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Hello all,
I’ve been watching ETCG on youtube ever since I bought my first car in college. I’ve finally decided to give these forums a go, and I am pleased at what I’ve seen so far! Now to get to the meat of my post.
I recently purchased a 2011 Nissan Juke which has a gasoline direct injection engine. From my understanding, most of these GDI engines can get some pretty bad carbon buildup on the intake valves due to fuel never coming in contact with the valves. Audi/VW get some bad press because of this, but I suspect that is due to the fact that they were some of the early adopters of this technology when applying it to your regular everyday use passenger vehicles. Hopefully this will become a non-issue once improvements have been made to this technology. After further research it seems as though Ford ecoboost, Kia, Nissan, and Mazda on their 2.3 turbos found in the CX-7/Mazdaspeed 3/6 have this problem as well with some individuals claiming that they had to warranty the engine on the newer Skyactiv-G engines. The only DI engine I haven’t seen this issue on is the new FA series engine from Subaru, but I suspect that is because those engines are still very new–only time will tell.
After searching for possible ways to prevent carbon buildup, I stumbled across a product from CRC. CRC claims that they developed this product specifically for GDI engines, so you don’t have to take off the intake manifold to get a good look at the valves. Basically, you spray the stuff passed the MAF sensor through the intake, and the cleaner hits the back of the valves. I was curious, so I picked up a can from AutoZone, and tried it. As I was adding it through the intake, there were some impressive puffs of white smoke coming from the tailpipe once I finished the can. I have not noticed any difference in drivability, but since the cleaner goes through the intake, I would assume the stuff actually comes in contact with the valves. My Juke currently has a hair over 61k miles on it, and still is running strong. I haven’t noticed any symptoms of carbon on my valves, but I suspect I have a fair amount of build up with this many miles.
Have any of you guys used this cleaner? Do you guys think this stuff works? Here’s a link to the cleaner for those interested.
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I don’t think you spray this through the MAF. But I could be wrong. There are lubricants in this spray as well as cleaners so I would think it would harm the MAF. Yout usually tuck the nozzle behind rubber boot that attaches to throttle body. I wanted to know the answer to this as well. I just bought a 2016 Civic with the turbo. So I want to know if this stuff is safe for a turbo. I have 6,000 miles on it and i am going to put a catch can on this vehicle but I want to do a quick spray maybe at every oil change. Just to keep the valves clean. Hope to get some insight.
Thank you for choosing CRC products. You want to spray past the MAF. So you can insert the straw threw the sensor, not to come into contact with the element. (wires) Yes you are correct. The product could harm the sensor, so never spray the MAF sensor. You can apply the product directly at the throttle body as well. The CRC GDI IVD Cleaner is completely turbo safe. This product is perfect for maintenance and keeping the carbon build up away. You can perform this service just before every oil change, or every 10,000 miles. Should you have any other questions please contact me. Thank you again. Happy Motoring!
Regards,
Scott Brownstein
CRC Technical Support
Phone: 800.521.3168
Email: techservice@crcindustries.comI mean no disrespect here, but I would like some evidence that shows this product works.
In all honesty, I can’t just tell if the product works. I don’t notice smoother idles, better engine response, etc., but that doesn’t mean that the carbon isn’t there. Even if I did notice some improvements in all of the above, I still would want to see something that shows how well this product cleans my intake valves I have since gotten rid of my Juke for other reasons, mainly the CVT, but I ended up replacing it with a 2016 WRX which also uses gasoline direct injection.
What I’m trying to get to is the fact that I haven’t seen any evidence that shows this product works. It’s in the marketing, but in my opinion all claims that come from the marketing department should be taken with a grain of salt. I don’t mean any disrespect by that statement. I’m just very critical of evidence (or the lack thereof).
If anyone has taken some good before and after pictures of their intake valves after cleaning, I would like to see it. If not, then I’ll have to find the time to take the data myself once the WRX gets some more miles on her.
There are some YouTube videos showing that some of these cleaners work particularly Seafoam. There is a guy I forget the channel but he has a borescope and takes some before and after pictures right after the WOT runs, so it still might clean more the more he drives the car but there was evidence of carbon hat was removed on top of the pistons. I wanted to use this product to ‘wash’ the back side of the valves to clean them off if any oil got on them through PCV valve system before I install my catch can which I would advise anyone to do the same in a GDI engine. It catches the oil before it gets recycled through intake this oily film is what ends up causing carbon to build up on the valves because no fuel is sprayed inside the intake ports hence no detergents are cleaning them so that is where the carbon comes from. It’s better today because the technology in the ECM and variable valve timing. So that is my interest is in this product. Not to remove carbon because with 6,000 miles on my Civic which is not driven hard has little to no carbon buildup. But I just want to remove the tiny oil film that is probably present now since I didn’t install the catch can right when I bought the car. And at oil changes to give a quick squirt to wash the valves off
I’ve used this on the girlfriends truck a few times. While I don’t have any proof of it cleaning carbon it cleaned up some of the detonation it had.
On gdi vehicles usually the carbon hardens very quickly, and once it does it is very hard to clean without removing the intake I trust all crc products as I have come to like what they produce very well across the board.
I just know from seeing, and replacing heads/engines on newer gm vehicles it is very hard to clean this carbon once it hardens. Best thing to do is stay on top of it from new.
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Hi. We do not have the documents on our website just yet. But if you can send me your email address I can forward you a power point with all of our results.
Regards,
Scott Brownstein
CRC Technical Support
Phone: 800.521.3168
Email: techservice@crcindustries.comPlease find the test data, now on our GDI website. http://crcindustries.com/gdi/
Any questions please reach out to me.Regards,
Scott Brownstein
CRC Technical Support
Phone: 800.521.3168
Email: techservice@crcindustries.com
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