GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Carbon Buildup 101

adolan21

adolan21

Ready to race!
Maybe this will stop all the "I use top tier gas doe!" comments people are always saying. Just maybe...
 
corydd

corydd

Go Kart Champion
Spoke to my VW specialist about this last week. Basically he said that cars (with these engines) that do mainly city driving have carbon build-up issues as soon as 40-50k miles, but cars that do a lot of highway driving can go as far as 100-120k miles before the carbon cleaning service is necessary. Like Bender said above, it's all about getting the engine hot enough to burn the carbon off.

It'll cost me a bit more in gas, but hey, any excuse to beat the piss out of my car.
 
corydd

corydd

Go Kart Champion
adolan21 said:
Maybe this will stop all the "I use top tier gas doe!" comments people are always saying. Just maybe...
Click to expand...

Top tier/higher octane gas is still a good idea, especially if you're tuned; it just won't do much for this particular issue.
 
adolan21

adolan21

Ready to race!
corydd said:
Spoke to my VW specialist about this last week. Basically he said that cars (with these engines) that do mainly city driving have carbon build-up issues as soon as 40-50k miles, but cars that do a lot of highway driving can go as far as 100-120k miles before the carbon cleaning service is necessary. Like Bender said above, it's all about getting the engine hot enough to burn the carbon off.

It'll cost me a bit more in gas, but hey, any excuse to beat the piss out of my car.
Click to expand...

Which makes sense in these cars since they turn 3K rpms at 70 MPH
 
Bender1

Bender1

Banned
adolan21 said:
Maybe this will stop all the "I use top tier gas doe!" comments people are always saying. Just maybe...
Click to expand...

Probably not. Remember that blow-by DOES contain SOME fuel. The bulk of it is most likely oil, but short of testing crankcase gases, we can't tell how much.

It is likely that fuels with higher detergent content will result in less build-up, but I suspect the effect is insignificant to the overall issue.

That said, "top-tier" is a marketing term and nothing more.
 
adolan21

adolan21

Ready to race!
Bender said:
Probably not. Remember that blow-by DOES contain SOME fuel. The bulk of it is most likely oil, but short of testing crankcase gases, we can't tell how much.

It is likely that fuels with higher detergent content will result in less build-up, but I suspect the effect is insignificant to the overall issue.

That said, "top-tier" is a marketing term and nothing more.
Click to expand...

Oh I know it's total BS. I use whatever station near me: Mobil, Irving, Valero, doesn't matter.
 
adolan21

adolan21

Ready to race!
Here's a picture of a regular engine vs direct injection from How Stuff Works:

 
smrtypants44

smrtypants44

Go Kart Champion
Bender said:
This is not really a whole section. You will get a cold start misfire when bad enough. You MAY sense a performance loss prior to that. I don't emphasize this as I don't want people pulling off manifolds just because they think they are down on power or MPG.
Click to expand...

My point is that without some physical effects to carbon buildup there really isn't a point to this thread. Reading through the OP you have the following things laid out:
what causes carbon buildup (why our engines could be potentially susceptible to carbon buildup)
how to prevent carbon buildup

IMHO in order to be a comprehensive post you need to add:
why carbon buildup is bad
how you can suspect you have carbon buildup problems

As it is now it sounds like you are talking academically on how carbon buildup happens but nowhere in your post do you make it very clear why I should be concerned about it (for a thread with the name ...101) :iono:
 
Bender1

Bender1

Banned
IMHO in order to be a comprehensive post you need to add:
why carbon buildup is bad
how you can suspect you have carbon buildup problems

As it is now it sounds like you are talking academically on how carbon buildup happens but nowhere in your post do you make it very clear why I should be concerned about it
Click to expand...
Though I understand your point, that is not the intent of this post as both of those factors are purely subjective.

Edit - to be clear, this is intentionally academic as the rest of the subjective factors have been well covered on the board.
 
svickstc

svickstc

Go Kart Champion
now after please, show em the after ;)

*insert picture of super clean valves*

when you sent that to me this morning i cringed so hard
 
Bender1

Bender1

Banned
svickstc said:
now after please, show em the after ;)

*insert picture of super clean valves*

when you sent that to me this morning i cringed so hard
Click to expand...

Yup... almost barfed.

At that mileage, I think it is inevitable even if you drive the hell out of the car.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top