i had my inlet manifold off a week or two back and was looking at the crud/carbon built up on the inlet ports in the head - they are just caked in shite, but wats the best way to remove it?

It's everywhere in the head inlets, and the valve backs, and although I scraped a bit off I'm reluctant to go too aggressively for fear of something squidgy/solid falling into the cylinder.
I've heard of VAG owners dousing their egr & turbos in mr muscle, and the Octavia I bought last month had this exact treatment a little while ago from the previous owner, but I'm pretty sure that is exclusively exhaust side rather than intake.

What is the best but most practical way to clean it aside from removing the head (and eating the brain... oops, sorry, thought I'd strayed into a teen zombie novel there...)?

Also wtf isn't there anyone else complaining about this on their 300tdi's?! The PCV/cyclone breather feeds my intake pipes loads of oil and I can't be alone there?
I think an oil catch can has got to be a better idea than sucking all of that shite into the inlet - will see what 50p and some chinesium can turn up on eBay!
Cheers

I blanked off the 4 intake pipes of my manifold and poured gunk in the main inlet and let it sit and then shook it, used a bottle brush on a stick to agitate things, pour out and repeat. Took a while but ended up quite good in the end. EGR got blanked before it went back on!

Cheers kwakerman, I'm happy enough taking the inlet plenum off to clean, but it's the 4 inlet ports in the head and associated valve areas behind that I can't see how to get to.
Reading around a bit more I've been a mong - what I'm looking at is just a head decode, except I don't want to take the head off the engine!

Are there any recognised decoking methods that can safely be used while it's in situ?

As an aside, I'm going to build a water injection system which will be misting into the mouth of the inlet plenum chamber, as part of an overall cleanliness plan for my twin tank waste veg oil setup - this can only help deal with carbon build up I'm guessing, as a handy additional benefit
Cheers

As you will probably be aware the main issue is getting the crud out but without getting it in the cylinders. You may be able to do one at a time if you check the intake valve is closed, scrape the crud out and then flush the remainder out with some sort of solvent. If you try that method then it may also be worth pulling the injectors and spinning the engine over to make sure there is no trapped fluid in the cylinders. Other option is to leave it as-is and see if your mods clean it over time.

Take rocker cover off and turn engine to get one cylinder to the point where both valves are closed , clean the two ports for that cylinder then blow the debris out with compressed air line.
Turn engine to next closed pair and repeat.