Engine Carbon Cleaning. Is it worth it?

[GingerPower]

Hi Guys, 

I am considering having a carbon clean done on my s-type by these guys, http://www.enginecarbonclean.com 

It seem like it would be really beneficial but I can't find much impartial advice as to how well they actually work. 

Has anyone had one done and what result did it give?

Cheers.

[Russ68]

Good question Jamie! I don't have those guys, but there is a Terraclean  agent near me. For the c£100 they're charging, it could be worth a punt. If anyone has experience of these types of cleaners, I'd be interested in hearing about it as well 

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Hi

I've seen these used before and there's clips on youtube of people having it done on their cars

But its basically as with Terraclean they use one or more fuel that come in cannisters, that they hook up to a machine, which connects to the cars fuel rail, they pull the fuse for the fuel pumps and you run off the fuel supplied at pressure by the machine

So the only contact the fuel has with moving parts is fuel rail, injectors, inlet manifold and inlet valves

once it hits the chamber/cylinder its get burnt as usual, so its not going to clean much else, as its gone, the burnt fumes cannot really clean anything else further down the system, like exhaust valves, exhaust manifold, EGR's and Cats.

the other thing people say is that they notice a difference in driving, afterwards, the additive/fuel they use, the ones I've seen, come into two cans, each look approx 2 litres in size,

now thats approx 4 litres of fuel, for about 20 minutes of work, I reckon the first can they use is suppose to clean things, the second can or even some of the first can, the fuel pressure of the kit/machine can be set to what ever they want, if the fuel pressure is increased to approx 45 to 50 psi, this over comes the fuel pressure regulator, this mean its pushed into the fuel tank, hence if this was a octane booster, you would notice a marked difference in engine performance, hey pressto it must work

so has it really been cleaned or have you been tricked.

if it was that easy to add a additive to fuel and clean you engine, improve emmisions and increase performance, all fuel companies would do it and boast about it

if you look on Youtube for fuel test comparisons, from the most expensive fuel to the cheapest, the most they found was about 1 bhp between all the fuel companies, like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpZ76nrYW7A

Thats what I think, cant see how it can work really

cheers

Joe

Terraclean video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cHXqQywjFY

 

[GingerPower]

Thanks for the detailed answer, Joe. 

The EGR's, exhaust, etc were the main parts I wanted to clean, so that's a shame it's not all it's cracked up to be. 

[JOE-DOT-COM]

HI

Unfortunately the dirt and carbon takes years to build up and its not easy to remove it quickly

The only way is Remove and Clean really

using premium fuel and correct engine Oil helps, modern cars are designed to burn small amounts of Oil, so its important to use correct grade of Oil, that a manufacturer recommend, this may help keep a new engine clean, its not going to clean a older dirty engine

older carburetor and early injection cars, allowed fuel to flow through the engine on overrun, allowing additives to clean through the whole system, but these days with tighter emissions, no unburnt fuel is allowed past the cylinder and not EGR recirculate burnt gases back into the engine, so where burnt fumes and soot, use to be only found in the exhaust system, there recirculated back into a clean engine to reduce emissions

cheers

Joe

[Old Peter]

Hi, Jamie,

I had my 2.7D s type terracleaned a couple of years ago and it did improve both performance and consumption  At £125 it seemed a fair price and the job took a just over an hour.

But if you want your EGR valves cleaning there is a separate service costing a bit more.

I do ge the waring light and code P0402 coming up occasionally an currently I use a Millers Additive which does the job.  I also use Shell V power exclusively, as there is a Shell station 500 yards away which is also the cheapest in the area there than supermarkets.

For a general decoke, Diesel Magic for under a tenner does not do a bad job.

Regards,

Peter.

[Russ68]

Well done as always to Joe and Peter for their detailed responses.

Taking Joe's comments into consideration, and also that my 3.0 V6 is running beautifully, I won't be doing this on the Jag, but I may have one of my Discoveries done as she's running like a rough old dog!

Cheers, Russ

[Old Peter]

Hi Russ,

The 3 litre petrol is a fantastic engine, and premium fuel seems enough.

But for diesels, with a different exhaust system, [EGR valves and a DPF] even premium fuel needs a cleanup now and then just in case.

Regards,

Peter.

[DaftMule]

I have literally just had an "Balanced" ECU remap done on my S-Type and while they were at it, they did a Carbon Clean.

The results, well, no sign of improved fuel economy as yet, although I'm only half way through the first tank since having it done.  Car does feel marginally more lively but whether that is due to the remap or the Carbon Clean, I obviously don't know.

Was it worth it?  Well, cost me £325 for the remap and the Carbon Clean.  She did start blowing out quite a lot of black smoke half way through the carbon clean, a good sign, and if I floor it she still does.  He said that would likely be the case for a few weeks.  

The  proof longer term will be whether the fuel economy picks up a bit....we shall see.

[keith pearson]

Has anyone ever heard of WATER used to de-coke?       You run the engine at a fast tickover and trickle water through  the induction.    I did it on my 1953 Lanchester  , I ran about a litre through.    Some bus companies used to use this system .     I don't know what effect it would have on modern systems with detectors    etc.    But it seemed to work on the old Lanchester.    

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Hi

Yes, If you look on Youtube there's loads of video's

It works to a fashion, as long as its used in small doses, even smaller doses on a diesel, as you can't squash water, it hydraulics, so you can bend things easy

but if you have ever cleaned a dirty valve or egr, while its off, it takes some serious scraping, so a bit of water ain't going to shift any long term carbon build up

it does'nt shift oily residues either, like on leaky turbo's, or Oil build up in intercoolers, but you can buy solvent based ones that will shift the oily residues

cheers

Joe

[keith pearson]

3 hours ago, JOE-DOT-COM said:

Hi

Yes, If you look on Youtube there's loads of video's

It works to a fashion, as long as its used in small doses, even smaller doses on a diesel, as you can't squash water, it hydraulics, so you can bend things easy

but if you have ever cleaned a dirty valve or egr, while its off, it takes some serious scraping, so a bit of water ain't going to shift any long term carbon build up

it does'nt shift oily residues either, like on leaky turbo's, or oil build up in intercoolers, but you can buy solvent based ones that will shift the oily residues

cheers

Joe

we used to get the engine hot then put a bit of REDEX in each cylinder and leave overnight.   Spin the motor to remove any excess then replace plugs and start - huge cloud of white smoke but often, better running .

[JOE-DOT-COM]

20 hours ago, keith pearson said:

we used to get the engine hot then put a bit of REDEX in each cylinder and leave overnight.   Spin the motor to remove any excess then replace plugs and start - huge cloud of white smoke but often, better running .

Hi

Yes I can remember that, you could also get some decoke spray that was the same

cheers

Joe