Carbon Engine Cleaning - Does it work?
What's all this about Carbon Engine Cleaning then?
Come and visit Balance Motorsport in Sussex for a Carbon Clean that works!
There are too many peddling a magic solution - we fix things with engineering.
It may have escaped your radar so far, but don't worry, if you have an Internal Combustion engined car (even a hybrid) then pretty soon the HHO “snake oil” sales team are coming for you.
Really? So it's all a crock of the proverbial?
Well yes and no. The real challenge is finding scientific, fact based evidence that the various technologies work. Since investigating the Carbon Cleaning market I can see a number of companies offering different processes, however nearly all seem to be making use of HHO or as it otherwise known OxyHydrogen. In fact if you search for HHO or Browns gas you will see Wikipedias pages strangely absent from your results. The page you want is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyhydrogen unfortunately HHO has now become associated with "fringe science" thanks to Ruggero Santilli, who claims that his HHO gas, produced by a special apparatus, is "a new form of water", with new properties, based on his fringe theory of "magnecules".
Not a very promising start to the new "Carbon Engine Cleaning" marvel....
Here's a picture of the inlet valves on an Audi V8 AFTER the customer had recently had an HHO clean - clearly it doesn't work on the valves or the ports..
A bit more about HHO. It's a most flammable combination. Think jet rocket boosters and flying to the moon. The end result of the combustion though is water. The process of injecting the gas into the engine is supposed to release carbon deposits that are blocking the engine and making it run poorly.
If you've ever stripped apart an engine after a head gasket failure you will have often seen how clean 1 or more cylinders will have become. So we know that H20 cleans the inside of an engine brilliantly. Our workshop is in Sussex and we've seen a number of very clean cylinders due to H20.
Is it necessary to de-carbonise?
In days gone by the process of a top end strip down to remove carbon was commonplace. Fuels were fairly poor and the engines tolerances meant it burnt fuel far less efficiently. You will I am sure have noticed the lovely waft that trails behind an old classic. As engines improved in design and efficiency the need for de-carbonisation was reduced. However modern engines once again, especially Diesel and Direct Injection Petrol are suffering from excess carbon build up, mainly on the backs of the intake valves and the inlet ports. This is due to EGR and crankcase emissions not being cleaned by the intake charge.
The carbon affects the ignition process as well as gas flow, due to its build up in a number of areas.
When present, carbon will increase the warm up time for the engine to perform at its best. Making it recalcitrant and unresponsive from cold. This will affect fuel economy and emissions. If build up is really bad it can cause drivability problems such as hesitation, rough idle and sometimes surging (modern engine management systems can get confused as they don't have maps for carbon clogged engines!) . Intake valve deposits can form on the backside of the valve and this affects gas flow into the engine. Imagine the difference if flow between wind blowing against a smooth wall or a hedge. The turbulence slows the gas charge down and loses power.
It also doesn't take 100,000 miles for these deposits to form. If you have a drive patten with lots of cold starts and warm-up cycles, stuck in traffic idling and indeed lots of start / stop activity then deposits can form much faster.
Manufacturers themselves even perform de carbonisation as part of their engines maintenance schedule where the design entails. BMW for example remove the inlet manifold and fire walnut pieces at high pressure straight at the back of the valve. Done for long enough it leaves it looking nearly like new.
Does an HHO Carbon Cleaning Process do the same?
This is where doubt can start the creep in. You will, I think, struggle to get pictures of the combustion chamber and the back of the valves from any of the carbon cleaning companies out there. The “end result” is what you are looking for. There are some figures out there from rolling roads (a way of measuring power). Some startling increases have been found. In many cases though there is no increase in power what-so-ever. Customers are generally very pleased and report smoother running of the engine. Could that be placebo? Could it be the removed carbon? Some results yield nothing - perhaps they were clean already? Certainly vehicle detailing is less effective on a clean car..
Can removing the carbon quieten the engine?
The amount of the combustion chamber deposits depend on the engine oil, engine design, driving style and of course the fuel (paying extra for Shell V-Power is worth it!) and state of tune.
Engine condition is crucial - it has been found that coolant temperature has the greatest effect, and that AFR (air/fuel ratio) is also important. I recently stripped the intake manifold off an engine that had a faulty thermostat and it had sticky oily carbon deposits on the intake. It was also a London car so many short journeys. The engine oil contributes to combustion chamber deposits and the amount depends on the oil consumption, particularly on the piston crown, and sulphated ash content of the oil. Hence why you have special modern Low SAPS oils are specifically designed to be low in Sulphated Ash.
An engine with a tight squish band ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squish_(piston_engine) ) is prone to a knocking sound, especially when the coolant isn't hot. With a high level of combustion chamber deposits, together with the small squish band can result in a knocking noise, which has come to be called carbon knock. Once warmed up the sound can go – this could easily account for the improvement in HHO cleaning to engine noise.
Still getting hard facts from the suppliers (even of the machines that do the job) is difficult. So it seems on the one hand that the data isn't there an yet on the other hand anecdotal evidence suggests both success and failure of HHO as a method of improving performance.
Delving deeper we need to look at the cost of the service. Typically the going rate for a mobile, single car Carbon Clean is £99 inc vat, which wouldn't even buy you 1 hours labour from a main dealer. Expectations of a miracle aren't expected. Some people spent £25000 tuning their cars, they have a right to expect something sensational. For £99 you don't expect a huge amount so any improvement at all is, arguably, easily discerned.
Videos seem to show improvements to spark plugs and some cleaning does definitely occur using the process. Don't forget of course that the HHO becomes H20 and we know that H20 , particularly as steam is an excellent cleaner. So perhaps what we are seeing is the combination of cleaning from HHO, H20 and a little bit of the time honoured "Italian tune".
Hybrid Cleaning Processes
Other suppliers are offering a process that uses more than one technology. Using certain solvents and also HHO. In fact some of the HHO machines retailed even incorporate a cleaning agent as standard. Have you ever heard of an "Italian Tune"? Well perhaps nowadays, in our sensitive PC world, this would be viewed as cultural appropriation. However I know, regardless on the recognition of the Italians Fearless driving style, it still works even today. It's an excellent way to raise Exhaust Gas Temperature and to clean combustion and valve deposits from engines used to often on short journeys. Sadly Wikipedia entries currently deem that not to be the case, but their reference also pertains to carbon cleaning with just a few tablespoons of water...
There is no doubt that water turned to steam, can clean and break down carbon. Witness the simple steam cleaner which is effective just with the power of steam.
It seems to me that by combining various processes and conducting a more in depth clean that better results can be obtained, but that ultimately
NOTHING BEATS REMOVING BLOCKED COMPONENTS AND CLEANING THEM PHYSICALLY - E.G WALNUT BLAST
What Balance Motorsport offer
Our service is not a one size fits all. Different engines and fuel systems have different issues. You will not get intake flaps clean on a direct injection engine with an HHO carbon clean. That will require the manifold to be removed and cleaned using walnut shells or similar. To date it seems there is no scientific evidence HHO cleaning works. However clearly some chemical and physical methods can provide benefits. We have tested a number of chemical products and found some to be marginal, and others very effective. Our service combines over a year of research and development, to offer something that actually works, unlike some of the "Snake Oil" solutions on the market.
The first part of all our services is a diagnostic assessment of the engine, we'll look for codes of course, but in addition, if something doesn't seem right, further analysis of live data (Lambda, AFR, Cam Timing, Request vs Actual Torque etc) will enable us to identify any other faults that may need fixing.
GET IN TOUCH TODAY FOR A QUOTE ON YOUR ENGINE !
If you are in Sussex, and you want to get your engine carbon cleaned, then drop by the Garage
Tel: 01903 879111 or email
This lump of Carbon came out of an Audi TDI we recently saved. The Turbo needed replacement as it had been damaged by an object - most likely a chunk of carbon. What's telling is this lump came out after the manifold had already been cleaned twice...It wasn't until the 3rd caustic soak and pressure clean that this big lump came out. Imagine what HHO cleaning would do to you engine it actually managed to clean the carbon from the intake system?
Tel: 01903 879111 or email