cylinder intake cleaning

LeeRex04

I'm replacing the intake manifold but while doing that I noticed the fuel intake ports were building up with carbon. It's not all that much since the truck only has 72,000 miles on it. But since the intake manifold is off at the moment I thought I might as well clean the intake ports as well. I've watched several videos on YouTube but all of them require that both valves be closed so as not to get debris in the cylinders. Doing this requires much more work than I had planned. So I am wondering if I should tackle this or just leave it alone?

The only idea I've come up with is to use small plastic tubing, an air compressor and a wet/dry vac. In my head it seems like a good idea but I am hoping someone will poke holes in it! I don't want to try it then find myself dealing with even bigger problems.

thecardoc3

Is the carbon hard or soft (sludge like)? If soft then solvent and a "brush" made from taking about twenty wire ties and banding them into a bundle will do fine to clean it up. If it is hard, baked to the valves then it can still be cleaned the same way but will be much more labor intensive. Can you share some photo's of what the valves look like? If it isn't real bad and it is the hard carbon, it might be better to leave it alone.