Terraclean for rs4?

[Spectre]

Having read through this entire post, I can't help but be curious about the Terraclean process. There really is only one way to determine it's efficacy and thats for some one such as the guys posting above to do a before and after test. Lets face it, if we could all get a decoke for about £100 instead of £800 the queue would go around the block ... twice! We have a bunch of very knowledgeable guys on here who really know their stuff when it comes to RS4's - but many a great discovery has been thought rediculous until the weight of evidence proves otherwise. So come on Terraclean guys - Lets see some proof and then we can either lay the subject to rest or book our cars in for a dose of the special stuff.

Mak.

[adsgreen]

This will not work on a b7 rs4 as it's direct fuel injection ..

After cleaning B7 inlets there is NO was i would want that much carbon falling in the cylinder's .

In theory if the product can survive the combustion process such that it can impact the cat's and o2 sensors then there isn't any fundamental reason why it couldn't also find its way into the intake in the same way the carbon gets there in the first place (most likely from internal EGR valve overlap).

As far as I understand the (sketchy) chemistry it doesn't work in quite the same way as a chemical solvent. The principle is that it bonds with the carbon bit by bit and whisks it away through the combustion. A solvent simply breaks down huge chunks and could cause some issues.

Some big leaps of faith there though!

[RS4ABM]

I had a Teraclean completed at a garage by one of Teraclean's sales/technicians 2 months ago, they were trying to sell a machine to the garage and as I know the garage owner he offered me a free clean knowing the carbon issues on the RS4. Though Terraclean would not prove the process by taking any boroscope pics etc!!! I had the process completed and have to honestly say didn't notice any real difference in mpg nor performance.

However I will be removing the manifold to carry out a good old fashioned carbon clean within the next month and im happy to take some pictures. If the process is as good as they 'let on' then the I wont have to put much elbow grease in, although I don't think this will be the case...

[sonny]

I had a Teraclean completed at a garage by one of Teraclean's sales/technicians 2 months ago, they were trying to sell a machine to the garage and as I know the garage owner he offered me a free clean knowing the carbon issues on the RS4. Though Terraclean would not prove the process by taking any boroscope pics etc!!! I had the process completed and have to honestly say didn't notice any real difference in mpg nor performance.

However I will be removing the manifold to carry out a good old fashioned carbon clean within the next month and im happy to take some pictures. If the process is as good as they 'let on' then the I wont have to put much elbow grease in, although I don't think this will be the case...

Well the carbon returns as soon as the ignition key turns. So if you have added a few thousand miles since, chances are it will look the same any way. Only real way to see if the TC works was to examine the area after the process...however they refused to show you...so thats your answer imo

[ArthurPE]

guess it's a good thing deposits cause no power loss

[coffey555]

Well got the car back today. It was recorded on the rolling road at 375 before any work was carried out. After being hooked up to the Terraclean machine for a few hours it was tested again and this time managed to put out 395. The latter figure is in-line with other standard RS4's that Jim has tested that have half the mileage of my car.

I should point out that an injector cleaning agent and an oil additive was used in addition to the Terraclean process.

Don't have any graphs yet but will post them once I get them. As far as I am aware no boroscope pictures were taken before or after.

[sar]

As far as I am aware no boroscope pictures were taken before or after.

without them... , you know what they say a thread is worthless without pics lol.
the before and after dyno numbers mean zilch.

[coffey555]

Oh yes, I am sure the usual suspects will pipe up soon enough! Just thought I would share the results...... however unscientific and flawed they are.

Still waiting to see the extra 9mpg though............

[Gavla]

Well got the car back today. It was recorded on the rolling road at 375 before any work was carried out. After being hooked up to the Terraclean machine for a few hours it was tested again and this time managed to put out 395. The latter figure is in-line with other standard RS4's that Jim has tested that have half the mileage of my car.

I should point out that an injector cleaning agent and an oil additive was used in addition to the Terraclean process.

Don't have any graphs yet but will post them once I get them. As far as I am aware no boroscope pictures were taken before or after.

Thanks for the update - interesting results. The injector cleaning agent wasn't "Wynns Direct Injection Power 3" by any chance? Only asking as I use this on mine - I wonder how much that contributed to the process? Still 20bhp is nothing to be sniffed at and it must have done something....

I'm wondering now I might give these guys in Slough a call/visit to see what's on the table regarding costs etc... as there fairly near to me.

[grizz]

I'm all for trying things out , but take a look at the picture and work it out for yourself's .

After spending hours cleaning the intake on these engine i'm still yet to be convinced that this will work .

The photo is a generic fsi engine .

[coffey555]

No idea what injector cleaner was used but I will try and find out for you.

Looking at that diagram I can see where you are coming from, the cleaning agent will miss the inlet valve area. Of the engines you have cleaned, what was the condition of the outlet valve area? I would expect it to be cleaner.

It is entirely possible that one or more of my injectors were clogged and the 20 bhp gain came from that alone.

I guess we will just have to wait for terraclean to finish a case study with pictures and all before we will know either way for certain.

[adsgreen]

Exhaust valves will be cleaner - as the VW patent suggests, carbon deposit buildup is very dependant on temperature and high temps do break it down.

[sar]

Exhaust valves will be cleaner - as the VW patent suggests, carbon deposit buildup is very dependant on temperature and high temps do break it down.

yer im sure i have read somewhere that the engine in the b9 rs4 and rs5 was designed to get the heads to run hotter to help with carbon build up.

[barryrs]

Exhaust valves will be cleaner - as the VW patent suggests, carbon deposit buildup is very dependant on temperature and high temps do break it down.

This seems to be a fix that Mercedes have produced for some models although its designed to burn carbon off the exhaust manifold in this case.

The tech loads a specific engine map that runs that car throughout a specific rev range building up to a extended high revving until the exhaust manifold glows. My brother said it was quite disconcerting the first time they did it but it seems to work very well.

[adsgreen]

Exhaust valves will be cleaner - as the VW patent suggests, carbon deposit buildup is very dependant on temperature and high temps do break it down.

This seems to be a fix that Mercedes have produced for some models although its designed to burn carbon off the exhaust manifold in this case.

The tech loads a specific engine map that runs that car throughout a specific rev range building up to a extended high revving until the exhaust manifold glows. My brother said it was quite disconcerting the first time they did it but it seems to work very well.

I've seen this for turbo based unit (granted, not petrol) but didn't know if this was being done for NA engines.

The other alternative is to very carefully run the engine lean for a bit. Obviously need to be careful but it wouldn't take long to dramatically increase the cylinder temp to get the carbon off or even prevent it from sticking.