I'm taking the rx8 to the dealer next week and am thinking of having them do the de-carbon cleaning while it's in for $90. But I noticed Pennzoil quick change offers the same service with Gumout cleaner for $70. Is the extra $20 at the dealer worth it?

 

Use the Zoom Power or do it yourself for a quarter of the price and buy a can of Seafoam.

 

If it was me, I'd go to the dealer. I've read the TSB on this, and there are details that seem pretty 8-specific.

Ken

 

Go for the seafoam, I did that and it definitely helped.

 

BG44K. Fuel system cleaner. Works wonders. Used it to bring some life back to a few 13b's. Can be had for $18 a can. Treats upto 14 gallons I think and its good for 60,000 miles. If you actaully have problems then you might want to do one can, then drive 1,000 miles and do a second can. If you are talking intake system then thats trickier. I'd do a lot of asking around as there is no standard procedure for that.

 

buy a bottle of the cleaner yourself and some JASO spec premix for 1/3 the cost.

premix heavily (1oz every gallon, so 16 oz for a tankful of gas)

decarb yourself, twice.

they will just dump something like this into your gas tank and call it a day. hmm btw you can get this cleaner for Free after rebate I know I did.

so do it yourself. and save.

 

No the gumout thing is a box of 3 items. 1 is the stuff they suck in through the intake system, 1 is what they dump into the gas tank (I already used seafoam for that) and I can't remember what the other is. So it seams like the same thing the dealer is going to do but for $20 less. But it sounds like most people are saying to either do it myself or have the dealer do it. I'll post if I notice any results. I just replaced the plugs, wires, coils and cleaned MAF so curious if I'll notice anything from the de-carbon.

 

I know which kit are you talking about

Thats why I sent you that link ---- You can do it yourself and save. you just need that, zoom zoom cleaner, thats it

 

Question,

How would one clean up the intake system? The upper manifold has shutters right, which engage at only high rpms while driving?

So, trying to clean the upper manifold a bit, I was thinking of routing a long hose to the little vfad nipple on the bottom side of the uim, somehow leading to the cabin. From there, drive the car somewhere safe and while bringing up the revs, dip that hose into a can of seafoam. Doing this periodically until the can is empty should somehow loosen up whatever carbon/gunk I've heard causes the uim to seize up correct?

 

Ummm... there are no valves in the UIM.
You can remove the UIM to clean if you want, but only do it if its necessary.
Open the TB valve and put one finger through it and feel the bottom of the UIM.
If it feels clean and smooth, don't bother.
When I worked on a car with oil in the UIM, I could feel gritty texture inside and my finger was black.
At that point, I removed the UIM and cleaned it.

 

Oh my bad.

What I meant was the lower part of the intake, stupid. The lim then, has those shutters which I've read can get stuck, and I've seen pics of them, look nasty, just wondering how to get some seafoam sloshing around in there.

 

Hope you weren't just calling me stupid there

I know which pics you're referring to... because I posted them
Spraying Sea Foam into the intake manifold will do little if the SSV is really gunked-up.
Not to mention there are multiple passages it can travel down, so most of the Sea Foam won't reach the SSV.

When I worked on a car with a stuck SSV, I sprayed a generous amount of Sea Foam right onto the closed SSV, let it sit, sprayed it again, let it sit, and it STILL wasn't enough to break that build-up free.
I had to manually break the valve free, then sprayed the **** out of it, moved the valve back and forth by hand (which wasn't easy), sprayed again, etc.
I repeated this for many minutes until the valve was free enough to move with a vacuum pump attached to the actuator.

I keep saying I'll make a DIY on removing the SSV to clean it, just never had time for it.

 

Jon316G, I posted this on the other VFAD thread...Could I do this to de-carb?

I want your opinion on this...

You may not know this but Mazda in their wisdom????, No longer supply Vacuum nipples for each separate Rotor on the intake side ports, you know this is where dealers and Series I owners can Seafoam from...well what do 09 (Series II ) Owners Do???..

Is there any reason IYO why I could not use this Vacuum Nipple behind the Throttle Body?, the same one used for the VFAD..

I am thinking I could disconnect it and link in a temporary vacuum hose if I want to de-carb my Rotary???

What do you think Jon...will it work...where is RG when you want him...

 

^LMAO... I just replayed in that thread!
Lets keep it in one place
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...=1#post3198531

 

Plus one....

 

You'd have to see if the procedure is similar to Mazda's. There are a couple of key aspects which may be Renesis-specific. One would be drawing the cleaner in by turning the engine over without spark, then letting it soak for at least an hour. The second is the engine revving procedure once it's running. Both of these things are designed to free up the seals in their grooves, if I understand correctly. A generic de-carboning procedure may or may not have analogues. And I'd imagine it is likely than Pennzoil is not going to be aware of disabling the air pump to protect the Cat, for example.

 

Jon,

haha I was calling myself stupid. It was a typed thought thats all

 

Exactly the answer I was looking for. Thanks. Got an appt at the dealer in the morning.