Come on Callisto..... no commentary?!?!

 

CALLISTO...I was looking forward to your professional evaluation of my number 2 cylinder.

What are those spots on my exhaust valve seats?

Do I have excess carbon on the piston?

Anything that looks bad?

Any other pics that are needed?

 

Honestly .... Your engine is carboned up. The only way to effectively clean that up is removing the head.
The intake system is coated with oil and the only way to completely clean it is to remove your complete intake system.
Look at your throttle body I am sure it is also in bad need of cleaning.

But before you get carried away, I would do a accurate and proper DRY compression test followed up by a WET compression test and then a cylinder leak down test.

This way you can exactly determining the health of the head and short block piston and rings.

This will give you the plan of action and also how much you want or will need to spend $$ to get things cleaned up and back to factory performance levels.


So far you have been doing everything easy and not spent much money to get it that way but at this point you are on the preverbal fence as to which way you need or want to go to improve what you have or at least clean up and bring the engine back to a factory performance level.

 

The CX-5 is a very fun, responsive "compact" SUV to drive but is it not a "performance machine" even with the turbo.
Add in injector issues, carbon build-up and engine and suspension age you're just spending money and time for something you will not achieve no matter what octane you run.
If want you want is "performance" you'd be better off saving for a Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar or Lamborghini SUV.
Unless you want to sink the money in your CX-5 for an engine rebuild and add a supercharger or twin turbo, air intake, performance exhaust and a complete remap.
Otherwise, it is what it is, just enjoy.

 

When I took the injectors out to have them cleaned, I also cleaned all the oil out of the intake manifold.

I also took the throttle body off and cleaned it from both sides.

I cleaned the backs of the intakes valves as well to around 94 percent clean.

i am only running 91 gas with no E85.

After the cleaning of the various parts, I no longer have engine codes.

The misfire count has gone down from 250 to 300 to only1 per trip.

Performance of the vehicle is vastly improved and the mpg has gone up several miles per gallon.

I am satisfied with the vehicle currently, it is a box with 4 wheels that gets me to work and chipotle.

I agree, i have gone as far as i am willing to go on a 114k mile vehicle. If I can keep this equilibrium for another 100k miles I will be happy. If I need to pop the head off, I would rather just sell the car.

My only concern now is doing the proper things to keep the injectors clean longer and the intake valves clean longer.