DIY Carbon Clean

[mattsv6]

Hi,

Had my car serviced the other day and the mechanic recommended a carbon clean. It's done around 150,000 k's.

Has anyone given their Alloytec V6 a homemade carbon clean? I've read some techniques where cleaner fluid is sucked in via the brake booster... was wondering if anyones done something similar themselves?

Cheers

[mattsv6]

One idea I had was to slightly loosen off the throttle body piping and spray through some throttle body cleaner while the car is running....

My throttle body is already very clean... so was wondering if this would help to clean out carbon deposits?

[VYruckus]

go to SUBARU and ask for a can of upper engine clean its only $18 and it works well. l love the stuff!! you can really feel the deference

[Exidor]

go to SUBARU and ask for a can of upper engine clean its only $18 and it works well. l love the stuff!! you can really feel the deference

Yep. Those boxer's have trouble with carbon deposits.
I might just buy a can. Good advice.

[torana355]

go to SUBARU and ask for a can of upper engine clean its only $18 and it works well. l love the stuff!! you can really feel the deference

Yep that stuff is gold!!! If your throttle body ect does have a build up your car will run heaps better after using that stuff.

[andyman]

did it on my car recently, at 90,000km nothing, didnt do a thing,

i say it did nothing because when use use that product and you pump it in through the manifold when its not running, when you start it up again it will puff clouds of smoke, alloytecs = ziltch

that subaru is a rip, go to autopro and get a can of engine conditioner, its made by 3 bond, it is exactly the same as the suby product, but is half the price, and does 3 cars compared to subaru's 1

[mattsv6]

So how exactly is this upper engine cleaner/conditioner applied?

[andyman]

So how exactly is this upper engine cleaner/conditioner applied?

spray it in through a vacuum line, the charcoal canister purge line is a good one to get it in which is just behind the throttle body,

then once the motor is not running, spray it in the crankcase vent ports on either side of the manifold,


i personally dont see any improvement from this, the alloytecs run pretty clean up top

[mattsv6]

Thanks mate, I need to give it a try as my VZ is missing under load and it's my last resort!

So far I've checked...

1) Spark plugs, these were placed 20,000 ago with platinum plugs
2) Coils - these have already been replaced as their date is 05 and the car was made in 04.
3) Fuel filter, replaced 15,000 ago
4) Throttle body, its so clean you could eat dinner off it
5) Injectors, not 100% sure on these,currently running a bottle of injector cleaner through the car

Any other ideas?

[ashbox]

the tb fly by wire, fuel pump, maf sensor prob a few other things that i can't think of

[mattsv6]

the tb fly by wire, fuel pump, maf sensor prob a few other things that i can't think of

1) MAF Sensor has been cleaned
2) Throttle Body fly by wire - i don't think this could cause a heavy misfire?
3) Fuel pump - haven't checked it, but the misfire only occurs from about 2.5K-4K RPM, after 4K it revs smooth which would indicate the pump is working ok??

Any other suggestions appreciated

[mattsv6]

Ran some cleaner through the vaccum lines last night - as you said andyman - didn't see much coming out of the back end.

missfires still there. I'm fruckin stumped!!

Does anyone know a method to test the coils to see if they're still working ok? Both sides of the engine seem to have different dates so im guessing these have been replaced previously.. but you never know i guess...

[INNAWE]

I know you have replaced the plugs with $$$$ ones but just for a test why dont you get some standard plugs and chuck them in. You may have a dodgey plug. even thou they are new this does happen.
Also if you can get hold of a multi meter check the resistance of each lead and check it agains the specs.
I dont know a sh*$ load about cars but just a couple of ideas.

One of the leads could be braking down under load. just another idea

good luck

[bigdaddycool]

Misfires can be a result of a vaccum leak or possibly too much advance and not enough fuel? ....... you would need to check out injectors, fuel pump as well..... if ur sparkies are done they should be right.

[andyman]

if its running fine at peak revs, rule out fuel pump,

injectors possible but unlikely,

is the car on gas by any chance?

if it is, ive seen a few do coil packs after some km's on gas

[andyman]

Misfires can be a result of a vaccum leak or possibly too much advance and not enough fuel? ....... you would need to check out injectors, fuel pump as well..... if ur sparkies are done they should be right.

check the charcoal canitster purge elbow hose that just behind the throttle body, these crack and cause vacuum leaks there,

if its stock tune that should rule out glitch in tunes

[mattsv6]

Thanks andyman, bigdaddycool and INNAWE - all good advice!

The cars not on Gas. I'll have a check over all hoses this weekend to ensure I don't have a vacc leak. that elbow piece was cracked, but its been replaced so we can rule that out also.

Good idea, I'll pull the plugs this weekend and test the coils with a multi, any idea on what the factory levels should be??

Also, would pulling the engine fuse and allowing the car to reset have any influence??

[bigdaddycool]

ecu resets are only really needed if u've changed something........... tune, intake, sparkies......... maybe plan on 100% changing ur fuel grade, other then that you wont notice anything.......... except lag for a few days while the car adjusts again .......... but might as well do it while ur going, no harm. I've got some carby cleaner.......... i'll give it a go, cleaning out the TB, manifold and vac lines now............ pulled my intake manifold off to put my spacer back in (broke some bolts when I put it on last time ) .......... so got me some new ones. carby cleaner is great at cleaning stuff........ manifold, tb and fuel injector area was pretty dirty n that stuff just instantly disolves it.......... very cool stuff indeed.

PS. I'm painting my intake manifold while i'm going.......... as I've already done the covers and front plastic cover....... (red in area's) .......... so I'm painting the manifold with heat resistant red (brake caliper stuff) as an undercoat and then jet black over the top to match the rest of the paint work around the engine. Should look ok when done. it's the final thing i've got to do on my paint wise besides fix my black strips down the side of my car which I'll get my dad to fix as he used to be a panel beater so.......... let a pro fix my **** job i did.

[greenacc]

Does this upper engine cleaner do much good for Ecotec's ?

[Exidor]

Thanks andyman, bigdaddycool and INNAWE - all good advice!

The cars not on Gas. I'll have a check over all hoses this weekend to ensure I don't have a vacc leak. that elbow piece was cracked, but its been replaced so we can rule that out also.

Good idea, I'll pull the plugs this weekend and test the coils with a multi, any idea on what the factory levels should be??
Also, would pulling the engine fuse and allowing the car to reset have any influence??

According to the information I have the coil
resistance is not measurable.

[andyman]

Does this upper engine cleaner do much good for Ecotec's ?

it does make an ecotec chooof heaps of oil smoke as they get the varnish build up in the intake from the egr valve and pcv system,

so yes it does make an effect on an ecotec

[andyman]

Thanks andyman, bigdaddycool and INNAWE - all good advice!

The cars not on Gas. I'll have a check over all hoses this weekend to ensure I don't have a vacc leak. that elbow piece was cracked, but its been replaced so we can rule that out also.

Good idea, I'll pull the plugs this weekend and test the coils with a multi, any idea on what the factory levels should be??

Also, would pulling the engine fuse and allowing the car to reset have any influence??

id find an auto electrician that has coil testing, the tester is an inductive pick up that you sit on the back of the coil, it picks up the discharge pulses so you can tell if its coils that are breaking down

[84dez]

lol changed sparkies and did carbon clean lol all i can say is get ur gaskets right lol, car is laggy as hell but havent reset the computer and didnt carbon clean with the car running but dam the stuff works $13 from autobarn lol

[mattsv6]

Ok, so i took a closer look at my coils and realised I read the date wrong..

Looks like they haven't been replaced before as they are dated June 04... Are these known to fail after some serious kms have been put on them?

[WogBoyz]

i just read this thread that it is fine to use this cleaner on the eco's

does it say on the bottle where to apply it ect for the eco's?

ive alrdy cleaned my Tb will it still make a differnce?

cheers lads