Intake Manifold Cleaning and OCC?

Ultrasonic MAY work. In theory it does. But does it in reality? I don't have that answer, maybe someone does.
Maybe they've done it, and just have not posted it here.
I used oven cleaner on carboned up RD350's, a 2 stroke engine. And it works great. Some where pretty bad
and of course took more work.
The sites I looked at showed the inside, and it was clear, but not shiny. So it's going to be easy to clean.
You just have to research and find a cleaner one. They are not hard to clean, unless they are clogged.
I do know "GUNK", the flammable one, will soften the carbon, if you leave it long enough.
As I expect all the other methods.
And the sooner you clean it, the less clogged it should be.
The people I purchased my Prius from didn't drive it hard. Rarely went over 65MPH. And the same with me.
I burn very little oil overall. But staying at 65 and under I burn very little then I do at 70 or more.
So I leave a little earlier.

 

When I cleaned my EGR cooler a year ago, it took over a month to do. This was a spare cooler and value assembly bought on eBay for $85. It was completely clogged. Used Gum out, brake cleaner, Oxi-Clean and a wire poker to assult the gunk. The result was a squeaky clean cooler.

Planning on using the pressure washer on the original one soon. Probably should use Oxi-Clean to soften 1st. Will report my findings.

 

Just hit it with the pressure washer and you’re done in 15 minutes.

Then you can mull other tasks or chores.

 

What’s your choice of oil and filter?

 

A day at the beach , LOL!

 

Is it warm enough out there yet?

Been nice out here for about a month now.

 

Toyota filters, Mobil 1: 0w20 or Castrol: 0w20
I drive for fuel mileage.

04152-YZZA6 Toyota Genuine OEM Oil Filter Set of 5 For Corolla Prius PriusV 88608005269 | eBay

 

Not yet, but have my hot tub up and running.

 

+1 That's what I did.

 

I only paid $22 for mine though. Maybe they raised the price!
But good deal CAN be found if you take the time and search!
I have 8 left I believe with another oil change and trans fluid change do in 3500 miles.

I "might" use 0w30 next time and see if I can drive 70mph without burning as much oil.

 

Has anyone paid, either a dealer or independent mechanic to do the EGR cleaning and catch can installation? Cost? Results?

 

@RightOnTime and @sfv41901 have done plenty of this in their shop in Anaheim.

But quotes are not discussed here.

I've done several of these but I'm not doing it for a living.

 

I think it would be very frustrating, and expensive, to go that route. More'n likely you would eventually take over yourself, wonder why you didn't DIY from the outset. Oil catch cans in particular can be an ongoing process, the install and tweaking is half the fun.

 

My dealer quoted about $750 for the egr which included a new egr cooler and cleaning of various pieces such as the intake manifold. My understanding is some people have replaced the pcv (for the catch can) and routed the catch can hoses without taking off the intake manifold but taking off the intake is not that hard. Its removing the egr cooler and "trying" to clean it that is the problem due to access and then the level of clogging that may be in your egr cooler. The dealer will often quote parts instead of a questionable number of hours,.

 

I will like to know the same question synthetic ask just to know if it worth my time or I better off leaving it to the professional, at the end it doesn’t hurt to know how much I will save by taking this job into my hands versus $$$

 

For anyone considering hiring pros:

1. Would you expect the pros to clean or replace the egr cooler and valve? Maybe the intake manifold too?? Either way is going to expensive. Dealerships in particular wil very likely NOT be interested in doing any cleaning, just want to swap parts.

2. Oil catch can. Which one? Don't get involved, just let the pros decide? Where to install? Again, let them surprise you? Or?

 

I agree dealer will likely only replace with new one and a private shop may not have the time the cleaning required so mostly will be a replacement too but probably a private shop probably will take a used one you provide to them unlikely dealer will not, Moving up to the OCC, don’t understand clearly if it’s to avoid future clogging of the EGR or to avoid a blown head gasket, if it’s for the EGR only I will definitely not install one if the car can manage to make it to 100k before it clogs I rather do this the EGR cleaning again in the future, so can someone tells me more about the benefits of the OCC, still waiting if anyone have a quote from a shop.

 

OCC benefits are debatable, but there's strong positive arguments:

You're basically waylaying a wack of sludge, a mix of oil/water/gas (delivered by the PCV valve and hose), which would otherwise be going into the intake manifold, and likely a fair portion of that making it into the combustion chambers. Burning that mix can't be good for piston/ring cleanliness, and could also increase the rate the EGR system clogs up with carbon.

Piston/rings getting gummed up with carbon up leads to oil consumption, and a clogged EGR reduces exhaust gasses being introduced to the combustion chamber, which raises combustion chamber temps, which increases the odds of head gasket failure.

 

I spray brake cleaner in each port today and I couldn't believe the crap that came out of each port. And that was after I cleaned each port out with a stiff nylon brush on a metal wand. That oil residue was like axle grease. Yuck!! But it's clean now!

 

I just started this process today. I was not looking forward to it but getting the intake manifold off wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Cleaning it was another story but I was able to get it cleaned out. I installed a new PCV valve and OCC. I can't think of any negative effects from installing an OCC, only positive possibilities. So I have to still do the EGR cooler and reading some tips on this thread was helpful. I'm planning on draining the coolant before doing that job and just changing it out with fresh coolant. I have 115k miles on my wife's Prius so this maintenance was due. The EGR tube was open and not clogged but it did have some carbon on it. I'm curious to see what the EGR cooler looks like. I already have a clean one to swap in so that will save me a lot of time when I get to it one of these coming weekends. Bottom line is that I'm looking forward to finishing the job but happy to get the OCC installed and the intake manifold clean! When I drop the bottom cover I'm going to drain and replace the engine coolant, the inverter coolant, engine oil and CVT fluid.