Can't get M57 intake clean! Any reco for plastic safe oven cleaners???

[willp0wer]

Tried Purple Power soak (10:1). Tried high pressure hose. Tried Purple Power + Ultrasonic. Tried brushing. All I have now is ruined clothes and polka dot looking driveway and maybe 10% reduction in oil deposits.

Did forum searching, the most frequent positive result seems to be Mr. Muscle Oven Cleaner + Power washer so I found a friend who has one but I can't seem to find that oven cleaner locally. Can anyone confirm they've used an alternative and it was safe for plastic? Locally I have Easy Off Foaming Oven Cleaner but it says not safe for plastic, but I bet they all do.

The intake isn't crazy bad, but still deposits I can scrape with my finger, it's all loose now so I think I'm past the point of no return.

Thanks!

[willp0wer]

I'm going to answer my own question here and also add some notes for people in the future and maybe it'll be helpful.

I ended up using Easy Off Heavy Duty (Pro) Oven and Grill cleaner. And a 2000 PSI pressure washer. I'm not 100% sure it was plastic safe, but it does not appear to have done any damage.

That being said, BE CAREFUL WITH THAT STUFF. It WILL hurt your skin, almost immediately. I got at least one legit chemical burn when my glove tore. It soaks in to the carbon, and it starts to turn to a black sludge, and then I blew it out with the pressure washer. But even that took three rinse and repeats.

Frankly, I don't recommend this, try and find a shop that will do it for you. It'll be worth it sub $200 IMO. This stuff is so harmful and pressure washing just makes a huge mess.

Before that, I tried Purple Power + Ultrasonic, Engine Degreaser, Heavy Duty Gel, and CRC GDI Intake Valve Cleaner. All of the "worked", but would take 1000 years to scrub and remove all the baked on oil. The oven cleaner worked pretty fast, but it still took a lot of it, and it doesn't come with a hose, it only does a wide-spray, so not great for getting deep in the intake.

If I was wrong, and this DID do damage to my intake, I will report back.

[zoom750]

There's a Youtube Channel called "LR Time" that documents work on Land Rovers, mainly LR3 and LR4 vehicles. In one video, they show how they cleaned out the sludge using some chemicals. If I remember correctly, it came out very clean. Might be worth viewing that episode for information.