Dodson Service

A BMW engine

If you drive a modern car you’ve no doubt heard about carbon cleaning the engine to keep it running properly.

The vast majority of newer engines use what’s called direct injection, where petrol or diesel is injected right into the cylinder rather than the intake ports like on older engines.

While this makes for a more efficient engine, it also means that the intake ports don’t get cleaned through normal use, and as a result carbon deposits build up and restrict air flow, causing a number of running issues. The only way to get rid of it is to manually carbon clean the engine.

But, just how often does an engine actually need carbon cleaning?

Recommended Engine Carbon Cleaning Intervals

While there are no official recommendations from any car manufacture on how often you should do carbon cleaning, the typical intervals for when it’s a good idea to do are generally every 100,000 kms for petrol engines and 60,000 kms for diesel engines.

This does vary depending on how you use the car and even between different models, but that’s the typically time frame that most engine will start seeing the effects of carbon build-up and require a carbon clean.

Other Signs That Your Engine May Need a Carbon Clean

Aside from just mileage, there are other tell-tale signs that your engine may need a carbon clean.

When carbon starts building up in your engine, you will notice a number of effects including:

  • Poor fuel economy
  • Rough idle or even stalling
  • Reduced performance
  • Hesitation
  • Excessive emissions
  • And more

If you start to notice any or all of these things, chances are that it’s time for your engine to get carbon cleaned.

Time to Get Your Engine Carbon Cleaned?

If the time has come to get your engine carbon cleaned, we can help.

As specialists in performance cars, we offer carbon cleaning for all modern direct injection engines including Volkswagen, Audi and BMW from our workshop in Wairau, Auckland.

Give us a call on 09 441 3635 or email service@dodsonmotorsport.com to book your car in today!