GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I guess the topic really asks it all. Is there really anything to blowing out the carbon. I have always heard of folks saying you should do it every now and then by running your car hard and fast under WOT. By doing this, do you really blow out or burn carbon from the engine or exhaust? I guess my other question would be how does running the car harder/faster burn out carbon that running it slower does not?Jim.

I suspect with the lastest engine technology used in most new cars, carbon build-up in a well-tuned engine is not a problem that could be fixed by a hard run.But moisture condensation in an exhaust system is something those who only drive their car a short drive to work should worry about. I still have my old '86.5 Nissan pickup. For the first year I had it I lived in town and only about a mile away from work. The truck would barely get warmed up during that drive, and so water that had condensed on/in the low spots of the tail pipes would not be burned off/out. I had to put on a new muffler and pipes from the cat back because rust ate holes in them. When I moved outside of town (about 13 miles), the truck got very warmed up with each ride, and my mufflers/pipes typically lasted 3 or four years without any rust failure.I've since replaces all the exhaust pipes with stainless steel, and been running with that same setup for the last 8 years. And I've noticed that many (if not all) new cars come with stainless exhaust systems, exactly for the reason described above.So if you make many short trips, I recommend making one good run each few days just to burn any water that may be accumulating in your tail pipes out.KSNeptune

That shouldn't be a problem....I have a 40+ mile commute to work Jim

This is normally only true on higher mileage vehicles. Carbon builds up from gasoline deposits building up on valves and the top of the combustion chamber. The saver way to do this other than running the engine hard is to allow the the vehicle to warm up to operating temp. Take a spray bottle of water and as the engine is running have your hand on the throttle cable so you can control the engine RPMs from outside the vehicle. As the engine is running spray water directly into the intake manifold/ throttle body. Keep the engine running while your doing this. You'll probably need to rev the engine a little to keep it running while you are spraying water.This will help clean the carbon deposits out of the engine.This is normally something that only needs to be done to a vehicle that has 50,000 or more miles on it.

Carbon deposits actually ADD horsepower up to a certain point due to the fact that it bumps the compression ratio up a little bit. If there are too many carbon deposits and the compression ratio gets up too high then you'll start knocking and may have to do the process Admin II described or buy some cleaner at the local auto parts store.That said, I would NOT do this to the 1ZZ or 2ZZ motors as they are both very well-built Toyota motors that will not have this problem for several years if ever. I do run my car hard frequently after it has warmed up. I've never had problems with cars where I varied the rpm's frequently and occasionally used all of the rpm band. I would think if a motor redlines at 6500rpm and the highest you ever take your motor is 3000rpm then that is not good for the motor in the long-term. Keep the motor healthy and run it to redline a few times a day/week. I do.