Engine decoke (Terraclean)
 

We've touched the subject of Terraclean few times on this forum, but without real before and after photos.

Unfortunately I have no before photos, but I've had engine treated with Terraclean around 12,000miles ago.
As I had to remove the intake manifold in order to replace non return valves today, I thought I would be a good idea to look at the intakes and take few pictures.

I have to say I'm very impressed how clean they are. I don't know how bad they should look after 150k on the clock, but pretty bad I assume.
Not sure how filling the car with quality fuel since new and using regularly petrol cleaning additives and injector cleaning additives would reduce intakes getting bad, but I have noticed the difference after treating two cars with Terraclean (smoothness) and attached pictures should reassure everyone who thinks about doing a decoke.

Mate who I got to do the decoke the classic was, 6-8h of back bending and doing it by hand, was well impressed with how clean the intakes are.

Terraclean isn't that popular in Europe, but in North America where it comes from this method is very very popular and backed but all sort of warranties so it can't be a rip off in my opinion.

Mine is booked in for Monday... first time I've had it done so will be interested to see what it drives like afterwards. If it's any good, I will get it done annually. ;)+++

Nice, thats the difference between FSI and injectors before the valves.

I don't think the terraclean would have made much difference to the valves tbh but what it may have done in the combustion chamber I cant say.

I did watch Ed china doing it to an old Jag?? and it made a massive difference to the emissions.

Glad you finally got round to doing the return valves, has it cured it?

I've thought about having this done to my S8 and emailed a local terraclean franchisee. They didnt bother getting back to me...

This is the garage that wasnt bothered about my custom: http://www.swiftfit.com/terraclean-norwich.php

My D2 PF S8 engine was just as clean when I took it apart with 124k on the clock without any special cleaning and very clean in combustion chamber as well.

About Ed chinas Jag, it's 2 years younger than my S8 and he had 0.65% CO and 500ppm HC before cleaning at idle speed. After clean it was 0.55% CO and 78 ppm HC. For comparison my S8 in last MOT did 0.00% CO at both idle and fast idle and 8ppm HC at fast idle(not tested at natural idle for MOT), a lot better then Jag even after clean. Jag might have different emission limits for MOT but for my S8 CO limit is 0.3% at natural idle and 0.2% at fast idle so by the S8 standards Jag would have failed MOT even after clean. HC limit for my S8 at MOT is 200ppm.

My car just had the Mot done by the wife in my absence, must ask if she got any details like that.

Embarrassingly the car was 7 months over due, it's not the first time either :o

Annual reminder in your calendar, set 6 weeks before, I find quite useful! Having said that my S8 is due to be done beginning of September, although it's not due till early October

I may have booked it in April to get it at £27......

I posted a review of Terraclean (complete with before and after emissions tests) on the Detailing World forums.

The short version is: I was VERY impressed. It made a night-and-day difference to my Cavalier. I also had my Volvo done and while the difference was noticeable, it wasn't as dramatic as on the Cavalier.

It'll be one of the first appointments I make for my Audi once I get it, although I am considering 'decarbonise your engine' instead, as that process also cleans the inlet manifold. Terraclean get to the bits in the combustion chamber and after.

Decarbonise your engine????

Do tell more Tony....

I booked mine in for terraclean. I went for a walk to a coffee shop and did some work for a couple of hours only to come back to be told that they need a special adapter for the fuel system on the my engine. I guess they only realised that when they tried to connect their equipment. But they did also recommend a separate treatment for the inlet manifold. Maybe one day I get round to it.....

Nice clean engine Marcin, looks like new +++
maybe the 3.7 doesn't suffer from FSI issues like RS4, etc

Well, as I said before, I was more than impressed with the Terraclean system, it worked really well on my car. I found my thread on Detailing World about it... anyone who would like to view it can see it here.

When I started researching my forthcoming Audi purchase, the topic of carbon deposits came about regularly and I started looking for ways to repair this if I bought a gunked-up one.

Just to be clear, I understand the reason Terraclean may not be as effective on FSi Audis is that it enters the engine through the fuel injectors, so cleans the injectors, combustion chamber and everything after it. The FSi engines (again, as I understand it and I'm still learning) have their injectors mounted directly into the inlet manifold, rather than on a conventional injector rail. That means the back of the valves that are normally cleaned by the spray of fuel are now left store carbon deposits. To de-carbonise an FSi engine, we therefore need something that enters the engine before the fuel.

Googling 'decarbonise your engine' and similar lead to a number of home-made recipies involving basically pouring water into your inlet manifold and letting the steam dislodge the carbon buildup. They seemed to have some success too.

One YouTube video talked about a company who has basically made this home-made method into a process and demonstrated it on an Audi R8. The video can be seen here (don't blame me for the presenter! I was only interested in the process).

I noticed a couple of the stand-up boards in the background had the website of the company doing the process, which is:

http://www.enginecarbonclean.com

And that, is pretty much all I know on the topic. :o

Cheers Tony

Im seriousely debating this on my D2 S8. Its done 147k and 143.5k was on petrol lol.

Any experience of a non FSI 4.2 on terra?

Well I have had mine done today. Took about 45 minutes and was very painless. Results were noticeable but not massive. Main difference seemed to be the smoothness. The engine seems a lot smoother and cleaner on pickup all the way out to the red line. I'm not sure my engine was that gunked up anyway as I only ver use premium fuel, it is serviced regularly and it's only done 46k miles. I will get it done every year now though as a good part of the annual preventative maintenance. +++

Im defo interested in getting this done on the ****box - I plan on having before and after dyno runs done +++

Doing alot of googling, there is one guy who had an S4 done. Gave improved mpg and smoothness. Mpg dropped back to normal within 1k miles. But it did help with cold starts, and smoothness through the rev range.

Whilst googling, i also found that MRC do a decoke, with before and after dyno runs. Some cars making an extra 50bhp...

I think the MRC decoke is much more involved than a Terraclean and is particularly effective (ie needed) on FSI engines (RS4 etc)

Think i'll get a TC done at some point, rude not to at £100 or so

I got a quote of 150 and an additional 60 for an intake clean as well. Not exactly pocket change?!

Mine isnt an FSI but it has done ~143k on petrol....

Yeah. Mine was £102 all in. Cheap as chips IMHO if it keeps the grime and gunge at bay inside the motor.

If you have a D2, at least have a peek at the valves at your next spark plug change with a cheap £12 ebay keyhole camera. If it looks clean why bother wasting £150.

I hope that's not bad advice, going in there with a cam hope you don't leave anything behind :)

*edit* sorry that was a stupid idea, you cant see tops of the valves that way.