Where does carbon buildup come from?
All internal combustion engines (ICE) no matter whether petrol, diesel, LPG, methane, hybrid, or any other hydrocarbon all create carbon build-up as a natural product of burning fuel.
C8H18 + Air (mainly N2 + O2) → CO2 + H2O + CO + C + NOx
The ratio of CO2, CO and C created vary upon many factors.
When an engine is new it runs smoothly and quietly with the best fuel economy and has minimal emissions – the levels of CO and C produced are low.
This doesn’t last unfortunately and in as little as 10,000 miles carbon build-up can start to have an affect.
As carbon build-up gathers in the engine it gradually loses the smooth running it once had, becoming lumpy and uneven and has to then use more fuel (run rich) just to keep running.
As it runs richer and richer it slowly loses fuel economy, gets noisier and less smooth as it fights against the dirt.
As a result of running richer the ratio of CO and C produced rise causing emission levels to increase – ultimately leading to an emissions failure at MOT.
The increased levels of vibration from the engine cause accelerated component wear affecting injectors, engine mounts and clutch/flywheels for example.
The increased levels of carbon created gather in components such as EGR systems and inlet manifolds.
Why is it more of a problem now?
In the distant past vehicles just dumped the bad stuff out through the exhaust.
Over the years the pursuit of better performance and fuel economy by manufacturers, plus the need to meet the tighter emission targets by legislative bodies have meant many changes to engines compared to just 50 years ago.
Innovations such as direct injection and swirl flaps have complicated engine design with more components to get dirty.
Catalytic converters, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems, diesel particulate filters (DPF) and more recently gasoline particulate filters (GPF) have been added to combat emissions with the priority on keeping the soot within the vehicle rather than passing it out through the exhaust.
This focus on keeping emissions within the vehicle means modern vehicles suffer with inlet manifold issues, EGR and DPF issues.
Even with cleaner fuels with better additives the carbon creation problem doesn’t go away. Thankfully we can help.
