Heavily encrusted exhaust manifold

[Jpadie]

HI

I'm in the process of stripping down the engine on my Rav4 T180 equivalent.  Mostly following the service manual but occasionally frolicking off on my own in the hope that i may be able to see an easy way of getting the cylinder head off without removing the entire engine. 

I've got the front of the car off and most of the wiring loom (the ports to the rear of the engine are very tricky - I think I may be able to cant the engine towards the front a bit to get access to them.  We will see.

I have just taken the exhaust manifold and egr gubbins off and found that the port to the EGR sensor was heavily encrusted and inside the exhaust manifold there was perhaps three quarters of an inch of encrustation everywhere.   I assume this affects performance?  (I have photos and can post them if anyone's interested).  Car's done 200k km.  

Any tips for how to clean this up properly before reassembly?

thanks as always

Justin

 

p.s. i've also found that there is a Valeo part attached to the cylinder head behind the EGR stuff.  Valeo is a cheap after market brand in France and I can't think how this got there.  I've had the car since it was 8 months old and the only time it has gone in for repairs was at a toyota garage (change fifth injector, replace EGR stuff and engine remap).  Are Toyota branded dealerships allowed to use cheap aftermarket parts for warranty repairs? 

[Devon Aygo]

3 minutes ago, Jpadie said:

p.s. i've also found that there is a Valeo part attached to the cylinder head behind the EGR stuff.  Valeo is a cheap after market brand in France and I can't think how this got there.  I've had the car since it was 8 months old and the only time it has gone in for repairs was at a toyota garage (change fifth injector, replace EGR stuff and engine remap).  Are Toyota branded dealerships allowed to use cheap aftermarket parts for warranty repairs? 

No under warranty a dealer must use genuine parts, however Valeo is far from a cheap after market brand they are a big supplier of genuine parts to both manufacturers and aftermarket and it is quite possible the part is correct and manufactured by Valeo

[Jpadie]

thanks.  that's reassuring.  it was the oil cooler by the way.

re-reading this the day after, having slept and consumed coffee, I realise that i should have written intake manifold throughout ...   i'm concerned about using the typical cleaning agents because this is made of aluminium.  i guess a power hose is a good starter, although difficult to clean the link from the exhaust to the egr valve with that.  

dipping in white spirit perhaps?  then dremel with a brass brush wheel?