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Carbon Buildup 101
- Thread starter Bender1
- Start date
Cadubya
Autocross Newbie
Worth it to invest in port fuel injection to prevent carbon built up? This isn't that big of a deal. Drive your car. Get it completely hot before shutting it off. Don't take short trips. It's a few hundred dollars every 60-80k miles. More if you do preventive maintenance.
Part of my day involves short trips. I do get the car hot, but you're still missing that 2 things add to the buildup, letting off throttle, and idle...vw also claimed to me that running it over 3k for 30 minutes wasn't something they were aware of. Yes, if I would have to get it cleaned twice it's 500.00 each...with every bit that gathers in between that, power is lost, so port injection would insure full potential at all times.
hbrown0509
Go Kart Champion
Man, $500 is good deal for a carbon cleaning. I was quoted at least $700 at one place. They do the walnut shell blasting and included all the new seals for the injectors and other parts that needed replaced when replacing the manifold. Port injection would save money in the long haul if you kept the car that long. Also running a catch can will slow it down but not prevent it. I can only run one 3 out of the 4 seasons here in Illinois. So, I still go 3 months of lots of blow by collecting on the valves. It's impossible to get my car hot enough during the week to burn off some of the blow by. What happens when you shut off the engine. What's left will cool and harden on the intake valves. So, ultimately port injection still would be the best bet.
Cadubya
Autocross Newbie
You're not the norm though. For most people it's not cost effective to add port fuel injection. How much do you think port fuel injection is? Hydes setup is all custom. I'm sure it's well over $1k plus tuning. There is an actual VW statement about driving the car at over 3k for 30 mins. It's on this site somewhere. Who at VW did you speak to? I did my carbon cleaning at 80k and when they got that manifold off it actually probably didn't need it. So, it greatly depends on how you drive the car. Short trips in cold weather are horrible for port fuel injection cars too. Just because of the moisture build up in the crankcase and valve train increases the likely hood for gunk to build up and clog things like your pcv.
red_stapler
Ready to race!
I've decided I'm going to do a manifold-off cleaning at some point this summer, and then run a can of CRC through every oil change. We'll see how that works out long-term.
Cadubya
Autocross Newbie
Sounds like a plan. I just had my manifold off and it was clean. I'm going to use the CRC every oil change and see how it goes.
hbrown0509
Go Kart Champion
Audi has an additional injector that sprays only at certain times to help clean off the back of the valves. It's not 100% but I'm sure it helps. Hyde16 is mainly for the extra fuel needed up top for his power needs.
hbrown0509
Go Kart Champion
I drive my car hard when I get chances to, but in between that I can't.
hbrown0509
Go Kart Champion
I'm also not saying I would ever spend that kind of money just to cut down on potential carbon build up but just throwing that idea out there.
Cadubya
Autocross Newbie
It's not necessarily hard it's just at sustained operating temps. The oil has to get hot enough long enough to burn off all the moisture. Drive around a gear lower if you have to. Do you have an oil gauge? Your be surprised how long it takes on a cold day for the oil temp to get over 200F.
I don't recall who I spoke with, and it's been quite a while since that time. I was encouraged to get the vw fuel additive to help with it, I asked "how is that supposed to help clean the valves?" Which I was asked again to try it first. I asked them about the 3k rpms for 30 minutes and I was told they were not aware of that.
hbrown0509
Go Kart Champion
My car did not come with an oil temperature gauge and have read into it and seems that it's more of a challenge getting one installed and to be accurate. Correct me if I'm wrong. Wouldn't driving in a lower gear with the oil not being fully up to temp cause excess engine wear? Plus it's only a 2.5-3 mile drive for me and wouldn't really want to do a bunch of excess driving in the morning in the way to work.
Cadubya
Autocross Newbie
My car did not come with an oil temp gauge either. It's a very useful tool for combatting carbon build up. You need a gauge, a sender, and a drain plug adapter. A few hours of time and a couple hours max to install taking your time.
I'm not saying to rev the nuts off it. Let it do the cold start. Drive it normal for a minute or two and don't let it sit in 6th. You being DSG, the car wants to be in 6th as much as possible. Very low revs. It's not gonna warm up quickly. 2-2.5k revs is fine after start up. Basic rule of thumb is the takes the oil twice as long to heat up than the coolant. At least that's what I've observed. So, if you start the car and the coolant takes 5 minutes to get to operating temp, then it's going to take 5 mins more for the oil to reach operating temp. It sounds like your commute is just too short no matter what.
hbrown0509
Go Kart Champion
Thank ya sir :w00t: I'll definetly have to look into it. I've always wanted to be able to read oil temps. I have a P3Cars gauge, so I wonder if I could get the sender wired to one of the auxiliary wires so I could see it there instead of buying a separate gauge? That's one thing hats always driven me nuts. It's more of an enthusiasts car, why skimp on an oil temp gauge? I normally try to drive it in manual mode and keep it in 3rd or 4th cruising around town so it doesn't always shift to 6th and drive all boggish. Thanks for the tips.