Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance UIM/LIM cleaning tips and tricks

• You've got to clean the heads. The restriction increases towards the engine, and my heads/valves were caked with junk. I ended up spraying cleaner into valves that were closed (4 out of the 6 cylinders should be closed) and scrubbing with an angled brush. I couldn't get up above the valve, but I got the rest of it spotless. I periodically sucked the cleaner and crud out with a turkey baster: I taped a piece of a plastic drinking straw on the end to help me get in there. Then I stuck a paper towel down there to suck up the rest. To get the other two, make sure everything is clean and nothing is in the heads, and crank the engine momentarily.
• Get more cleaner than you think you'll need. I'd say 6-8 cans of the Wal-mart stuff would be good. Two cans of liquid for the UIM would probaly be enough, but I'd get three to be safe. Seafoam sucks!!! Use Berrymans B12 or another carb/choke cleaner. They eat the stuff right off, Seafoam barely touches it.
• UIM without a big container and gallons of cleaner: I didn't do this (exactly this way) either time, but if I want to do it again I'd plug up the vacuum taps, bolt a piece of wood over the TB opening, and fill the inside of the UIM with cleaner through the openings in the bottom. A piece of plastic over the openings would keep it from evaporating. Just leave it sitting upside down, and I bet it would be nearly clean after sitting like that overnight.
• Have a magnetic part retriever on hand. Even with no airbox and no battery, my engine bay is unbearably cramped.
• If the car doesn't fire right away, you might have washed down the cylinder walls. If the car seems to crank a little faster/louder than normal, but doesn't fire, you might have lost compression due to the loss of the oil film. Squirting a little bit (teaspoon or so) of oil into each spark plug hole will get it to fire: and then run smokey for a bit.
• BE CAREFUL! People have had problems with this, but there's really nothing to fear. Three big things:
• Watch your wiring sequence! Put the plug wires back on right.
• Don't get cleaner into the cylinders. If you run a lot of cleaner through the engine you could have issues. To get it out if you accidentally get it in, pull the plugs and crank, then let them air out before replacing the plugs.
• Be gentle with wiring harnesses and vacuum hoses. They may be old and brittle.
  

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:

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With all the problems people have been having, I started looking around for the things that you need to watch for. They're very spread out, so I figured it might be useful to get them all together and get it stickied, or maybe put into the official How-to.

This is a great resource as well:http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=v6maint&Number=931756

• You've got to clean the heads. The restriction increases towards the engine, and my heads/valves were caked with junk. I ended up spraying cleaner into valves that were closed (4 out of the 6 cylinders should be closed) and scrubbing with an angled brush. I couldn't get up above the valve, but I got the rest of it spotless. I periodically sucked the cleaner and crud out with a turkey baster: I taped a piece of a plastic drinking straw on the end to help me get in there. Then I stuck a paper towel down there to suck up the rest. To get the other two, make sure everything is clean and nothing is in the heads, and crank the engine momentarily.
  
• Get more cleaner than you think you'll need. I'd say 6-8 cans of the Wal-mart stuff would be good. Two cans of liquid for the UIM would probaly be enough, but I'd get three to be safe. Seafoam sucks!!! Use Berrymans B12 or another carb/choke cleaner. They eat the stuff right off, Seafoam barely touches it.
  
• UIM without a big container and gallons of cleaner: I didn't do this (exactly this way) either time, but if I want to do it again I'd plug up the vacuum taps, bolt a piece of wood over the TB opening, and fill the inside of the UIM with cleaner through the openings in the bottom. A piece of plastic over the openings would keep it from evaporating. Just leave it sitting upside down, and I bet it would be nearly clean after sitting like that overnight.
  
• Have a magnetic part retriever on hand. Even with no airbox and no battery, my engine bay is unbearably cramped.
  
• If the car doesn't fire right away, you might have washed down the cylinder walls. If the car seems to crank a little faster/louder than normal, but doesn't fire, you might have lost compression due to the loss of the oil film. Squirting a little bit (teaspoon or so) of oil into each spark plug hole will get it to fire: and then run smokey for a bit.
  
• BE CAREFUL! People have had problems with this, but there's really nothing to fear. Three big things:
  
• Watch your wiring sequence! Put the plug wires back on right.
  
• Don't get cleaner into the cylinders. If you run a lot of cleaner through the engine you could have issues. To get it out if you accidentally get it in, pull the plugs and crank, then let them air out before replacing the plugs.
  
• Be gentle with wiring harnesses and vacuum hoses. They may be old and brittle.
  

Between the excellent how-to and these tips, it should be a painless job!

Anyone else have anything?

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