A well-built car will last you a long time. But a well-maintained one? That'll last you a lifetime! Your car's lifespan depends largely on how well you take care of it. That's why sticking to your car's maintenance schedule and getting the vehicle serviced are so important. Changing your engine oil and topping up the other fluids are your regular maintenance activities – you know these routines by heart. What about carbon cleaning? There are other maintenance tasks that you only do after your car has been in operation for a longer time, such as taking it for a carbon clean.
If your car is a few years old and has a lot of mileage on it, don't be surprised if your mechanic starts talking about carbon cleaning benefits. Expect him to make a case out of it, saying how urgently your ageing car needs carbon cleaning. But is it as important as it sounds? Or, is it important enough to justify the price tag for such a clean?
In this article, we’re going to find that out!
What is carbon cleaning?
The concept of carbon cleaning is pretty straightforward. After your combustion-engine car has been operating for a long time, carbon deposits start to build up inside the engine.
Firstly, your regular car maintenance activities (like getting your oil changed and all that) will help you reduce carbon buildup from forming in the first place. That’s why it’s so important to get your regular servicing done according to schedule. After many years on the road, however, it’s only natural that some soot or carbon buildup will form regardless of your efforts. Still, you probably won’t get as much of that stuff as you would in an engine that isn’t properly maintained.
How does carbon cleaning work?
Carbon cleaning can generally be performed in one of two ways.
The first way can be done wherever your car is located. A mobile technician may come over and perform the carbon cleaning right where your vehicle is parked. They'll inject a chemical mixture into your car's fuel system which is designed to clean out the carbon deposits inside the engine. As a result, you might witness black, dirty soot shooting out from your tailpipe. As you might have guessed, this method isn't the most thorough carbon cleaning option available.
The second, a more thorough option, is much more specialised. You'll need to bring your car into a workshop that has the necessary gear, of course. With this option, the mechanic might take your engine apart to clean out specific components. They'll use solvents, as well as blasting with sand or other abrasives to remove carbon deposits.
The good thing about this option is that it's extensive and can target deposits in the tiniest nook and cranny of the engine. The bad thing? Well, it involves mechanics with specialised skills who are using expensive equipment. That's right. You guessed it: this option is going to cost you much, much more!
Why does your car need carbon cleaning?
Let’s take a step back here. Before you even decide on which carbon cleaning option to go for, you should ask yourself why your car would need a carbon clean in the first place.
Workshops or mechanics who try to sell you this service will go on and on about the many carbon cleaning benefits. But are those benefits worth it, or is your money better spent on other upgrades for your car?
The all-too-common sales pitch for carbon cleaning makes a lot of sense: Carbon deposits start to form inside your engine after a while, and that will reduce your engine's overall efficiency. So, you need to get your car a carbon clean to remove those deposits. That way, your engine will operate at its best, its fuel efficiency will save you money in the long run, so on and so forth. Sounds impressive, right?
Fortunately, the thing is that carbon deposits in most cars are not as bad as one might think. Remember: your regular oil change routine already minimises and prevents the formation of any buildup in the first place!
Sure, a clean carbon will indeed remove any carbon buildups inside the engine, but your engine probably doesn't even have a lot of those buildups to begin with! So, whatever performance benefits you might get from a carbon clean is perhaps negligible, and you might not even notice a difference in performance!
Does your engine need a carbon clean?
Now comes the crux of this discussion. Does your engine need carbon cleaning? Should you spend your money on a carbon clean, or something else instead? My answer to you: if you've been getting your car serviced regularly, then no, you probably don't need a carbon clean.
In this day and age, carmakers continually improve their cars to run much cleaner than older models. Modern engines don't have a carbon buildup problem typically. Plus, your regular maintenance will lower the odds of those buildups forming inside your engine. In other words, your car may not even require carbon cleaning if it belongs to those newer models and receives regular servicing.
If you still feel like spending some money to make your car run better, why not go shopping for some other upgrades? Head on over to Carpart.com.au to see what's available. Once your new parts have arrived, you can even sell your used car parts on the same site! So, check out the website now and find something better to spend your money on.
By Ray Hasbollah