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Hey everyone, it's been a while since I was on the forum, but today I decided to replace the valve cover gaskets, spark plug tube seals, and valve cover bolt grommets. I've had a small oil leak for some time and I know it needed to be done. I had previously order all the parts, as well as the all the gaskets for the intake mainfold. I decided to change the spark plugs while I was at it. At this point, I have the valve covers back on and the new plugs back in. All has gone smoothly so far and I'm pretty happy with the work. Now to the intake manifold...There seems to be fair amount of oily residue in the intake manifold. In addition, there is a lot of blackish build up in the chamber marked red in diagram below. It doesn't appear to be gummy because I can flake it off with a screw driver.
Anyone know if this is normal or is this an indication of some bigger issue?
I'd love to take time to clean everything up, but at this point, I'm tired and I don't know I'll have the energy to make it all sparkly. I plan on cleaning what I can before I put it back in the car.
That's normal and it's good to take the manifold off and clean it. Grab a few cans of carb cleaner and let it soak. Then scrub it all. I used a coat hanger to get in all the crevasses. Also clean down the small holes under the back of the to plate and within the channels. You can take the two plenums off to get a better reach. Those gaskets are metal and you can reuse them.
I've a 2gen CL-S 6Man only 56k miles. Have done this 2x on the 15 yr old the 1st was the worst, takes a day to clean but glad it's done. Also cleaned friends 02 TL in 08 as she was having some lacklustre performance. Used toothbrush, white rags & very small vacuum extension.
12-21-2017, 07:15 PM
Intake Manifold Cleaning question
