How often to de-choke engine & where in Scotland

[BenzV8]

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone could advise on how often the engine should be carbon cleaned. I have spent a good amount of money buying the car and so I do not have much more for any modifications.

The car goes well and feels faster than my 280bhp 303Ibft 1380kg Mazda 3 MPS (This subjective comparison at the very least shows that it is making more than 350bhp plus whatever torque that equates to).

The car has 90000miles but was mostly motorway commute. Now however, it is used mostly for short journeys with engine almost always not up to temperature (Max 7000rpm), with occasional blast on A/B roads/motorway.

Lastly, where is the best place to get it carbon cleaned in central Scotland, or anywhere in Scotland for that matter.

Cheers

[coffey555]

I had my one carbon cleaned by Star Performance in Fife a year or two ago. Autohaus in Edinburgh can do it as well.

Probably worth doing at 90,000 miles if it has never been done but I would not lose any sleep over it as it will come back again pretty quickly.

My car felt quicker after its clean. Pulled out a couple of car lengths on my mates new M135i. Still pulls away from him in a 3rd gear drag now so still going well nearly 2 years on.

Mazda 3 MPS are pretty quick, I remember chasing a red one on the bypass once and I was working pretty hard to catch up!

[BenzV8]

How much are we looking at to get this done? I am thinking of putting it on a dyno pre- and post to see the differences in power.

[coffey555]

I had other work done at the same time so best to give Jim at Star Performance a phone for a price. They have done plenty of RS4 and 6's.

They also have a 4 wheel drive dyno there but expect around 20-30bhp gain.

[mf51y]

On the links at the top of the page it mentions using wynn's dip3 spayed into the intake...ive read the posts just curious if anyone has tried it recently?...mines 59000 miles never had a clean..It only costs a few quid...worth a go?

[RichieRS]

Seen some people quote between £600-£1000 for CC. Did mine myself over Xmas and it was greatly satisfying.

Afaik it had never been done before and it wasn't actually that bad. Shall do it on a yearly basis now as I quite enjoyed doing it and the car will be off the road all winter

[MikeFish]

Unless you do it yearly and do it yourself I wouldn't bother. It'll only be back (quickly) and you'd have wasted your money.

Save your pennies and take a trip down south to MRC and have your pre-cats gutted and a remap instead (assuming it's not done already). That will last forever unlike a carbon clean. Although pretty sure MRC will recommend a carbon clean with that mileage.

[BenzV8]

Seen some people quote between £600-£1000 for CC. Did mine myself over Xmas and it was greatly satisfying.

Afaik it had never been done before and it wasn't actually that bad. Shall do it on a yearly basis now as I quite enjoyed doing it and the car will be off the road all winter

I am fairly handy with tools so might wish to attempt doing this myself. Any special tools or items (brush, cleaning fluids etc) required other than those in a 265 tool set. Also how easy/difficult is it a task to undertake (how many hours).

[RichieRS]

Seen some people quote between £600-£1000 for CC. Did mine myself over Xmas and it was greatly satisfying.

Afaik it had never been done before and it wasn't actually that bad. Shall do it on a yearly basis now as I quite enjoyed doing it and the car will be off the road all winter

I am fairly handy with tools so might wish to attempt doing this myself. Any special tools or items (brush, cleaning fluids etc) required other than those in a 265 tool set. Also how easy/difficult is it a task to undertake (how many hours).

I did it over a few weeks but that was only because I ported and polished my intake manifold. Could have done the whole job in 2 days if it was a basic port clean.

Check out the thread about walnut shell blasting (have a search) and this will list all the tools and techniques to do it. It's pretty much just labour rather than a big expense in parts.

I'm by no means a mechanic but i didn't find it too hard. There should be a link to a guide in the aforementioned thread too which is mega handy

[Robnic]

Probably the best DIY CC post by TonyHayers here;

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=104824&hilit=carbo ... lnut+shell