A quick update for all who are interested in this - I went to VAG Tuner show today (organised by Audi Tuner Magazine) and got chatting to
@Cuppa, who was manning the Engine CarbonClean stand with
his mental S5 on display... What I found out is that Engine CarbonClean is a competing service to Terraclean, but goes about addressing the carbon build-up issue a bit differently. Instead of injecting a chemical cocktail into the fuel system CarbonCelan system injects hydrogen into the intake, just after the MAF sensor. The idea is to break-up carbon deposits naturally by getting the built-up carbon in the deposits to react with the injected hydrogen gas and exit the intake system naturally without using any abrasive chemicals to get rid of the build-up. The great thing about this approach is that it not only cleans areas past where fuel is injected, but the whole air intake passage, including the turbo! Terraclean, does not do this and this, I believe , is the reason for
@rossdagley 's comment earlier.
I have been thinking about getting a carbon clean done on my car for some time now and asked about getting my car done on the day and luckily the guys managed to squeeze me in! The whole process took about 30 minutes and involved a connection of a pipe for hydrogen to the intake pipe and three sessions of revving the engine for a couple of minutes, every 10 minutes or so.
Before I talk about the results: My car has done just over 56k miles and has been running on VPower for all of it's time with me as the owner, with oil changed between every service. Even with all the modifications it started to feel a little sluggish and I begun to think more and more about getting this done. I assume that individual results will always vary depending on condition of each engine.
My results:
- A puddle of dirty liquid out of the tailpipe and a large amount of black residue ( I imagine that that's carbon deposits being thrown out by the reving of the engine)
- Engine noise changed from the typical tappetty TFSI and (what I can only describe as) booming sounds, to a more crisp-sounding engine with the signature TFSI sounds present, with lower overall noise volume.
- Power delivery - I couldn't wait to get going on my 2 hour drive home and all I could think of is how well it drives now. The power and torque delivery is much smoother now, with the engine revving more freely, with the car feeling more eager under acceleration. I'm thinking about getting my car on a dyno again some time soon, just to see if overall power figures have been affected.
- Can't comment on economy yet - I spent most of the way home playing with roll-on acceleration, so that destroyed any chance for an economy run
A little play with a BMW Alpine B7 that was sharing a stretch of motorway with me, also did not help matters.
Overall, I would say that the effect is well worth the price of this service and based on what I found out,
Engine CarbonClean is a service that is definitely worth considering when looking at dealing with carbon build-up, especially if you consider that this is a fully mobile option!
Here are a few photos from today: