Automotive Tips and Info

Engine decarboning?

Your first question is what is engine decarboning? Due to today's fuel and the different engine designs the level of carbon deposits will differ from engine to engine. Some engines are prone to building up large deposits on the back of the intake valves and others will not. Almost all high mileage engines will have some carbon deposits. The problem with the deposits is the that it takes along period of time for these to form and you seem to adjust to the way the engine is running. Symptoms can be anything from longer cranking times, drop in fuel mileage, and worse cases you may notice an performance problem. The best way to prevent carbon deposits from becoming an engine performance issue is to use a quality fuel additive on a regular basis starting when the car is new. For the engines that have not been treated and have higher mileage we can perform a DECARBONING process that has provided us with good results.

How do you know if your engine is suffering from carbon deposit build up? Without actually disassembling components of the engine to gain visual access and inspect it is difficult say what level your engine is at. We recommend that higher mileage engines have the decarboning process done as routine maintenance every 40,000 miles. We recommend that the engine control system and the ignition systems be tested to verify that no other issues need to be addressed before the decarboning process is done.

What is the result you may ask. The removal of carbon build up from the valves and intake plenums will restore engine performance. This may result in smoother idle, more power at lower RPM's, and an increase in fuel mileage. Some performance gains will be very noticeable and will vary on the degree of carbon build up that was removed.

- Jeff Powers