Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting UIM Cleaning

Hi all.

I'm fairly new to my Contour, and been lurking for a while. Much kudos to you guys for the know-how and giving me the confidence to try some things myself.

Decided to bite the bullet and clean the UIM. I've done searches, but I still have three questions:

1. Read a lot of pros/cons re cleaning the UIM in place. If I'm doing plugs, wires, PCV, throttle body cleaning, etc, it's been suggested its just as easy to take off the UIM and clean it manually.
Any thoughts?

2. Question about removal. Specifically I've read lots of posts, but I'm unclear if it's water cooled (one set of instructions said to 'drain the coolant'...?) I'm hoping that's wrong, and it's not water-cooled. (Last engine I worked on was a BMC (Triumph 1500), with twin SU carbs, never worked with injection engines. I've never heard of a cooled manifold before.)

3. Finally, what should I clean it with ? I have thick wire, brushes, etc but no cleaner. For in place cleaning, I can't find Berrymans B-12 locally. What else should I use?
And, if I'm cleaning the UIM off the engine, what's the best thing to use? (One post said a power washer??)

Thanks all.

Firstly no need to drain the coolant. To clean it I use a tooth brush or something akin. As well for a cleaner I use Canadian Tire TB cleaner. Let it soak a nit and scrub the snot out of it. You may not beleive the differnece this will make. It is well worth a before and after shot I assure you.

If you can't find Berrymans, most any high quality fuel injector cleaner should work. Two of the best include Techron and RedLine. I have heard that Valvoline Synpower works well too. One of my favorites is Ford Combustion Chamber Cleaner which can be purchased either as an aerosol spray or as a pourable liquid.

3M high power brake cleaner. trumps all the fuel injector cleaners. Just don't get it onto any rubber parts. Wire, hard plastic, etc. are unaffected.

On or off... Very flammable stuff, so give it a little drink at a time. Also works for checking the cause of a nostart....

Thanks guys.

I think I'm leaning towards doing the UIM in place (this time). So, that said, if I use either (say) 3M High Power brake cleaner, or Valvoline Synpower, what size vacuum hose do I need to get it into the two inlets on the top of UIM (as per the HowTo)?