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Carbon Buildup 101

realcyberbob

Go Kart Champion
apologize if this was already mentioned.. long thread.
but is it the general consensus that an induction service at the dealership does nothing? not even a good preventive measure? "pressurized atomizing" they're calling it. basically hooking up to a vacuum line with something similar to but i hope more hi tech then this
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-sur-and-r-parts/intake-system-cleaner-canister/srrfic903~srr/

thinking of getting 1 of those canisters and filling it with some CRC valve cleaner but did want to start with an induction service at ther dealer. unless my fellow enthusiasts advise otherwise....

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

It may do something to keep valves clean once they've been cleaned, but to actually clean them you have to scrape or walnut blast.
 

tmiw

Go Kart Champion
I'm occasionally getting shaking at idle right on startup now (and misfire codes in VCDS). I guess it's time to look into how much a carbon cleaning will be.

BTW, I'm close to 107K miles on my 2012 and have yet to do a carbon cleaning.
 

GolNat

Autocross Champion
Just took a look at mine today @ 48k miles. Was going to do a cleaning when I got closer to 60k.





 

GolNat

Autocross Champion
Good to know!

When I uploaded them I was like oh man that looks horrible, but after going back and looking at other peoples it is really not that bad.
 

zrickety

The Fixer
168k...never carbon cleaned.
Just replaced the manifold, mine look worse than that but still thought I could wait. Car still runs strong.
 

theclutch

Go Kart Newbie
Just took a look at mine today @ 48k miles. Was going to do a cleaning when I got closer to 60k.






I assume you used a borescope for this. Can you put pics as to which screw you removed and stuck the scope into in order to take the pics? Thanks in advance!
 

GolNat

Autocross Champion
Yes a cheap borescope that connects to your phone via a free app. Worked great.

Remove the IAT sensor. See pic:

https://imgur.com/a/4q9iueN
 

theclutch

Go Kart Newbie
I finally got around to walnut blasting mine this past weekend. I have 67k miles and had been experiencing random misfires. The job took me about 10hrs, but I took my time and also replaced a few coolant hoses while I had the IM off. I did end up pulling the throttle body, but installed it on the IM before reinstall.

I went with a walnut blaster from Harbor Freight, connected to a BMW blaster wand with a modified shopvac attachment. Worked like a charm....


Blast wand setup I used.


Thanks for posting. Do you have links to the tools you used? Thanks in advance!
 

Roadrunner_GTI

Drag Racing Champion
Thanks for posting. Do you have links to the tools you used? Thanks in advance!

Sorry for the late reply. I used a BMW walnut blast tool(pn 81292208033) attached to the walnut blaster from Harbor Freight. To cover the intake port and vacuum the walnut shells, I used a Hoover vacuum attachment (pn UH70085) with a hole drilled in it to insert the blast tool. Hope that helps!
 

GolNat

Autocross Champion

GolNat

Autocross Champion
Sweet!! I have not decided on which route to go (media vs chemical) but that setup you described seems cheap and effective. Seems like it would get the job done faster then letting chemicals sit and dissolve the carbon.

Thanks.
 
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