Any garages in Scotland doing engine De-Coke?

[CrypticS3]

As above. Tried searching but not having much success finding somewhere doing walnut shell blasting near me (Scottish Highlands). Car just clicked over 75K so think it's about time to get it looked into.

It's either that or start looking into how to go about cleaning them out myself

 

[S3Alex]

It's usually an issue on heavily tuned cars,and there are a few kits for doing it yourself.

This is one that might be useful.....

http://www.uspmotorsports.com/Maint...plete-Carbon-Cleanup-Kit-2.0T-FSI-2.0TSI.html

 

[fangio]

Shouldn't be any need!

 

[CrypticS3]

It's a direct injection engine, there will be carbon buildup, it will become a hindrance once I begin extracting more power from the unit. I haven't had the car long and the longer I have it the more apparent it is that the previous owner didn't pay it any attention other that having it regularly serviced and it spent most of its time knocking about the City. I plan on extracting more power from the car and I have an ever growing list of little things I need to put right first and so I might as well give myself the best chance of getting good gains by ensuring that the car is breathing properly.

@S3Alex Thanks for the link to that kit. I have everything in it already bar a spare gasket but that's easily acquired. That'll be my last resort if I can't find anywhere to do it.

Hell I might look into the actual blasting unit and just do it myself that way and then sell my services on street corners. Though I might get lifted if I go around asking people if they have Coke

 

[CHEZ]

then sell my services on street corners. Though I might get lifted if I go around asking people if they have Coke

Haha

 

[HHS3]

Shouldn't be any need!

Look at the pictures below from S3Alex and tell me that there isn't any need

The best option for a coked-up(!) TFSi is going to be walnut blasting the intake valves.

Before and after from mine.....

 

[S3Alex]

Look at the pictures below from S3Alex and tell me that there isn't any need



View attachment 102747
View attachment 102748

Don't forget that's a car running 450bhp at that time.
It does fur up faster at higher power/boost levels.

 

[HHS3]

Don't forget that's a car running 450bhp at that time.
It does fur up faster at higher power/boost levels.

Very true, his S3 has done 75K so imagine that there is a few lines of Coke that need s̶n̶o̶r̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ blasting

 

[fangio]

Sorry! Just that with modern oils, fuels and regular servicing, I've never needed a de-coke since the '70s. That's with Saabs, Peugeots, Rovers, Citroens and now Audis.....

And a couple had approaching 200,000 on them.

 

[nluk100]

It has less effect on turbo engines than it does NA engines like the B7 RS4 even though they both have the same direct injection system. You may gain a few BHP but not as much as you'd expect. Have you had your car dyno'd recently?

 

[HHS3]

Sorry! Just that with modern oils, fuels and regular servicing, I've never needed a de-coke since the '70s. That's with Saabs, Peugeots, Rovers, Citroens and now Audis.....

And a couple had approaching 200,000 on them.

It has less effect on turbo engines than it does NA engines like the B7 RS4 even though they both have the same direct injection system. You may gain a few BHP but not as much as you'd expect. Have you had your car dyno'd recently?

What nluk100 has said is correct, NA engines are affected more but turbo engines still suffer with the problem as you can clearly see. Like S3Alex stated, the higher the power then the more likely it is to be a problem, not sure what spec your previous cars were but your current A3 hasn't got many ponies under the bonnet so wouldn't really have a need for one, a stock S3 at 261bhp/258lbs will benefit from a decoke after 40K+ (as many owners have found) and more so if it has been remapped or has got a bigger turbo etc.

 

[fangio]

So more power = more s**t?

 

[HHS3]

Unfortunately so. S3Alex has found this to be the case as I believe he's had two decokes now and both times there was a lot of carbon, he'd only done 30K between the first & second of which it had already built up quickly now that he's running some serious boost.

 

[CrypticS3]

The main issue is the breather system. I'd check out S3Alex's build thread for more in depth detail on the matter. I for one plan on deleting the system after I get a De-Coke so it won't be so much of an issue. Also now that S3Alex has both deleted the system and is now running an 8 injector setup with 4 going into the Inlet's he'll have at least some washing going on, as long as he keeps the fun pedal pressed. Would be nice to see how much of a difference the next time he strips the inlet off.

 

[CrypticS3]

It has less effect on turbo engines than it does NA engines like the B7 RS4 even though they both have the same direct injection system. You may gain a few BHP but not as much as you'd expect. Have you had your car dyno'd recently?

It's not about collecting stray horses as it stands just now in stock tune, it's about making room for all the new horses once I start upping the power. As others have said it affects higher powered engines more. So if say my inlets are nice and crusty right now I might only be loosing say 10-15 BHP but once I start increasing power that number starts to grow. So after a tune I could be loosing 30-40 BHP. Now these figures are for example only so don't read into them too much, they are just there to highlight the difference.

 

[S3Alex]

Sorry! Just that with modern oils, fuels and regular servicing, I've never needed a de-coke since the '70s. That's with Saabs, Peugeots, Rovers, Citroens and now Audis.....

And a couple had approaching 200,000 on them.

The TFSi breather system ingests all of the muck from the various breathers and feeds it into the inlet.
Normally that might not be a problem but on a direct injection engine there is no petrol to wash the inlet and valve stems.
Hence the problem.

 

[nluk100]

It's not about collecting stray horses as it stands just now in stock tune, it's about making room for all the new horses once I start upping the power. As others have said it affects higher powered engines more. So if say my inlets are nice and crusty right now I might only be loosing say 10-15 BHP but once I start increasing power that number starts to grow. So after a tune I could be loosing 30-40 BHP. Now these figures are for example only so don't read into them too much, they are just there to highlight the difference.

Take a read of Alexs' post as I recall he mentions how much power he gained following a de-coke. Personally I wouldn't bother unless your dyno report says your down on power. It's not cheap to get it cleaned (if its done properly), so I'm just trying to save you money. I've seen an S3 with over 170k miles on it and it was bang on the power. I'm all for preventative maintenance btw, but regular oil changes, spark plugs, air filters and decent 99 octane fuel are more important in my book if you're looking to get the most out of your engine.

 

[CrypticS3]

Take a read of Alexs' post as I recall he mentions how much power he gained following a de-coke. Personally I wouldn't bother unless your dyno report says your down on power. It's not cheap to get it cleaned (if its done properly), so I'm just trying to save you money. I've seen an S3 with over 170k miles on it and it was bang on the power. I'm all for preventative maintenance btw, but regular oil changes, spark plugs, air filters and decent 99 octane fuel are more important in my book if you're looking to get the most out of your engine.

I know what you are saying but I've only had the car a couple of months now and I'm putting lots of simple little things right with it that shouldn't really be an issue if someone had actually taken a little pride in the car. So my guess other than the up to date service record is that the car hasn't been shown enough care and attention and spent most of its time knocking around the city hence the slipping clutch. I'm getting it done regardless of whether it's 'Needed' or not as I'd rather know that it's clean and the car is in good health than just be ignorant and throw a map on it.

Also at the end of the day if I didn't want to spend money maintaining cars I'd just buy new ones, and that's a good way to waste money.

 

[dg-1984]

I would also like to get this carried out on my car. Might not need done but with 70k it can't be a bad thing.
Going to get a remap end of this month so would be good to get it done if anyone knew any garages.
What sort of price we looking at??