[rat]

Hey guys,

I am in the process of removing the intake manifold on my 2000 Grand Vitara so I can remove and reseal the leaky valve covers. I pulled the crossover pipe off and looked into the manifold on both sides and I could see it was all oily - not too concerned about this as the engine breather is connected to the intake.
What I noticed when I wiped a bit of the oil with my finger was it was all gritty, almost like really fine sand spec....

Is this sand?? Or could it be some sort of carbon build up from the EGR?? There is no sign of sand passing through the Throttle body in all the little crevices and what not.

Please help, I'm freaken out!!

Damo

[gregdixon]

I think this is common, I noticed it on mine when I pulled the manifold off. It could be carbon build up from the pcv recirc but that is just a guess.

[rat]

Thanks for the reply, gave it a good cleanout just to be safe. Cheers!

[Chop]

Ninjamoses and Twitchy have recently had the 2.5 V6's apart. They might be able to comment on the grit also.

[dhula]

looks like carbon I reckon, most probably from the EGR etc.
There is this product that can help with cleaning things up without disassembley but I'm not sure if it is OK for pety cars tho.
You can't buy it unless your in the trade but can ask stealerships/workshops to do the job for you (I was quoted $250 when I wanted to do one as a preventative maintenance thing ).

The V6 in the GV does have a few points of entry for sand/dust between the air filter and TB so when you put it all back together be sure to seal it all up tight as a fishes bum

[atari4x4]

subaru seafoam is what you want

[Jester]

atari4x4 wrote:

subaru seafoam is what you want

bursons also stock threebond upper engine cleaner, same sorta stuff without the subaru tag on it still works wonders

[rat]

Very interesting, thanks guys!