Terraclean for rs4?

[sonny]

Yea i see what your saying, i have always believed that the carbon only reaches a certain threshold and starts to break off in the induction process. Other wise the valve throat would be seized with carbon. Its self cleaning almost like cordite on some automatic rifles. Ever wondered why the inlet tracts and throat are mottled and not smooth? could it be to give the carbon something to cling onto and "grow" so large chunks dont fall off? just a little theory .

If the process does remove it layer by layer then perfect, but i still would not like to be the guinea pig and to find out the hard way.

Regarding the carbon potentially damaging the cylinders, it does seem there are various degrees of carbon consistency, like you say Ads that its soft, some engines seem to have carbon covered in oil, whilst others seem to be bone dry. Possible valve stem oil leak? Who knows.

Im no expert, just a internet armchair expert

[RS4_Fanatic]

Hi there guys!

Sorry to be intruding on the thread, but I was wondering if I could share my carbon clean experience with you?

I actually stay in South Africa and am looking at all the different forums to get as much information on the RS4 as I can, as I am having some hiccups on mine- but I'll share my faults later and hope you guys could help me out.

Anyways, back to the carbon clean. I had mine done a few months ago, and I can tell you from my experience, it does make a difference. I had quite a jump in power and the car runs much smoother (well that was before I started getting my other errors about a month back ). I do have before and after pics of the carbon clean, as well as graphs from my dyno, before and after. If you guys want, I can post them on the thread?

[sar]

howdy rs4_fanatic,
do you mean you had your carbon cleaned using the terraclean system?.

[RS4_Fanatic]

Hi sar,

Im not sure how the terraclean process is done. The method they used on my car is almost like a sandblasting machine, but nothing so harsh. It uses Walnut shells. The intake manifold gets taken off once the car is completely. Then they turn the engine that the ports are closed, then blast the intakes with this machine, while it vacuums out the debri.

[sar]

right ok cool rs4_fanatic its just for a second there i thought you were another undercover terraclean rep lol.

there are plenty of conventional carbon cleaning threads on here already but feel free to share yours.

its just this thread is talking about a company that uses the terraclean system for removing carbon build up in engines.
the terraclean machine basically hooks up to your fuel lines and pumps an additive as well as fuel through your engine which cleans away deposits.
but the problem is the machine this company are using is designed for indirect injection engines where fuel(and the additive they add in the process) naturally comes into contact with your valves(where the build up is on rs4's).
our engines are direct injection where fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber never coming into contact with the valves thus neither will any of there cleaning additive.

so we are here saying this wont work and they are saying it will, despite the fact that terraclean have developed a new machine specifically for direct injection engines(which i still doubt will have any real effect) that this company does not have!.
they seem convinced that there indirect injection machine is up to the job .

[MortenJuul]

The problem with that, is that all the carbon is back after 2k miles

I had a boroscope inspection of my intake - this was when that car was 3 years old - i had done 80.000 km - but the engine swapped due to crack in the block at 64.000 (full AUDI warrenty - 9 pages invoice, complete engine swap

So this is after 16.000 km (car done 80.000 km)

This was done March 2012 - We did a complete carbon clean - off with the intake manifold and use bell add clening fuids and foam (+ manual work)

http://www.belladd.dk/en/SpecialRens/Cl ... skine.html

The I installed the water methanol system at the same time

This is what it looks like October 12th - 7 months and 108.000 km - = 28.000 km since the clean - remember the initial "mess" was from 16.000 km!!

I also looked at catch can or ventilate to air from the PCV, but catch can would mean freezing water in the can in the winter and open blow off, smells really bad (oil)

Methanol is my solution - BTW - when doing trackdays I lower my oil temps by 20C by turning on the meth, since the water in the mix also cools cylinder temps hence oiltemps

[RS4_Fanatic]

Here is a pic of what my ports looked like before and after my carbon clean.

Thanks for all that info MortenJuul and for bringing me up to speed with the Terraclean. Hmmmmm, from the sounds of it and from what I understand of the direct injection system, there is no way of it working properly, but hopefully they'll do someone elses RS4 and do some Boroscopes to show us .

I must say, that water meth system makes a difference hey! Was it a difficult system to fit to your car?

[RS4_Fanatic]

[RS4_Fanatic]

Here are my dyno graphs

This is my Dyno before and after the carbon clean. You will notice with the before graph, it only rev'd upto 6500rpm. That cause my EPC light was on and the car was in limp mode. (manifold flaps weren't working properly)

My torque values

[Robnic]

Hi all,

I was at a garage trade show last week in Manchester Terraclean where there as I am aware of the carbon issues with the RS4 I asked the rep about cleaning adapters for a GDi type engine his answers were not that conclusive! They took my details to arrange a demo and have called twice to arrange a day, I am currently looking to buy an RS4 but unfortunately I have not found a nice enough one yet, so as soon as I buy one I will be using our borescope to check the carbon build up and (if it is looks oily and soft not dry and hard!) I will be arranging the demo so fingers crossed I will be able to post some post clean results (unless the rep in disguise on here reads this )

As the other garage chap Grizz said this system may work well in a conventional set up but in a GDi engine it won't come into contact with the inlet tract, personally I can't see it working but hopefully we shall see...

Rob

[adsgreen]

Here are my dyno graphs

Dyno Run Before and After (KW).JPG

Dyno Run Before and After (Torque).JPG

Problem is the its not a fair test - the manifold flaps can fail for lots of reasons and they completely strangle the car not just at high rpm.

[RS4_Fanatic]

Yeah probably, but I'm still happy with the results overhaul.

[adsgreen]

Yeah probably, but I'm still happy with the results overhaul.

Oh no - I agree. Did exactly the same. Manifold flaps broke/buggered/stuck so the intake has to come off anyway... might as well get them cleaned.

[sakimano]

Hi sar,

Im not sure how the terraclean process is done. The method they used on my car is almost like a sandblasting machine, but nothing so harsh. It uses Walnut shells. The intake manifold gets taken off once the car is completely. Then they turn the engine that the ports are closed, then blast the intakes with this machine, while it vacuums out the debri.

Audi here used the walnut shell media blast method... But then abruptly stopped using itm now they use a soak and scrub method... Aka shitty work.

A friend just bought a walnut shell blaster. He said it cut the time by about 40-50% to do a carbon clean (the actual cleaning) . However the removal and reinstallation of the manifold still takes ages.

[TonyHayers]

Hi sar,

Im not sure how the terraclean process is done. The method they used on my car is almost like a sandblasting machine, but nothing so harsh. It uses Walnut shells. The intake manifold gets taken off once the car is completely. Then they turn the engine that the ports are closed, then blast the intakes with this machine, while it vacuums out the debri.

Audi here used the walnut shell media blast method... But then abruptly stopped using itm now they use a soak and scrub method... Aka shitty work.

A friend just bought a walnut shell blaster. He said it cut the time by about 40-50% to do a carbon clean (the actual cleaning) . However the removal and reinstallation of the manifold still takes ages.

Yeah, I've been researching making a DIY mini walnut shell blaster for when I do mine. The blaster bit is easy, just trying to work out how to make a vacuum attachment to fit over the port like BMW do for the Mini: http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/ES2166079/ES2166079/