Engine Improvements

[clivvy]

so, I dont drive my 4x4 that much, as I have a way more economical daily driver. However, i still love my 4x4 and have driven it over the last few days. I am starting to get round to sorting a few jobs on it, new wheels and tyres tomorrow from Steve, clean the pedal, engine bay etc but i have a couple of issues to address.

Firstly, I have blanked off the egr, but havent really noticed too much difference, its a little better, but not WAY better, still feels a touch restricted, so I figure it may be worth giving the engine an dinjectors a clean, maybe even replace the back three injectors. When I started to think abotu this, i started thinking about de coking, THEN I recalled Wheeler Dealers XK8 episode, and Terraclean.

I wonder if Terraclean is worth a shot on engines like ours? see here:
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=266518&highlight=terraclean

part of wheeler dealers where they do the decarbonizing..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQNSCnpxqcM

so, i want to give the engine a nice treat and get the car running better, I aso want to check the intercooler. I will probably have to have some welding done for the MOT (driver rear seat belt mount and both sills propably) and unless it fails on much else, its probably worth doing. Oh, i also need to fix a bad knocking from the rear which i THINK is the rear door..!

anyhoo, with regards giving the engine a treat, what do you guys think to Terraclean?

 

[stinka]

I'd not worry about decarbonising the internals as due to your mileage/age the carbon might be giving you some filler where you have some engine wear, like round pistons and rings etc, so could lose you some compression if cleaned.

All I'd do is fully clean all your intake/intercooler Etc.I mentioned that when I did my inlet manifold gasket that I found my whole inlet manifold was full of a 5mm thick coating of oil and carbon, this was from the egr valve spewing its shit into my inlet for 140k. I'd do the inlet gasket and clean the manifold with petrol/pressure washer. Also delete throttle flap and fill holes with liquid metal.

Have your injectors cleaned too.

 

[clivvy]

interesting points there Stinka, youre probably right too. Ill have a bash at your suggestions, well, the diy ones anyway and see how much of an improvement that makes!

 

[solarman216]

Terraclean? I would want a lot more convincing, nothing dissolves carbon so as far as I can see it works by burning the carbon away?? at what sort of temperature? I start to see holes in pistons burnt valve seats etc if the temperature is that high, Rick

 

[clivvy]

as far as I can tell, it doesnt heat anything, but i havent done any real research. i THINK it does some sort of negative/positive ion magic to remove the carbon. There is a video on one of the links i posted (Detailing world) that explains it...

by all accounts, it doesnt damage anything, not even rubber or seals etc...

 

[solarman216]

I will let others try it first, I remember many years ago purchasing an additive for petrol engines said to give more miles to the gallon and a cleaner exhaust, only added it to one tank full as it made the engine knock under load (pinking) threw the rest away, Rick

 

[clivvy]

i'd try it, but turns out nowhere round here does it. I am reading a few good reports. I dont think its anything like a magic fix, but it does sound like a good service supplement. I have read that on car that have suffered form poor idle, bad emissions, low power etc have benefitted most, and this is on higher mileage cars.

it makes for interesting reading...

 

[stinka]

i'd try it, but turns out nowhere round here does it. I am reading a few good reports. I dont think its anything like a magic fix, but it does sound like a good service supplement. I have read that on car that have suffered form poor idle, bad emissions, low power etc have benefitted most, and this is on higher mileage cars.

it makes for interesting reading...

Thing is mate, that's all well and good on a petrol where you have idle control valves and potentiometers etc but on our td27 there is nothing to clean out, other than the junk that needs binning like the egr/throttle flap etc. a can of forte fuel treatment might be a better bet.

Last thing u want is a bit of carbon falling out of a compression chamber and sticking under a valve

 

[clivvy]

fair point. this is one of the things i wondered, which engines actually benefit from such a treatment? I figured surely the affects are going to differ engine to engine? On Wheeler Dealers, they used it on a much newer, petrol V8.

 

[niks_terrano ii]

.

My dad has had the terra clean done on his 330d BMW and to be honest you can't tell the difference in performance or fuel economy

 

[niks_terrano ii]

.

Forgot to mention his 330d is a 55 plate with 120,00 miles and his car although a diesel is running a hybrid turbo,large intercooler, aggressive remap running 280 bhp and 585 lbs torque

It may have prolonged injector life but that's about it

 

[spiderpig37]

I bung some wynss in every now and then and boot it down motorway thats all mine gets