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Carbon Buildup 101

FriggenT1

Banned
I did my cars first carbon cleaning at 83k miles over the weekend, surprisingly the car had very little build up. Looks like once a day WOT does keep carbon away.

Even with the minimal build up gone the car feels much more smoother when revving the engine, and cold starts are quieter and more smooth now. Even removing minimal build up makes a difference. I used CRC valve cleaner to soak the carbon before blasting the valves with walnuts, this CRC stuff make the build up so soft and easy to remove.

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-05319-Intake-Valve-Cleaner/dp/B00PHNQKR2

That's good to know that it does actually cut into it
 

Dans GTI

Ready to race!
That's good to know that it does actually cut into it

Yes, it works very well. After letting it soak for a minute i could scrape off carbon with almost no force, it was like jello.
 

yuev87

New member
Adding to the knowledge base here. I've been having cold start misfires for the last month or so and after replacing plugs swapping to R8 coils, I had my shop do walnut blast carbon clean at 55k miles. I drove mostly highway miles, but for the last 6 months, moved to Boston where I do more stop and go driving.

I take it to redline whenever I can and I occasionally will sit at 80mph in 5th gear, but still had pretty nasty buildup:










After walnut blasting, before final touchup



Just got my car back last night and it feels like I've regained a BUNCH of low end torque. It hasn't been cold enough for cold start misfires, but hopefully we've taken care of all the big issues for a while.

If you're in the Boston area, I highly recommend Northeast Autobahn, where Max did my carbon clean for a third of what the dealerships around me quoted.
 

tmiw

Go Kart Champion
I'm at 61K and still no issues here. I haven't modded my engine though but I'm not sure that matters.
 

redubbed

Ready to race!
Had mine done yesterday while the manifold was being replaced (2012, CBFA, 41,xxx miles)





And after:


My local dealer only charged me $125 while the manifold was off.
 
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DasAuto12

Passed Driver's Ed
Hey guys, so I was driving the other day and noticed a CEL come up and I just took it down to the dealer. I have a '13 with 50k miles on it and the dealer said I have some carbon build up which won't be covered by the warranty. The guy was a bit surprised that its happens at 50k miles given that I commute on the highway daily for work so it's not like I take short drives. And Ive never put ethanol in my tanks. They quoted me $1200 to clean it. First thought - good God that is a lot for a clean up.

So I've bee doing some research on here since and seen people recommend an Italian tune up. A question I had is if that does end up helping and it takes care of the issue, will the CEL go away by itself?

Another question I had is if there is something less invasive that I can do that could potentially fix/solve the issue? Without me having to get into and open any parts up. An additive perhaps? I've babied the hell out of this car so it's really disheartening and frustrating to have this happen so relatively young at 50k miles.

Appreciate any help and advice I can get. Thank you!
 

FriggenT1

Banned
Hey guys, so I was driving the other day and noticed a CEL come up and I just took it down to the dealer. I have a '13 with 50k miles on it and the dealer said I have some carbon build up which won't be covered by the warranty. The guy was a bit surprised that its happens at 50k miles given that I commute on the highway daily for work so it's not like I take short drives. And Ive never put ethanol in my tanks. They quoted me $1200 to clean it. First thought - good God that is a lot for a clean up.

So I've bee doing some research on here since and seen people recommend an Italian tune up. A question I had is if that does end up helping and it takes care of the issue, will the CEL go away by itself?

Another question I had is if there is something less invasive that I can do that could potentially fix/solve the issue? Without me having to get into and open any parts up. An additive perhaps? I've babied the hell out of this car so it's really disheartening and frustrating to have this happen so relatively young at 50k miles.

Appreciate any help and advice I can get. Thank you!

Italian tune up is a joke, it may help to blow out some stuff, but the idea is that the carbon buildup begins on over run, idle, and short trips. The carbon is actually a reaction to the steel on the valves themselves, once it starts, more and more build up occurs even faster. 1200.00 is beyond highway robbery, get quotes from all vw speciality shops and you'll get better prices. Though it's not the best, you could also find a shop that does the BG induction treatments. It will help some, but not nearly what manual cleaning will. Just a possible short term solution until you can find a shop that does the manual cleaning cheaper.
 

DasAuto12

Passed Driver's Ed
Yea I thought that quote was outrageous. And Ive got a couple vw shops in mind that I will call Monday but thought maybe there's something less invasive I could do to potentially get rid of the buildup. The guy at the dealer said it being at 50k miles it probably shouldn't be that thick
 

MyGTI812

Passed Driver's Ed
I'm not sure that 50k is considered early for build up. Perhaps maybe slightly on the early side. Do you use top tier gasoline? I've heard mixed opinions on the validity of what the dealer says about it being key to preventing carbon build up but possibly if the gas you are using is not considered top tier that could be the cause of slightly early onset of the build up.
Like already said call around and get prices. Keep calling and then call back. I actually got quoted different prices from the same shop. So it's worth a few calls. 12 hundy sounds way too much 6-8 hundred should get it done in my assumption.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

DasAuto12

Passed Driver's Ed
Thank you that's good to know. And I do use 91 octane and 93 on the occasion that I find it. Im in Nebraska so we got a lot of ethanol gasoline so I make it a point to steer clear of those. I use BP or Phillips or Shell mostly
 

MyGTI812

Passed Driver's Ed
Well from what I understand octane has nothing to do w it. I think you can Google top tier gas and get a list of stations to use. It's more about the detergents in the gas. Bp and shell are good. Not sure about the other one. Again. A lot of people think this is a load of bs and I'm not saying they are wrong. I just don't know. But if at all possible I only use top tier now because that's what the dealer suggested. Only because if it at least helps slow down the build up then I'm happy.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

DasAuto12

Passed Driver's Ed
Yea I'm not that educated either on "top tier" gasoline and this is the first time I've ever dealt with carbon build up in any of my cars. But the guy at the dealership kept mentioning gasoline so going forward I'll have to be mindful of that..like you said, to slow down the build up
 
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