Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Duratec Intake Cleaning Help.

I have some concerns regarding cleaning the intake on my '98 Mystique. I bought a can of the Motorcraft Spray Carburetor Tune-Up Cleaner from the dealer. The guy behind the parts counter warned me about doing the job myself. He cited possible damage to the catalytic converter and O2 sensors. Also , there is a warning label on the TB where the hose to the air cleaner goes. It warns against cleaning the intake because of a special coating.

Do I have the right cleaner, and am I asking for trouble if I use it?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

don't worry about it. cleaning the intake is not that difficult. if you leave the lower intake on just be certain you do not dump too much of that stuff down in there otherwise you could hydro-lock your motor. what i did was stuff some paper towels in the lower intake and soaked them with the cleaner and let it sit for 10 minutes to loosen up the gunk. then pull them out and repeat that a few times until they're clean. the best way to do it is to take out the lower intake though. as for the warning, i'm sure that is just referring to your throttle body. the throttle body plate is teflon coated. they wear off though so if your plate is a golden color its already gone. if it's black then be careful. either way you can get in there and rub gently with a towel. just spray the towel with the cleaner and rub the inside of the throttle body with it. don't spray directly on the throttle body though. and DON'T spray the electrical connection either.

its ironic that the parts guy at a ford dealer tells you to be careful. i saw a mechanic clean an intake at the dealership. you know how they did it? they leave both the upper and lower intakes on, turn the car on, and spray the cleaner in through the throttle body until the car stalls. then they repeat the process. doesn't get much worse than that.

is the cleaner you got a foaming spray? does it kinda foam up a bit if you spray it on something? if so you've got the right one. although i know others have used different cleaners and had better luck. i used the ford cleaner and it worked just fine.

I'm not sure about the carb-cleaner, I suppose it could work fine. I, and others, have used an air intake and throttle body cleaner (it says just that on the bottle). I might try to find some if I were you. As for the warning...its believed to be safe to ignore it, I did and I'm a couple thousand miles later with no problems (think about it do you want a dirty throtle body where that coating is covered up by grime anyway...or a clean one??)

Also I did not follow the diections on the bottle, which said to spray the fluid in while the engine is running, this may work but it also works just to pull the throttle body and intake apart, douse them in the cleaner and then start scrubbing. I used a tooth brush and some dental tools and got it about as clean as you can. Good Luck, its well worth the effort.

CRC makes a throttle body cleaner that is very good. I recommend that. For cleaning sensors, get their Electronics Cleaner. Both are available at Pep Boys.