Engine Carbon Clean - Rolling Road Test

[FJ1000]

Hi Guys,

So, I own an RS4 as well as the GTi - 2 cars that suffer badly from carbon deposits in the intake and on the valves.

I recently came across a post on the RS246 forum mentioning a company called "Engine Carbon Clean" that offer a 30min mobile cleaning service, with some trusted RS246 users having used the service and noticing a benefit:

http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=117370

Unlike the likes of terraclean, this system passes hydrogen through the intake, rather than cleaning agents through the fuel which would do nothing for the carbon issues. A full carbon clean for my RS4 costs from £600, so this could be a big cost saving if it works, as well as the convenience of not having to leave my car at MRC tuning or AMD.

http://www.enginecarbonclean.com/

I decided I'm going to put this to the test on both my cars, and have organised before and after dyno tests (3 pulls before and after) from 9am this coming Saturday.

http://www.rollingroadsussex.co.uk/

I wanted to post on here as both the rep from Engine Carbon Clean (chap called Gary) and my contact at the dyno facility (Luke) have said they have capacity for a couple more vehicles if anyone wants to join us.

I'm paying £180 for the 2x carbon cleans (normally £99 each), and the optional dyno test works out at £82.50 for each car, although prices may come down if we have more cars. I am asking Engine Carbon Clean to at least subsidise my dyno runs as this ought to be good marketing for them.

Anyone interested in joining us? Let me know and then I can look into pricing/discounts.

[xjay1337]

Terraclean also offer an intake cleaning service

I don't think it will do anything tbh. needs proper cleaning by manually removing buildup.

[white91]

Interested in the results


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[Tfsi_Mike]

 

[rich83]

As above. The only way to clean the inlets/valves properly if by removing the manifold/s

[pudding]

Yeah BMW's method is walnut shell blasting.  You can guarantee the OEMs will have researched this very thoroughly and if they deem medium blasting as the only way to do it properly, you can pretty much take aftermarket solutions as being either partially or completely ineffective.

[FJ1000]

Well that's the thing. I'm not expecting it to be fully effective at all, only partially effective.

- Is it worth paying hundreds for the fully effective solution, when the carbon is just going to quickly build up again, if there is a partially effective solution that costs much much less?

- Partially effective could mean a lot of things. Do you get a tiny recovery in power, or is it something like half of your power loss back vs. stock (optimistic)?

Those are the question i've been asking myself, and what I intend to answer!

[pudding]

Oh it's a worthwhile experiment for sure and pretty cost effective.  I just have an all or nothing approach to things, so would rather just tackle it during other work, such as cam chain and / or intercooler replacement.  A clogged injector is a good excuse to attack it too.

My valves at 83K (injector replacement) weren't that bad and I decided to leave them.   I think if they're cleaned mechanically first, this system might keep them clean again afterwards if done annually or something.

[xjay1337]

Well that's the thing. I'm not expecting it to be fully effective at all, only partially effective.

- Is it worth paying hundreds for the fully effective solution, when the carbon is just going to quickly build up again, if there is a partially effective solution that costs much much less?

- Partially effective could mean a lot of things. Do you get a tiny recovery in power, or is it something like half of your power loss back vs. stock (optimistic)?

Those are the question i've been asking myself, and what I intend to answer!

Do it once and do it properly.
Remove the PCV system.
run decent oil
keep it well serviced with good air filtration
it should limit it coming back. meaning you may then be able to run a treatment such as this every few services

[Bignod00]

 

[th3_f15t]

This may become more and more relevant as the TFSI engines age and build up becomes a real problem, could be a cheaper and quicker way to restore some life in a TFSI engine.

While my engine is fairly low miles and not likely to benefit from this service, I'm still keen to seen dyno results, but also consider things like doing an MPG run and maybe even an MOT emission test as well, for full understanding of the results...

[Madone]

I can't see how this can do much, as others have said VW would have def looked into how best to do it and they still take the inlet off and manually remove the carbon, I just had my edition 30 done by a Audi master tech, he has a few tools he made to scrap round the back of the valves etc but basically it's manual labor that's needed. BMW use the walnut blast so at the very least a hard medium needs to be blasted at the carbon to remove it, can't see how this can do barely anything without blasting the carbon.

Maybe it does something slightly to the surface of the carbon deposits to smooth it to some extent which slightly improves air flow and hence engine power slightly without actually removing and amount of carbon ?.

Tbh if this system is meant to remove deposits the best way would be to use a bore scope to look at the back of the valves before and after the 'clean'. This can be done without removing the inlet manifold.

I would def be interested to see those results, that would be the proof of what it actually does

[Biff]

Very curious in how this plays out.

[FJ1000]

No borescope available at the dyno facility unfortunately, and the carbon cleaning guy doesn't have one either.

I'm thinking about buying a cheap usb type borescope off amazon (could be hours of fun at home too!). Could someone talk me through how I'd feed it through to see the valves without messing anything up?


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[AJG09]