Hey guys, I've got my plenum off and was thinking some cleaning of the intake manifold a bit might be a good idea. It's not terrible, but you can see especially on the front three there's a small layer of carbon buildup. My plan is not to remove it, but rather spray some throttle cleaner and/or gasoline in there and also use a dryer vent cleaner to get down in there and wipe some of it off. I also have a bendable vacuum attachment that I plan to use to try to vacuum some of it out as well.

Should I be fine to spray throttle cleaner and/or gasoline down into the intake manifold? Just want to make sure it won't cause starting issues when I put the plenum back on. Any other recommendations for cleaning it out while it remains attached are also appreciated.



As an aside, I've cleaned out my plenum pretty good. I've heard of some people soaking it in gasoline, but I've also read that methanol can interact badly with aluminum. I basically took some engine degreaser and used a brass brush to clean out the throttle body and down the plenum tube.

 

Bumping this in case anyone has insight. Just want to make sure in the process of cleaning the intake out I'm not causes any problems for myself.

 

Putting substantial quantities of liquid down those runners may result in hydrolocking the engine. Very Bad things happen then.

The staining in those runners is not really causing any problems.

If you want to do something anyway, you might swab them a bit with a cotton rag wad on a larger hemostat.

If you lose any metal object down there, you've got another problem.

I'd leave those runners alone.

 

Thanks man. I think you're right, the risk of causing more problems isn't worth it. I was also thinking of using something like amsoil to get it cleaned up might be a better idea.