How Much Carbon Build Up at 10,000 Miles?? ~ 2019 Golf R

The Golf R has 10,000 miles now. I was very curious to see how much carbon build up was on the fuel injectors and on the intake valves. Carbon build up is VERY common on Direct Injection Engines GDI/TSI. In this video we will remove the intake manifold, clean and inspect fuel injectors, clean and inspect intake valves and ports. I will also show you 2 ways to clean the intake valves if you do not have a media blaster setup. Cleaning intake valves can be done, you just need to be careful.

~~~~ Support the Show ~~~~

~~~~ Recommended Tools ~~~~

~~~~ Playlists ~~~~

~~~~ Be sure to follow me at ~~~~

Disclimer:
The content of this video is available for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for the professional advice of a mechanic who has personally inspected your vehicle, nor does it create a relationship of any kind between the Humble Mechanic and you. Every situation may be different, and the Humble Mechanic does not make any warranties, whether express or implied, as to the accuracy, fitness, or applicability of the information or automotive parts portrayed in this video to any project and makes no guarantee of results. The Humble Mechanic and any sponsors of this video will not be liable for any damages related to personal injury, property damage or loss of any kind that may result from the use or reliance on this video and/or any automotive parts represented in this video. You are using the information and automotive parts portrayed in this video solely at your own risk.

[sneakyfoz]

This level of carbon buildup on a car with so few miles and so well maintained, whilst not a 1st world problem, is still worriesome for an owner. If you want your engine running it’s absolute best this a constant time effort and cost that most ‘normal’ owners would never factor into its ownership.

[HumbleMechanic]

I am currently working on the Injector and Manifold DIY!!! Should have those up for you guys soon

[TheRebuilt]

I'm glad and saddened you took the time to do this. I was hoping for less buildup at 10k but I am a firm believer in low VOC synthetic and periodic highway drives of 3-4 hours to minimize in these powerplants. Great work sire.

[Messier_M]

This is very eye opening! I love watching your videos because i get so intimidated to attempt this type of work on my own vehicle's. Your skills and knowledge are priceless.

[cduartebr]

I found it very interesting to see "dirt" patterns on the fuel injectors, and I agree with you that it is likely related to the in-cylinder airflow. I used to observe something similar (in my case, dirt from unburnt fuel) on a transparent single-cylinder research engine I worked on. Carbon build up occurred every time we fired the engine, it was visible on the cylinder wall, head, etc and would change patterns slightly between port-injection and direct-injection systems.

[kareemmehdi]

Hey I’m a huge fan of the channel. I intern at a petroleum testing company and we do a lot of research on carbon buildup or carbon fouling it’s more commonly called. The first point I’d like to make is that brand of gasoline doesn’t make any difference when it comes to fouling and most of the claims but gas companies are BS. The second point is that I think tuning can lead to accelerated carbon fouling as tunes typically increase the AFR. One of the best ways to counteract this is to install a more powerful spark plug. Love the channel and thanks for all of the guides it made me confident enough to do maintenance on my alltrack rather than taking it to the mechanic

[miketeeveedub]

I am absolutely appalled at how carbon-fouled the intake runners, cylinder heads, injectors, and especially the valve stems are. I've seen old engines with 150K with less carbon deposits. Is this progress?

GDI is an inherently flawed design, regardless of the power/efficiency gains. When an expensive service like de-carboning is required maintenance, that offsets any efficiency gains, at least from a maintenance cost perspective.

VW and other makers need to put catch-cans and part-time upstream injectors to clean the system out! Ridiculous!

BTW - great video as always Charles - keep safe brother!

[don-qbxb]

Truly shocking engineering. Going back to the 70s when we had to pull the cylinder head off every 10-20 k miles to do a decoke. Not progress.

[LongIslandDad]

My 2018 S3 is approaching 30K miles.
This amount of carbon buildup is alarming.

[tm]

Great video... the zip ties, brush (both on a drill) and the scotch pad tips are excellent as a solution for the home mechanic who doesn't have access to walnut blasting machinery.

[DrynisDramula]

VW needs to have a dual-fuel injection for the USA. This is an unnecessary headache left for the customer to deal with.

[DuperSuperDave]

Outstanding job! Awesome video with great pics and great narration! This guy has a radio D.J. caliber voice, with a no nonsense straight to the point description of what each DIY'er is looking for!
I pass on to all my friends your links and praise. Keep up the outstanding job Humble Mechanic!

[idiotu]

From what I understand, Toyota uses 2 injectors per cylinder (D4-S) for some engines. One direct injection and one port injection, just to avoid this exact issue.

[correyy]

I hate working on my mk6 gti because the engine bay is so tight, but watching your videos gives me the itch to tear it apart and fix my intake flapper valve

[videomaniac]

Thanks Charles, for highlighting the carbon buildup problem with these GDI engines. GDI has always seemed to me like a superior fuel induction technology for gasoline engines in theory, but the practical aspects of its maintenance drawbacks seem to nullify its advantages to a large degree. The hybrid injection systems, like on the gen 3 Ford Coyote 5.0 engines, seem like a good solution. I do like the more precise fuel metering capabilities with GDI NA engines being able to run higher compression ratios.


I think it would be interesting to test the effectiveness of oil catch cans in reducing intake tract deposit buildup on engines with and without the cans over a prolonged period. It might give some insight into the contribution that cylinder blowby vapors are making in the formation of carbon deposits on the intake valve faces.

[krpm]

Solid video. Thanks for taking the time to do this. VW should be paying you for helping educate and remedy a problem they created. Direct injected engines suck. Negligible fuel economy improvements with many drawbacks. Land Rover Audi guy. I know my way around a wrench for the piles I love. Keep up the good work man!

[joshuajacome]

Damn... This guy was super careful with all those treatments and WOT pulls to keep his low mileage engine as clean as possible and still there was significant build up... I'll keep running my port injected engine. No direct injection for me for as long as possible, thanks.

[isaachatch]

I love this channel and Volkswagen! I’ve never had anything talk me out of getting an R let alone any Volkswagen though so I don’t know if they appreciate what my man Charles is doing.

[mworks]

Europe gets a secondary fuel rail(with lots of other perks) which eliminates carbon buildup problems, idk why US still not worthy...

[zfloz]

0w20 oil just evapotate almost like water and it is absorbed very easy by the pcv and thrown in the intake. Caratec doesn't do a thing and the petrol v power, is not sprayed in the right place. One more round of injectors, placed in the intake, eventually by the manufacturer, witch should work in a few driving regimes, as in long rides and highway or something like that, would fix this problem for ever.
Thank you for this video, H.M. !
Was like gold! :)