I was cleaning the Tb today but i can only go so far into the intake manifold. There's alot of carbon build up that I can't get to. I want to remove the whole intake manifold and clean it out. What's the best method of cleaning the intake manifold. I want to buy like 2 or 3 cans of cleaner and soak it down and then hose it down. Is that a good idea? Has anyone cleaned the intake manifold before.

 

The optimal way is to remove the intake and steam clean it. Since that isn't exactly possible, the next time you need to do an oil change, a couple days in advance, dissasemble your intake to the throttle body, and spray a high quality O2 sensor and MAF sensor safe throttle body, and intake cleaner into the tb. Even though the cleaners are MAF safe, I still wouldn't recommend spraying pre-MAF just because it is VERY delicate. The reason I recommend chaning your oil a couple days afterwards is because you don't want this stuff sitting in your engine oil itself, along with all the crud you've knocked loose. So just make sure you change your oil within a week of cleaning the intake out, and preferably atleast 2-3 days after the cleaning as other stuff may still be working it's way loose.

I personally like Kleen-Flo's cleaner, but the best available (not readily available) is BG by far. I have also heard good things about the new Valvoline line of cleaners. Also, look for a cleaner that foams, and let it sit for a while. Also, a warm intake tract is easier to clean. Just make sure you do it in a well ventilated area or have a proper mask, that is unless you like fumes like those

 

would there be a lot of buildup in the intake manifold at 71,000 miles, and if I do the BG Fuel Induction & Engine Flush will this remove all the buildup that has accumulated?

 

It all depends. What kind of engine oil do you use? Do you do a lot of stop and go driving? What is the climate in your area? What kind of gas do you use? How hard do you drive the car? Do you let your car warm up before pushing it? How often you change your engine oil? The list goes on.

The BG process is pretty miraculous. It REALLY cleans incredibly. But then again, it isn't exactly cheap. What I recommend is buying the system yourself, preferably between a couple friends, and do it yourself, paying about $10 a can for each use afterwards.

 

Here's my usual routine w/ my max

- I use Valvoline 5 or 10W30 depending on the season
- I do some stop & go driving
- In Metro Detroit it's hard to tell since the weather here always changes, but now it's getting warmer
- I drive the car normallly but once a while I drive it hard
- My max is usually garaged but before I leave in the morning or I'm somewhere for a few hours, I still let it warm up for a few min.
- I do an oil change every 3,000 miles

I'm strongly considering doing both BG Fuel Induction & Engine Flush, but I still have less than 1K miles to go until I reach 72K for another oil change, so prob. soon I'll perform the Fuel Induction, then at 72K I'll do the Engine Flush & a tune-up

Can't wait to see how my max will run afterwards

 

What's the best way to clean the intake manifold??

Uhh, take it off, go on the deck with an old toothbrush and some carb cleaner, don't forget some g00gles too

 

Do you need a new gasket? Or, can the old be re-used?

If new, do you have a part number for the 4th gen?

 

after you guys cleaned out your TB and intake manifold, have you noticed dramatic performance increases and less of the hesitation that's common b/w 2000-3000rpm?

Also if I do the BG Induction service provided by my Nissan dealer, will that remove all of the buildup in the TB and the intake manifold just as well, if not, better than the techniques you guys use? Any suggestions/recommendations would help

 

Didn't notice any change, but I only cleaned
cleaned the throttle body because it was sticking in the closed position. The car would jump when pressing the accelerator on a frequent basis. In fact, it was getting dangerous.

I didn't clean anything but the butterfly valve area because I didn't want that crud to reach the rest of the engine. I didn't remove the intake manifold. The TB cleaner said to spray it into the TB while the engine was running. I didn't want to do that. There was a lot of build up and I would like to get rid of it without harming the rest of the engine. I can only imagine what the rest of the intake manifold looks like.

The BG service sounds good, how much do they charge? Would it eliminate the potential of cruding up the rest of the engine.

 

My dealer charges $129 for it, tried it on my Altima last yr, I noticed a huge difference in performance, I'm thinking of trying it on my SE as soon as I get the chance

 

what does BG stand for??

 

Yesterday I helped install a variable intake manifold, and the intake manifold was relatively dirty as was the throttle body. The car had 83k, but there are many factors. I will be installing 2 more VIs; one on my car with 53k and one on Keven's car with ~80k (I believe) so I'll take some pictures. The EGR gets very dirty as well, and in actuality that probably needs more cleaning than the intake manifold and throttle body due to the high amount of carbon in exhaust.
The dilemma for me is that I am running an extended drain inverval with Amsoil (10k), but I still want to clean my lower manifold. I also don't want to change my oil since I'm not at 10k yet :P
-hype