Direct injection carbon cleaning is a service that is required by most modern cars. In the 2000’s, new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (C.A.F.E) standards went into effect. Due to this car companies started implementing new technologies. Among these new technologies was direct injection. Direct injection is able to boost fuel economy in an engine by about 9%. One of the draw backs to this technology is that engines now build up large amounts of carbon. Carbon build up is bad because it limits the amount of air that gets into each cylinder. This reduces power. The carbon also accumulates on the valves. This prevents them from fully closing shut, which makes your engine run poorly.

Before gasoline direct injection, car companies used something called, “port fuel injection”. Port Injection meant that gasoline was sprayed behind the intake valves and when the valves opened they would pull in the air and fuel to ignite in the cylinder. The gasoline would clean the ports and valves and prevent carbon build up. Direct Injection, as the name implies injects fuel directly into the cylinder under very high pressure. There is no longer any gasoline hitting the back of the valves to clean them.

To solve this issue some car makes like Toyota, have started implementing both systems in some of their engines to prevent the carbon build up problem. Most engines still run on a single direct injection system to avoid complexity and lower manufacturing costs. When there is excessive carbon accumulation your engine will run rough like it is misfiring. When idling at a red light the engine will stall as there is too much carbon. At Tolimas Auto Center we offer carbon cleaning services. During the service the engine intake is disassembled down to the head. Once we have access to the valves and the ports we clean them using special equipment and solvents. If you have any questions about this issue or service, please feel free to contact us.