Last year at VanityBMW a few folk had their engines carbon cleaned. Some time has passed now and my question is, was it worth it and was there a notable and lasting difference?
Carbon cleaning?
- Thread starter Mac Romans
- Start date
Initially it did make a difference, smoother idle, better pickup and MPG. Just as time goes by, I don't think you notice it and most of the pre-treatment symptoms seem to have come back again anyway.
Don't think I'd bother doing it again though,
Agree with Gaz, the difference was night n day from when he did it. But after a few tanks it was back to normal. You can even hear the engine note change while its working its magic.
I've looked at this and wondered whether it is just another "snake oil".
some audi guys did some fairly thorough testing in this thread
http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=117463&start=120
which kinda makes me think it is a fad, but I really would like to be proven wrong!
some audi guys did some fairly thorough testing in this thread
http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=117463&start=120
which kinda makes me think it is a fad, but I really would like to be proven wrong!
When I looked into it you can do it yourself with a can of C02 for £5 
I was only considering it as I've noticed after a decent run in the car I get tiny black spots appear on the back which have come from the exhaust. Not really an issue but the colour shields them up. I thought carbon cleaning would help it. It should last a while for me as I do about 1-1.5k miles a year if that. Last year I did less than a thousand miles including going down south for VanityBMW which was 400.
That sounds like hard work.
I prefer to read my plugs to see if the F/A mixture is correct. most time I've checked they've right on for colour if they weren't them I'd start looking for air leakage. Sounds like an expensive way to blow carbon out I just drive near the red line which blows the cob webs out of the car and me!!
They offered this service at Vanity for £75 on the day. You could actually hear the engine note change as it was starting to breath easier.
Its a mix of hydrogen and oxygen.
Not off the top of my head mate. It was a while ago now.
P.S - Dont confuse this with Terra-clean thats a different process.
Back in the day of carbs the old timers would slowly pour water into the carb while upping the RPM's which was to clear any carbon from the cylinder,heads,pistons and valves as coking up was a fairly common thing back then. There would be chunks of.black crap blowing out the pipes. So there is your hydrogen and oxygen combo they used @Lee and would explain why you'd hear the engine note change as it cleaned whatever carbon was in the engine. Though I find it hard to believe you'd ever build up carbon in your engines Lee!! JIM
I would of thought that but the engine note kept changing along the 30min process. He also takes a reading of what air the engine pulls in, it all seemed to tie in together as the engine began to free up.
Terraclean is fed through the fuel system, This carbon clean is fed through the air intake so both process clean different parts of the engine.