Carbon Engine Clean
- Thread starter sloth_sloman
- Start date
Radford212
Registered User
Had mine done Sunday at AITP, I have 2.0L TDi with 54k on the clock. I've put 12k of those on and although some of those are motorway miles, the majority of them aren't. So I had it done & It definitely feels a lot smoother and the MPG has increased slightly.
Haven't noticed much in the way of any increased power but then again I feel like my car is pretty devoid of any power whatsoever, but at the offer price of £80 on the day I wasn't going to say no.
Haven't noticed much in the way of any increased power but then again I feel like my car is pretty devoid of any power whatsoever, but at the offer price of £80 on the day I wasn't going to say no.
There are two types of Carbon Clean - additives and actually serious amounts of work to take the head off and physically clean the engine. As far as I'm aware (not had it done so only read about it) but only the second of these works properly... I could be talking out my a..e mind 
I'm not an expert but on balance, I think you aren't.There are two types of Carbon Clean - additives and actually serious amounts of work to take the head off and physically clean the engine. As far as I'm aware (not had it done so only read about it) but only the second of these works properly... I could be talking out my a..e mind
Hopefully, that's aren't an a..e rather than aren't an expert...I'm not an expert but on balance, I think you aren't.
From reading around (was looking to get it done on our B7 2.0 TDI a while back) it seems like its mostly snake oil. It MAY clean off a little bit, but the majority will still be sitting there and for a proper clean you need to get it walnut blasted. The walnut blasting seems to be more something they do in the US with the TFSI engines which are known for getting full of carbon deposits on the intake.
Other than walnut blasting there is always some elbow grease, a de-greaser and a toothbrush, obviously when doing the ports on the head you need to ensure the valves are in the CLOSED position. Oh, and I have seen YouTube videos of people using fire + compressed air to clean out the intake manifold and it DOES work...just don't try it on a plastic intake.
You can see a video of the fire + compressed air method here.....
Other than walnut blasting there is always some elbow grease, a de-greaser and a toothbrush, obviously when doing the ports on the head you need to ensure the valves are in the CLOSED position. Oh, and I have seen YouTube videos of people using fire + compressed air to clean out the intake manifold and it DOES work...just don't try it on a plastic intake.
You can see a video of the fire + compressed air method here.....
From reading around (was looking to get it done on our B7 2.0 TDI a while back) it seems like its mostly snake oil. It MAY clean off a little bit, but the majority will still be sitting there and for a proper clean you need to get it walnut blasted. The walnut blasting seems to be more something they do in the US with the TFSI engines which are known for getting full of carbon deposits on the intake.
Other than walnut blasting there is always some elbow grease, a de-greaser and a toothbrush, obviously when doing the ports on the head you need to ensure the valves are in the CLOSED position. Oh, and I have seen YouTube videos of people using fire + compressed air to clean out the intake manifold and it DOES work...just don't try it on a plastic intake.
You can see a video of the fire + compressed air method here.....
Did the same on mine but with petrol inside set alight instead.
I did some research on this a while back. As mentioned above there are two types of cleaning - additives such as TerraClean or head off.
TC does work but not on the TFSI engines. The carbon build up is on/around the valve stem and intake on the TFSI which TC won't touch. Not only that, you risk carbon falling into the cylinder which is something you want to avoid.
An Italian tune up would give you similar results and saves you a few quid in the process!
The only option if you think carbon is an issue is to have the head removed along with the valves.
TC does work but not on the TFSI engines. The carbon build up is on/around the valve stem and intake on the TFSI which TC won't touch. Not only that, you risk carbon falling into the cylinder which is something you want to avoid.
An Italian tune up would give you similar results and saves you a few quid in the process!
The only option if you think carbon is an issue is to have the head removed along with the valves.
