CRC Intake Valve cleaner...worth it as early prevention of carbon build up?

[OppositeLocK]

I have a WRX with an FA20DIT motor. Direct injection turbo only (no port injectors unlike the FA20 variant shared with the GT86).

- I'm at 22K miles.
- Oil changed every 3,750 miles with 5W30 Castrol Edge Titanium Synthetic (SN+, D1G2).
- Fram Ultra or WIX XP oil filter
- New engine air filter every 10K miles
- Top tier fuel only, 91 min always, sometimes filled with 93/94.

I'm wondering if it's worth using CRC as a way to slow carbon build up on the intake valves.

I'm not worried about the price but I don't want to cause any harm to my engine, where it's causing misfires or lean conditions, and ultimately engine damage. Nor do I want coating, varnish or any kind of residue left over.

The engine doesn't have any issues so I'd only be doing it as preventative maintenance. But perhaps it's better to just do a walnut blasting when the vehicle gets up in mileage and/or problems arise?

What would you guys recommend?

 

[buster]

I think what you're doing is good as far as oil/fuel goes etc. I'm not sure how effective the CRC type products are. I've read they are not very effective. Maybe as preventative maintenance with minimal deposits it would keep them at bay?

ATS Chemical

Official manufacturer of Bernie Thompson’s (Automotive Test Solutions) engine carbon cleaning chemicals for the auto industry located in Albuquerque New Mexico. 505 CRF, 505 CRO, 505 Pour-In

www.atschemicals.com

 

[ARB1977]

Take the intake hose off and use a endo scope and see if you need a cleaning or not. I’ve had good luck with Amsoil power foam by letting it sit in the combustion camber to remove carbon on top of the piston in my lawnmower.

 

[circuitsmith]

Two things I don't like about spraying stuff into the intake.
Is it distributed evenly in the intake? Does it pool up and go into a cylinder in a gush?
Can bits of valve gunk find their way to the cat converter and damage it?

I think I'll wait until there's a change in performance and physically clean them.

 

[Gixxer8989]

I would think that starting at low mileage and doing it as preventative maintenance would be a good way to keep it at bay.

 

[Lubener]

Best prevention, always use a "Top Tier" fuel.

 

[OppositeLocK]

Best prevention, always use a "Top Tier" fuel.

How though? It could be the best quality gas in the world it won't do anything for carbon build up on the intake valves.

 

[spasm3]

I use the crc on the mazda. However, i don't use the whole can, i run it in when i hear the rpms shift a bit , i have my wife shut it down. I let it sit a good while. When i drive it after it sites, i dont rev it up, i keep the revs under 3k.

The reason i dont use the whole can? I worry about intake pooling and hydrolock, thats why i don't let it rev until several miles. Any pooling of the liquid in the intake could get sucked in a cylinder at high rpm and Bam.

 

[Lubener]

How though? It could be the best quality gas in the world it won't do anything for carbon build up on the intake valves.

That's one of it's purposes is to reduce deposits in the first place.

 

[spasm3]

That's one of it's purposes is to reduce deposits in the first place.

With direct injection, it can't. Unless your engine has a port injector.

 

[nicholas]

I think what you're doing is good as far as oil/fuel goes etc. I'm not sure how effective the CRC type products are. I've read they are not very effective. Maybe as preventative maintenance with minimal deposits it would keep them at bay?

ATS Chemical

Official manufacturer of Bernie Thompson’s (Automotive Test Solutions) engine carbon cleaning chemicals for the auto industry located in Albuquerque New Mexico. 505 CRF, 505 CRO, 505 Pour-In

www.atschemicals.com

Where did you read crc was not effective?

 

[nicholas]

Two things I don't like about spraying stuff into the intake.
Is it distributed evenly in the intake? Does it pool up and go into a cylinder in a gush?
Can bits of valve gunk find their way to the cat converter and damage it?

I think I'll wait until there's a change in performance and physically clean them.

If you wait until you notice a change. Walnut blasting might be you only option
I use crc every 10k. We do all city driving.
Easier for anything to remove a little carbon than a lot.

 

[spasm3]

If you wait until you notice a change. Walnut blasting might be you only option
I use crc every 10k. We do all city driving.
Easier for anything to remove a little carbon than a lot.

That's my plan. I am using the crc a couple of hundred miles before an oil change. As a preventative.

 

[GMBoy]

Well before CRC came out with DI Intake cleaner, I would spray a full can of carb cleaner or intake cleaner (whatever I had on hand) in my 08 CTS at every oil change. Seems to have worked for me because at almost 180k miles I don't have any intake issues. I just had the intake off to replace all the injectors and high pressure fuel pump and it didn't look bad in there and I did not feel I needed to do any manual cleaning. I do use CRC now because I think it may be better suited to this type of cleaning.

 

[OppositeLocK]

That's one of it's purposes is to reduce deposits in the first place.

Unfortunately doesn't work that way with DI. Fuel quality does nothing for the intake valves.

 

[oggb]

Man, if I had one of those FA20DIT motors the first thing I'd do is an EGR delete, quickly followed by a catch can. Heck, I'd delete EGR on any (edit: any direct injection) motor with an ECU I could tune it out of. People on NASIOC seem to think the walnut blasting is a waste of time because of how quickly the deposits develop.

If you live somewhere that smogs you might just have to live with it. Not sure if those motors will pass a tailpipe sniffer test without EGR in place.

 

[nicholas]

Crc works. It cleans for 7 days after initial application.
I use it every 10k.

 

[hytibilly]

No idea if the CRC GDI works (even though it claims to be loaded with PEA) but I ran a whole bottle through and let it sit overnight, then drove about 80 miles on the highway. On the return trip, some guy was honking at me because he thought I was merging too slowly (WHY DID HE CHANGE INTO THE MERGE LANE?!) so I gunned the little engine of my Ford Fusion Hybrid to create more distance. A big plume of smoke blew out of my exhaust, and the honking car immediately slowed down. My CEL blinked a few times, but there were no codes when I got back home. Everything worked fine afterwards, too.

So, yeah, I'd be concerned about hydrolock because the liquid sat in the car overnight, went through an 80 mile highway trip at about 70 MPH, and still blew a plume of smoke when I gunned the engine. If I did it again, I would gun my engine in my driveway a few times before I drove out onto the road.

 

[Kawiguy454]

Find and install a quality Catch Can. They precipitate the crud out of the EGR gasses before getting fed back to the Intake/valves

 

[circuitsmith]

I gunned the little engine of my Ford Fusion Hybrid to create more distance. A big plume of smoke blew out of my exhaust

Does it pool up and go into a cylinder in a gush?

Find and install a quality Catch Can. They precipitate the crud out of the EGR gasses before getting fed back to the Intake/valves

Most modern engines with variable valve timing don't have a separate EGR system.
And this study found that bypassing PCV did not reduce intake valve deposits:

Considerations on Carbon Deposit Formation in Gasoline Direct Injection Engine - PDF Free Download

Considerations on Carbon Deposit Formation in Gasoline Direct Injection Engine Gyu-Sob Cha GS Caltex Corporation Contents Introduction : Motivation & Objective of Research Preliminary Test

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