De-Carbon at 67k Miles

[Radiation Joe]

I assume with 67k miles and no catch can that I have carbon build up on the intake valves. My wife's Explorer Sport with the 3.5L Ecoboost and 140k miles just had to have the intake cleaned due to carbon build-up and a nasty misfire. So I decided to try it on the 2.3.
I used the CRC product for this and generally followed the directions.

1. Find a vacuum port near the throttle - I used the EVAP downstream of the throttle
2. Get the warm engine to 2000 rpm. I set at 2500 using an ice scraper between the drivers seat and the gas pedal.
3. Slowly squirt in the cleaner into the EVAP port keeping the rpm close to 2000 (it wants to stall if you spray in too much). This takes about 12 - 15 minutes.
4. After emptying the CRC rev the engine a few times to around 3500, then let idle for one minute.
5. Shut the engine down and let heat soak for up to an hour.
6. Start the engine and drive on the highway for 10+ minutes.

I assume this stuff works because the engine ran horrible any time I tried to put it under a load for the first few minutes out. After 15 minutes or so the the engine ran fine.
It didn't kill my engine, so I'm going to assume at least some of the carbon on the intake side has been cleaned out. I use Redline S-1 for cleaning the injectors.

YMMV

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[Ecto1]

I had the TB, intake, & valves cleaned at the dealer right after I bought it (@ ~58K miles). The car ran fine and I wanted to keep it that way. I had the dealer do it instead of trying it myself because I couldn't monitor the tach inside the car while spraying cleaner under the hood by myself. I suspect this solvent is pretty caustic and I wasn't sure what would happen if I oversaturated the intake & cylinders while trying to fiddle with the throttle & spray cleaner. Better safe than sorry.

Glad to find that DIY is an option if I can figure out how to make a dead man for the gas pedal or throttle lever under the hood. Next time.