Cleaning cam spray bar

[monkeyodeath]

I've got my valve cover off to mess w/ the fuel injectors and I'm figuring I should clean the cam oil spray bar while I'm at it.

Cool to use carb cleaner or something like that? Anyone done it before?

[E30Gus]

Yeah that will do it.
Easy to take off and soak/spray.

[CabrioPunk]

Take photos! I wanna see how dirty - and then clean - these get.

Nando and others said to definitely do this with the M20.

[riceh8r]

plug one end and pressure it, then swap ends. you should have a nice even stream out of each hole.

[Myster-E]

plug one end and pressure it, then swap ends. you should have a nice even stream out of each hole.

It doesn't just transfer oil from the back of the head to the front, there's still 6 other holes, that's why its called an oiling tube.

[87_black_325is]

I wasn't even aware of this, I thought it was just a return line..

[riceh8r]

It doesn't just transfer oil from the back of the head to the front, there's still 6 other holes, that's why its called an oiling tube.

i meant nice stream out of the oil outlets above rocker arms

[monkeyodeath]

I did this at night, so too dark to take pictures, but it was super easy - took like 10 minutes.

I would highly recommend picking up an 8mm flare wrench to do the job, though - the nuts are on there tight and the metal is really soft. Had no luck with a box-end wrench - it just rounded off the nut a bit. I went to all the hardware stores around me, and the only place I could find a wrench that small was Harbor Freight - it did the job perfectly.

Then I just sprayed it down with carb cleaner, making sure all the holes were clear. This particular cam spray bar was pretty clean, so no need to go all out. Be careful, though, the tube is soft and bends easily.

Despite the fact that mine wasn't gunked up, I definitely agree that this is something that's worth checking when you have the valve cover off. As others have said, this is the only thing distributing oil to the valve/cam area, and if one of the small sprayer holes gets blocked or crudded up, you'll starve one of the sections for oil.

[riceh8r]

there are oil outlets at the cam journals and rocker shaft areas under rockers, but the tube delivers the only oil that the cam lobes get. glad you got yours working good...:D

[CabrioPunk]

Just spray car cleaner and let it go? No worries of it in the engine? Or flush with an oil change afterwards?

[monkeyodeath]

I let it sit for a while after I sprayed it w/ carb cleaner, and then used some compressed air to try to get the rest of it evaporate.

Figured it would be a bad idea to dump a bunch of carb cleaner into the engine oil, but since it evaporates anyways, I doubt that there's much left. I guess still might be a good idea to change the oil though...