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Carbon Buildup 101

Cadubya

Autocross Newbie
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.



What sucks is they come with it in europe. There's even a punch out for the OEM sensor on our oil pans. As far as hooking it up to the P3. Usually gauge and sender have to be calibrated to one another to be accurate, so I'm not sure how easy/accurate it'll be.
 

funkymcbain

Ready to race!
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.

Agree with this. Every 60k either clean it yourself or pay someone the $500 to do it. The hardest part of this DIY is that stupid bracket under the manifold in all honesty
 

hbrown0509

Go Kart Champion
What sucks is they come with it in europe. There's even a punch out for the OEM sensor on our oil pans. As far as hooking it up to the P3. Usually gauge and sender have to be calibrated to one another to be accurate, so I'm not sure how easy/accurate it'll be.


Hrrmmm, I would have to think about it since it's not as easy. Yeah, that's the thing that irritates me is that they skimp out on things like this for the US models.
 

TheCor

Ready to race!
I pulled codes P0300 and P0304 for multiple random misfires and cyl 4 misfires. Plugs and coils new as of 60k and I'm now at 71k. I'm pretty confident it will turn out to be carbon buildup given my mileage and how the rough idle has slowly progressed over the last year.
Dealer just quoted me $475 to do the valves with walnut blasting. I think that's a pretty good price. Will report back on the findings if anyone is interested, but I don't think it will be anything unexpected.
 

FriggenT1

Banned
Agree with this. Every 60k either clean it yourself or pay someone the $500 to do it. The hardest part of this DIY is that stupid bracket under the manifold in all honesty

I've done 2 turbo swaps, an intercooler, a few intakes, motor mounts, exhaust ( idk how many times I've pulled my DP now), TOP, DVs, dv relocation, etc, etc...I feel like I've saved enough doing my own work there to save my back, 2 bad shoulders and knees to let someone else do the carbon cleaning. It's just a job I do not feel like tackling at this point. If I were to buy an IE manifold, I might consider the job, but at this point, it gives me a headache just thinking about it.
 

FriggenT1

Banned
I pulled codes P0300 and P0304 for multiple random misfires and cyl 4 misfires. Plugs and coils new as of 60k and I'm now at 71k. I'm pretty confident it will turn out to be carbon buildup given my mileage and how the rough idle has slowly progressed over the last year.
Dealer just quoted me $475 to do the valves with walnut blasting. I think that's a pretty good price. Will report back on the findings if anyone is interested, but I don't think it will be anything unexpected.

It's likely, but has the PCV valve been replaced? That will cause ALL KINDS of issues, especially misfires.
 

TheCor

Ready to race!
It's likely, but has the PCV valve been replaced? That will cause ALL KINDS of issues, especially misfires.

No, I wasn't aware of that. I was considering doing that this spring anyway because its relatively inexpensive and thought it might help avoid a failure of the rear main seal in the future.
 

FriggenT1

Banned
No, I wasn't aware of that. I was considering doing that this spring anyway because its relatively inexpensive and thought it might help avoid a failure of the rear main seal in the future.

You may as well get it cleaned, it's a maintenance thing anyway.
 

Cadubya

Autocross Newbie
I found my carbon buildup pics. This was at 80k. Not bad at all.

Before



After

 

mlody91

Ready to race!
I found my carbon buildup pics. This was at 80k. Not bad at all.

Before



After


WOW! Now that's what I call clean. Berryman's B12 or did you use something else?

EDIT: I hope you pulled out the injectors and cleaned those as well. A little extra work but worth it for the peace of mind since they can get pretty caked as well.
 

Cadubya

Autocross Newbie
WOW! Now that's what I call clean. Berryman's B12 or did you use something else?

EDIT: I hope you pulled out the injectors and cleaned those as well. A little extra work but worth it for the peace of mind since they can get pretty caked as well.



I didn't do it. Ken at HS Tuning did it. I don't think he used any solvent. Just walnut blasting. And yes injectors were cleaned and re-sealed.
 

mlody91

Ready to race!
I didn't do it. Ken at HS Tuning did it. I don't think he used any solvent. Just walnut blasting. And yes injectors were cleaned and re-sealed.

Nice :thumbsup: Might take a drive there sometime to have their RSR clutch kit installed.
 

Cadubya

Autocross Newbie
Nice :thumbsup: Might take a drive there sometime to have their RSR clutch kit installed.



I highly recommend it. Ken and Jeff are good people and lifelong VW enthusiasts. Ken is a wizard with VAG cars. Might as well get the clutch from the people who did the research, testing, and brought it to the market.
 

TheCor

Ready to race!
Here is what my valves looked like at 71k, first carbon cleaning. The engine is spinning like a top now, perfect cold start, can't feel a single misfire.

 
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Blakcard

Autocross Newbie
wut tha hell... it looks like stuff is growing on the valves. Like someone was doing some mining.
 
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