Engine Carbon Clean?

[gmyorks 2 1 Cars]

hi..anyone had there engine carbon cleaned..? seen an add in the classic car newspaper a few weeks ago, cost £99 for a clean. supposed to make the engine run better..?

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

I am thinking about this following emissions failure on my MOT.

 

Any thoughts people or is it another Snake Oil?

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

This one pops up near me.

 

https://m.facebook.com/eccnortheastlondon/?locale2=en_GB

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Waste of time! A good injection system cleaner will do the same just over a tank of fuel instead of instantly.

 

Note, good cleaner!

[GLPoomobile 958]

I've read a few threads on Terraclean on a few different forums in the last 2 or 3 years and feedback is mixed, but there are those that absolutely swear blind it has made an improvement. Granted some of that will be down to the Placebo effect. But one guy, well he's pretty clued up and likes to keep his car tip top but he's also pretty outspoken on using the right parts and not wasting money on crap, so I do respect his opinion (even though I don't always agree with him) and he has had his car Terracleaned and has emissions tests pre and post that showed an improvement, so he stands by it.

 

I think the people that have paid their money and said it was a waste of time probably didn't need it done in the first place so there was no gain to be had. It's a lot of money so if it seems to do nothing, of course you are going to be pretty pissed and pretty vocal about it. I don't know anything about the chemistry or the process involved, but some people are happy with the results, so surely there has to be something in it.

 

Injection cleaners I don't trust. I know there are more potent ones available than just Redex et al, but for something you just stick in the tank and then it makes it's way through under normal injection etc, even if it's really REALLY potent how much is it actually going to do beyond cleaning the injectors themselves? Can;t see it making any dent in the actual carbon deposits in the engine.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Tech4 is far superior to redex. If there are deposits the car will smoke a fair bit getting rid of said carbon!

 

All of their products are really good, pricey but decent.

[Tom Fenton 1,562]

Modern stuff with exhaust gas recirc, yes I think it can help. On a 205, don't bother.

[sp_en_ny 17 1 Cars]

Was reading an article recently on whether these fuel additives to supposedly clean up the injectors and engine actually work. Apparently these additives are no different to filling up with super unleaded as opposed to normal. Slightly digressing as I think there was a discussion thread on here in the last few months where it also went on to say that supermarket petrol is no worse or better than branded petrol. They all have to meet the same British standards.

 

Not saying I agree or disagree just feeding back what I read.

[Redtop 14 2 Cars]

I got one done as a test on one of my older cars, a 1991 Toyota Celica GT4, just out of curiosity. Now the engine was always going to be stripped and rebuilt, but it had around 160k on it before I did this to it. The compression was good and the car was healthy with no eml lights on or any known issues. I didn't rate the guys that did it, and tbh it was a fire hazzard the way they did it, to bypass the fuel tank imo! I did inspect the bores with a bore scope before having it done, and then took pics of the bores and head once removed, after driving it 30-40 miles max. Needless to say the results of the test were poor. I have been around cars since a youngster, so have a fair mechanical background and believe it's a waste of money. It also cost me a starter motor due to the amount of cranking they did to it. The turbo was also starting to show wear and was recon'd when I took the head off, but anything that been removed by the terraclean, would no doubt end up going through the turbo.

[toolie72 67 1 Cars]

Hmmm can you burn preburnt carbon of a valve etc?

Would a build up on the back of the valve not cause more performance loss than a build up on the bore side?-if an additive could burn carbon off the back of a valve then just what harm would it do to stem seals etc

You're not going to have noticeable bore/chamber faults that can be rectified correctly with a "substance" however scientific they say it is

 

I think the old adage of "take it for a thrash-then we'll retest it" might be cheaper and more effective

[tartanbloke 35 1 Cars]

I work for a prestige motor manufacturer and one of my previous roles was to help investigate any allegations of product liability, which also included thermal events (fires technically). On this one occasion, we went to investigate one of our vehicles that was alleged to have spontaneously combusted from the engine area and there is a systematic approach to each vehicle investigation.

 

The first thing is to drain the fuel from the tank and the fuel filter but on this occasion, when we went to drain the fuel from the filter it melted our gloves within seconds of touching it and it did not smell right. Testing identified that the bloke had been adding injector additives to the tank and thought that as he could see or feel no benefit he would up the amount from one additive bottle per tank (250ml) to eight (2 litres), which just attacked all the rubber seals in the entire fuel system, which caused a leak and eventually a fire.

 

In short, in large quantities, this stuff is will clean you engine and probably reduce the life expectancy of every other part associated with it, which means that in the long run a good blast and a regular oil change with good oil is more than enough.

[GLPoomobile 958]

the bloke had been adding injector additives to the tank and thought that as he could see or feel no benefit he would up the amount from one additive bottle per tank (250ml) to eight (2 litres),

 

What a f*** nugget!

[lagonda 42]

When I stripped my CTi's engine, one thing I was surprised to see was that, after 140,000 miles, there was little evidence of carbon deposit, both on the piston crowns and the valves. Certainly if I'd stripped it to decarbonise, I'd have considered my time wasted. I always used Shell V-Power....perhaps this proved their claims were justified....or simply that modern oils are a huge improvement on those available previously, and that modern engines don't wear as quickly as older ones did, meaning far less oil getting into the combustion chambers.