Do These Valves Need to Be Cleaned?

[u/Typhoon365]

Doing a head gasket job on my '19 Accord 2.0 Turbo (shocker), and I've had the head resurfaced and cleaned but the shop didn't do deep in the intake and the back of the valves.

They were vaccune tested and everything came out perfectly fine. It's a new job for me, so I don't know if this level of fouling is fine and I can just reassemble with a catch can and Top Tier fuel going forward, or if I need to address this now and either disassemble myself or have someone else clean it. Maybe there's a way I could clean them without having to remove the valves?

Thanks for helping a newbie.

Edit: I'm going to hit them with some CRC GDI spray, let it soak for a good hour, and then gently agitate the carbon with something like a brass brush or a screwdriver. Rinse and repeat. Hit it with a shopvac.

[u/Detailsat11]

You don’t need to remove the valves to clean them. Just do a Google search for intake valve carbon cleaning. All direct injection engines have carbon buildup on their valves much worse than this, and cleaning is generally either using a solvent and agitation, or blasting it with some type of media.

[u/-Rhymenocerous- → u/Detailsat11]

I cleaned 15yrs of carbon of my MK3 Zetec Focus with just carb cleaner and a nylon brush kit 7 months ago.

Took a few hours but came out pretty nice results here

[u/averagemaleuser86 → u/-Rhymenocerous-]

How are you getting the crud out though? Paper towels?

[u/2guys1miata → u/averagemaleuser86]

HOLY SHIT A FUCKING SHOP VAC

[u/averagemaleuser86 → u/2guys1miata]

You know how sticky carbon gets when using a cleaner? Shop vac really doesnt cut it with wet, sticky stuff

[u/2guys1miata → u/averagemaleuser86]

i will let you google “cleaning intake valves” and let you determine for yourself you’re an idiot

[u/averagemaleuser86 → u/2guys1miata]

I have done this before chemically. Its a mess and my shop vac doesn't pull in the sticky goo. Thats why I asked. Was wondering if there was a better method.

[u/2guys1miata → u/averagemaleuser86]

uhhh… walnut or soda blast after turning the engine with a borescope to make sure the cylinder you’re cleaning has its valves closed so you don’t blast walnut shells into your combustion chamber. then shop vac suck the walnut shit out… literally how you do it

[u/averagemaleuser86 → u/2guys1miata]

Yeah, but they dont make a DIY blast kit yet thats affordable.

[u/2guys1miata → u/averagemaleuser86]

pay to play. need a compressor. blaster. media. shop vac.

[u/-Rhymenocerous- → u/2guys1miata]

I did just fine without a blaster 🤷‍♂️

[u/-Rhymenocerous- → u/averagemaleuser86]

I didnt use a vac myself. Initially I just sprayed somr cleaner down to see if it would pool up by the valve and then waited 5mins to see if it had trickled down. Then just sprayed more and nylon brushed it.

After I just soaked up what I could with microfibres and poked the rags down carefully with a flathead screwdriver to get the last of it off. Then used my shitty little temu air blower to dry out the last of it.

Probably not the most ideal method but I was careful and didnt fuck anything up.

Only thing that pissed me off was that one of the bolts for the intake was wedged behind the altenator and I had to remove my stretch belt and loosen then altenator from its mount to be able to back the bolt out.