Reaching the Engine Vally for Cleaning?

[Zap]

We had a (thankfully brief) encounter with a mouse last year - but before it was eradicated from the garage, it decided to stash some crap in the valley of my M3's engine. Inspecting the rest of the car/engine bay so far shows no invasion of any other location, and everything is thankfully working normally.

I was curious if anyone has encountered this before and what the easiest way would be to clean things out. I can't get a vacuum nozzle in there, and from viewing photos with the intake manifold removed, it appears that there may still not be clear access to that area of the engine.

Is there any type of small nozzle vacuum that would fit in or any other tips? I can see the area without anything removed, so I would think there has to be some way to resolve this.

Thanks for any input!

[DukeofAlexandria]

Originally Posted by Zap

We had a (thankfully brief) encounter with a mouse last year - but before it was eradicated from the garage, it decided to stash some crap in the valley of my M3's engine. Inspecting the rest of the car/engine bay so far shows no invasion of any other location, and everything is thankfully working normally.

I was curious if anyone has encountered this before and what the easiest way would be to clean things out. I can't get a vacuum nozzle in there, and from viewing photos with the intake manifold removed, it appears that there may still not be clear access to that area of the engine.

Is there any type of small nozzle vacuum that would fit in or any other tips? I can see the area without anything removed, so I would think there has to be some way to resolve this.

Thanks for any input!

Two adjustable screw clamps for air filter duck inlet, one air sensor disconnect, 1 crank case vent tube disconnect (rear), 6 x 10mm screws on the active air filters, 4 x 16mm strut brace bolts, and 8 x 6mm boot clamp screws and you can take the plenum off. Reinstall in reverse order.

Just remove and you'll have full access and be able to easily get into the valley, easy.

-Duke

[Zap]

Thanks for weighing in - just in case someone runs into this problem, I did not need to remove the strut braces to get the plenum off.

I did end up having to dig deeper into the engine to get to the valley, and I used the video how-to for removing the throttle actuators. Moving all of the wiring was a bit of a PITA, and I also pulled the secondary air pump out so I could get deep down. Took a sideline for a little bit before I could finish.

Removing the throttle actuators at this point was easy, and I could clean underneath them. Had a close call when I was putting things back together - a nut was dropped and it somehow fell into an air hose! Thankfully I was able to remove the other end and wiggle it out.

Reassembly was straightforward, and I was relieved once everything was back together when she fired right up and idled beautifully. I had changed the plugs a few months back but hadn't been able to go out for a drive yet with the new ones. BIG difference, and upon return the engine bay smells great after a spirited drive - nice and clean, better than before this ordeal.