How to: Valve-stem carbon removal?

I pulled the exhaust pipes off my KZ1000E-1 to change the oil a few weeks ago. I peered into the exhaust ports and noticed there appeared to be a lot of carbon surrounding the valve stems. Is there any easy way of de-carbonizing this? Any miracle formula? So far I've used Chemtool and Seafoam, thinking this stuff would help but they haven't done much. I know there are a lot of over-the-counter "supposed" solutions, but do any of them actually work for cleaning this hard-to-reach area? the width of the valve stem appears to be doubled because of the carbon blanketing the stem. As it stands now, does this add weight to, or retard valve operation? Thanks.

Note: This is not my valve, mine is actually carboned up to about TWICE the width of the valve stem.

wire brush on a bench grinder, best , fastest way to do it

Do you know of any solutions that wouldn't involve disassembling the cylinder head or braking head seals? Ideally, that would be the best solution; but are there any others that wouldn't be as time consuming, costly, and involved? What about pouring some kind of solvent down the spark-plug hole and turning the engine over, allowing it to sit and de-carbonize for awhile?

I'd suspect that kind of build up is burned oil from a leaking valve stem seal.

Pouring solvent down the spark plug hole and letting it sit isn't going to do antyhing for the valves. If it gets past your rings it'll contaminate the oil too.

Yeah, you're right. It would contaminate the oil. Best to do this right before an oil change, but why wouldn't it clean the valves? If I were to pour in a couple ounces and "kick" the engine over a couple times it seems like Berryman's Chemtool? could start going to work. Hmm.. Your guess is as good as mine.

i think the berrymans would take out any rubber or plastic it hit...i wouldnt do that

berrymans will make the seals soft, there is no way to do it without tearing it down.
if you put something in it to let it soak, you will dillute the oil, and it will take several changes to get it out, and may bamage the clutch and rubber parts inside the engine.

spraying in a little water in the carbs while cracking throttle open is good for cleaning carbon off pistons and combstion chambers.

PLUMMEN wrote:

spraying in a little water in the carbs while cracking throttle open is good for cleaning carbon off pistons and combstion chambers.

With,or WITHOUT vinegar?:laugh:

i guess it would give your motor that fresh feeling !:S :laugh:

With any means besides disassembly I'd be concerned with any harder deposits going down into the combustion chamber. The only other thing I can think of if you wanted to minimize downtime is to get another complete head, work it over and clean it up, and then do the swap.

Overhead cams have given me nightmares before, one of the reason why I've sold off some good BMW cars for cheap. I'm not looking forward to it.

Plummen- Spraying water down the carb throats will remove some carbon? How much do I spray? Until it bogs down? Spray on a warm or cold engine?