My 2000 XKR is coming up to 80,000 miles. I have heard about this new engine decarbonising system that apparently is very effective at removing carbon from engines. I was wondering if any of you other chaps had used this service and could relate your experience. It sounds great but I am a little wary, many thanks. Dave.

 

Your engine shouldn't have any carbon in the first place, modern engines run exceptionally clean.

Can't fix what's not broken.

 

I had my XKR done a year ago at Terraclean's UK HQ near Newcastle. I was initially so impressed that we started talks on my becoming the official distributor in France as part of my business. However, I gave the idea up when (a) fuel consumption dropped back to what it had been after a few weeks and (b) Terraclean failed to produce the certificate from Renault engineers which they had told me 'proved' the effectiveness of the treatment.

 

Terraclean is like SeaFoam to me, good on light stuff, but is useless on Heavy carbon build up.

 

As a side note SeaFoam is tons of fun. Used it on my XKR and the amount of smoke that comes out is impressive, you look like a crop duster until the carbon burns out. Pretty much woke up the entire neighborhood.

 

I'ev always wanted to Seafoam a car near a "green" protest

 

The smoke is from the Seafoam burning off (it's mostly light petroluem oil) not from carbon deposits.

 

Dave,search this site or google TC W3 marine two stroke oil in petrol. I am a total convert to this ASH FREE additive.
I have better fuel economy as a side effect too. Bypass the sceptics.Nothing to lose.No damage can be caused.

 

I'll take your word for it, not sure it did any good (car seemed to run better) but it was sure fun.

 

Seafoam effectiveness can be judge by the color of the smoke it put out after the "smoke" treatment. If the smoke came out white then the internal is pretty clean. If the the smoke came out greyish or really black or dark color means alot of carbon build up that is being cleansed out. The darker the fumes the more built up it have in there that a second treatment might be beneficial until the fumes or smoke came out pretty white.

If the smoke came out white then probably won't feel much difference in terms of fuel economy improvement or throttle response. This means the engine internal is pretty much in tip top condition.

If the smoke came out greyish or dark that's mean the Seafoam is doing it's job.

From my past experience that few others agree back in my Ford days that some vehicle might need to have their spark plug replace after the Seafoam smoky treatment as it did foul and killed few spark plugs. Mainly those that are near at their end of life because few that I did with fairly newer plug survive. All those are with copper plug so I have no idea if these newer platinum or Iridium plug will survive or not because mine did in the Jaguar but it is also fairly new since I change it and the treatment was done afterwards.

I've done the smoky Seafoam treatment in multiple of my own car as well as friends and coworkers cars to conclude my own finding that I share with you all so please don't take it as a gospel but use it as my experience sharing.

Thanks.

 

And here I was thinking that it meant that a new Pope was elected.

 

I recently had to replace my intake manifold because of a crack. I was pleased to see no carbon in any of the ports or valves thanks to the proper use of BG44K

 

My smoke was white and then I did replace the plugs. I was getting pinging which I thought was from carbon build up but was instead due to a failed intercooler pump. Now have a ford performance pump and an intercooler temp gauge. I've looked down my throttle body, you could eat off it. I had coating wear on my supercharger but otherwise this 2004 is amazingly clean both in and outside the engine.

 

IMO using lead-free petrol (read premium fuel) and timely routine engine maintanance (read oil changes) equates to a clean engine internals.

 

Thanks everyone for the heads up. As Mikey says if it ain't broke don't fix it. The truth is I watched a British TV show which extolled this product for reducing emissions and generally giving your engine a de-coke and I thought why not. I haven't come across this Seafoam product here in the UK, it sounds interesting.
Oh! and Mr Frog, I tried contacting this company for info on a local company to carry out this process,they never got back to me! Not a good sign.Anyway Au revoir for now and cheers the rest of you guys. Dave.

 

I assume you are referring to Wheeler Dealers? That's how I became interested last year. I drove all the way up to Gateshead to meet them and was frankly shocked by their general attitude. It was like dealing with Geordie fruit sellers at the local market. I asked three or four times for the infamous Renault certificate and they never responded.

 

Wheeler Dealers it was. If this product is any good then it seems like a lost opportunity and the company who is acting as the distributor needs to get it's act together. I'm not sure if this a British product or where it originated from. From what you said it seems the results didn't last long anyway so didn't warrant the outlay. Cheers anyway.dave

 

Just another word (mini-rant) about Seafoam. It is a very effective product for it's intended purpose which is unclogging carbs and fuel lines on WWII era two stroke outboard motors.

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Given it's composition:

50% light petroleum oil
30% naptha
20% rubbing alcohol

It can be seen why it might be effective with clogged fuel passages, but it can easily seen why there's no cleaners whatsoever or any magic miracle ingredients that would assist in carbon removal- not that modern engines have any that need removing.

For that matter, why spend $7 for a bottle of this stuff when it can be made at home for 50 cents?

As Devspider mentioned above, modern fuels carry more than enough cleaning additives to keep combustion chambers carbon free.

 

Terraclean is a Canadian invention. The UK distributors reminded me of a Geordie Delboy & Rodney, only with a nice office building. Pity, as you say, as there may be something in the technology, and it certainly seems to have convined Edd China, who is a reputable guy, but with Terraclean UK's casual approach to business, plus the doubts I was beginning to have on the long-term benefits on my XKR, I thought it better if I left well alone.