESULTS

A completely clean intake tract, intake valves, and an engine performing like new. It used to be that you would get a “tune up” to improve the operation of your engine, now you need to get BLASTED!

CALL US today to schedule a cleaning on your engine. You’d be surprised at the positive results.

BRracing – Keeping your cars performing at the optimum level.