Intake valve build up - Pics Inside

[JLaw297]

Figure for everyone wondering what your intake valves will look like after 78k miles with no catch can, full synthetic oil changes every 5k and only premium fuel used.. see below. Motor was torn down for AFM lifter failure.

[papageoff]

1 minute ago, JLaw297 said:

Figure for everyone wondering what your intake valves will look like after 78k miles with no catch can, full synthetic oil changes every 5k and only premium fuel used.. see below. Motor was torn down for AFM lifter failure.

Interesting.  I was kicking myself the other day for not having them take pictures of my intake valves when they did my AFM lifter replacement a couple months ago.  I'm pretty sure it's the cause of my (very slowly)  increasingly rough idle.

[JLaw297]

Same with my idle. I wish they had sent me a pic upon tear down so I could have had the heads sent somewhere to be walnut blasted before it was put back together.

[reardiff]

Got to love DI.  I wonder if a regular treatment of the spray can CRC valve cleaner make any difference or would that happen eventually anyways?  That's pretty nasty looking for only 78K miles.   

[truckguy82]

Ummm that doesn’t look bad at all

 

its black and nasty looking but as far as Actual buildup not that bad

Edited December 4, 2019 by truckguy82

[Doublebase]

Wow, that looks pretty bad. Only 78k miles? I've seen some other pictures on here and they look bad too. 

 

I do 5,00 mile oil changes too...and run a catch can. When I reach 70k miles I'm planning on pulling the intake off and doing a manual cleaning...wondering how it'll look (not sure how much help the catch can is actually giving). 

[NomadicCPO]

2 hours ago, truckguy82 said:

Ummm that doesn’t look bad at all

 

its black and nasty looking but as far as Actual buildup not that bad

Was thinking the same, not great but not awful.  Doubt that is causing any issues at all.

[flyingfool]

uless your loosing MPG's i wouldn't bother tearing the manifold off, your better off finding a private BMW shop that does walnut blasting and let them clean it correctly. or you guys can buy the vacuum blasting tool online, and get a 50lb bag of crushed walnuuts. and blow the weekend cleaning the valves.

[STurner15]

10 hours ago, NomadicCPO said:

Was thinking the same, not great but not awful.  Doubt that is causing any issues at all.

+1

 

Not great but I've seen a lot worse. Either way, while you have the opportunity get it cleaned up JL!

[mookdoc6]

Obviously, pulling port fuel injected heads would most likely reveal something that looked brand new with a few specs.  This is most likely gonna happen regardless and unfortunately quicker on GDI's and has nothing to do with OCI intervals at all.  Is it bad?  It's not great but it's not gonna do anything for your ownership life expectancy.  We all be coking.....................

[Jacoby]

Those look horrible

[Black02Silverado]

That isn't bad if you ask me.  This is what I would call bad, picture of BMW valves. Before and after cleaning.

 

 

[truckguy82]

2 hours ago, Jacoby said:

Those look horrible

Carbon buildup from di has been known to cut out like 25-30% of hp

 

while it looks bad compared to port injection, it looks fantastic for di. Probably losing like 5-10hp tops.

 

his is the worst ive seen for the lt motors, and its really not that bad

[flyingfool]

could also just install  hydro boost from a 2500 in place of the vac pump,  delete vac pump lines, and run breather filters on your valve covers.. problem would stop there..

Edited December 5, 2019 by flyingfool

[L86 All Terrain]

Nasty. Now we know why Ford used their noodles and did DI + Port Injection. First time I thought I would ever give Ford credit over GM in the engine/powertrain department but in this instance they won and GM looks like the dummy. Trade them in before warranty is out. Motto of new vehicles beyond the year 2001.