VW GTI Carbon Cleaning with Zip Ties!!!! Watch and Save $$$

Carbon build-up is an issue on direct injection engines. Based on what you will see today there is a fairly easy way (either by yourself or from an independent shop) to tackle this issue and provide many more years of clean and efficient running.
We used gaskets, brake cleaner, razor blade and zip ties to do this task!! Very straight forward and if you take pictures beforehand you can easily know what goes where and how to reassemble. Hopefully this video will persuade you that this is a worthwhile job to perform whichever way you decide to tackle it.
Thank you for watching and for your support of this channel.
This is a breakdown of what I paid for at Avery's shop Over Engineered in Fresno CA.
- Oil change, filter, carb cleaning labor: $310
- Oil (5w40) Liquimoly: $43
- Oil filter, 06J115403Q: $13
- Intake Manifold gasket, 06F129717D: $30
- Throttle Body Gasket, 06F133073D: $6
- Fuel Injector O-rings: no charge (these are typically $1-$3 each)
Total price was $402.00. This price could vary based on amount of carbon and how long cleaning takes along with where parts are sourced from but this hopefully will be a good guide along the way.
GTI VW carbon cleaning zip tie 2.0 liter turbo Volkswagen MK6 oil change Audi direct injection DoubleB'sGarage Over Engineered

[@Centralflorida22]

Your suppose to connect a few zip ties to a drill. The rotation cleans it out perfectly.

[@pincheadam2361]

Damn your interior is clean as hell for over 100k miles

[@Kleanup_krew01]

Lol that’s nothing my Infiniti had over 200k and interior was butter clean.

[@WASTED__POTENTIAL]

9:25 higher octane gas has absolutely no impact or carbon buildup. On port injected and carbureted cars, using top tier fuel (not necessarily premium) with good detergents helped to keep the valves clean, but the fuel can't wash the valves if the fuel doesn't touch the valves. Run the recommended octane. Higher octane doesn't do anything other than increase the resistance to detonate.

[@mathewhoffer4541]

Adding a catch can to trap particulates from the PCV system adding to the intake helps and using a intake cleaning set up canister that draws cleaning detergent into the intake help maintain a clean condtion but only after you do an extensive service but you cannot do this every oil change as it can damage the cat so every 20k miles roughly. if you do these steps you can get away with doing this service maybe 1 or 2 times instead of ever 30k miles.

[@93sundance]

Saw the bundle of zip ties to clean valves demonstrated over 10 years ago by BG.

[@BryanBoardwell]

New to me and figured it could be educational for others who are looking for another method.

[@bmxican0704]

A nylon brush works good too. Won’t damage anything

[@cameronthomas4846]

My gti is in great shape with 200k miles I just noticed symptoms of needing a carb clean

[@ASSOpid]

Just did this on my son's 2014 Jetta with 128,000. At first was a little intimidating having to remove so much. But took my time and cleaned everything in about 3 hrs. Now I'm sure I could do it in about 1.5 hrs. Not hard at all.

[@BryanBoardwell]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, without my mechanic there helping it would've taken a lot longer. Nice to know it's all cleaned.

[@Stable_Enough]

Cleaned out an 03 alh by doing this. I put the zip ties in a drill, made the job a bit faster.

[@BryanBoardwell]

We weren't sure if spinning would just miss some of the areas so we decided to use to "prodding" technique.. lol. Either way very happy with the results and a lot less messy than walnut blasting IMO. Thanks for watching.

[@BryanBoardwell]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@JH-sc7cs]

Glad it worked out for you. Great you have an honest workshop to. One question I had for you. The n80 purge valve hose that runs to the turbo looks discoloured. My car has the same but my other tsi looks perfectly new. Wondering if there's an issue with the purge n80 valve system causing that discolour. Perhaps your workshop could advise on it next visit. Would be great to hear back if you do.

[@BryanBoardwell]

I know the N80 valve needs replacing from time to time (every 80k miles or so) but we didn't do mine at that time as I think it was done previously to this project but I'm forgetting whether or not I did. My brother in law has a 2012 VW CC and had to replace it twice as he has 175k miles on his car... Audi's are the same way so yes I would replace as it's simple and inexpensive.

[@nov102012]

89k 14 2.0 Tsi, I spray b12 chemtool with a garden sprayer for a few seconds in the intake where the pcv connects once a week when I get home, none of this maintenance required. Punch the gas pedal when you first start the next day to avoid stalling and having to clear engine codes.

[@JJJobson]

Yea gonna attempt this on my daughters Jetta with 1.8l. Doesn’t look super hard and I will probably make a day of it, being I have never done this job. Take my time and do it right. I’m becoming a VW expert with her car lol radiator replace, electric Fans, clean VVT solenoid, the evap device and now exhaust valve cleaning. Can’t wait for what’s next. Her car is misfiring at cold Idle but runs fine while driving. Noticed when it starts misfiring, white smoke comes out tail pipe when I rev it up to get it to stop stumbling. I assume it is carbon burning off somewhat.

[@BryanBoardwell]

Best of luck on the project. White smoke can mean many different things depending on temperature outside and how cold the car is. Other times it can be bad… if you start the car and it’s stumbling, replace plugs, coil packs and then if needed, change the wires and cap as well. One last thing, if it’s cold… let it warm up before revving the engine.. when oil is cold, it can be much thicker, especially when very cold out. Have fun on your daughter’s car, sounds like a good weekend project.

[@JJJobson]

@@BryanBoardwell well it runs fine while driving. No misfires. But when it is idling and starts stumbling, I rev it up to get it to stop and that’s when the white smoke comes out. Pretty sure this is what the problem is. No engine light on but 1 and 4 cylinder misfire codes are present. Plus some other stuff that is probably in line with what is going on with the car. I will replace the plugs just bc it is over due.

[@DanPellegrino486]

I drive a TGDI car, but my intake is on the other side of my engine. No idea how I would ever be able to do this. Doesn't need it yet luckily. I try to run really low volatility oils to cut back best I can.

[@BryanBoardwell]

Dan, I believe your solution would be the catch can that we discussed briefly in the video. That way the carbon won't build up and you won't need to address down the road, especially the way your motor is positioned. Best of luck!

[@josephhodges718]

This is why I run a catch can to prolong the need for this.

[@BryanBoardwell]

100% agree that is the best way!! This is my daily driver and really never knew about that fully until I was with Avery at Over Engineered in this video. I like the idea and if I keep the car much longer I will install!! Thanks for watching!

[@Vulcankrypto21]

I need to get one I’m getting close to 100k it was 2 owner car though

[@jellyd4889]

Catch can: pointless. Will not achieve diddly squat apart from collect condensation.

[@josephhodges718]

@@jellyd4889 They're very useful and used in racing applications often for cars known to have the issue. On most daily drivers, you'll prolong, not prevent, the need to clean the valves. It's not a 100% solution, GDI is GDI.

[@ernest6980]

Any preventative maintenance

[@nikosraptis1985]

Nice job mate! The most of the carbon built up is coming from the rear breather that goes to the turbo! Did you check if your turbo pipes had oil in them? Also i can't imagine mine what difference will make! I just cleaned it before and was twice the carbon than yours! Tomorrow i will finish it and fire it up :-) Thanks for sharing

[@BryanBoardwell]

Thanks Nick. I did check the lower boost pipe when I had to remove it to do this job... very little residue in there but no dripping oil or more. It seems to be more responsive and obviously smoother when cold starting. I'm guessing there's a little additional gas mileage as well but haven't took the time to see. Best of luck on finishing and thanks for watching!

[@kjm89]

at this point of service you should have done your fuel injectors too, they were staring at you!

[@Derekerds]

About to do a carb clean on my 2011 GTI at 113k miles where did he get that shop vac attachment at?

[@BryanBoardwell]

Haha... no idea!! I forgot what it even looked like. I'll ask him and see if he knows.

[@Reprieve2097]

Can I use the same method on a wrx? Haven't found anyone that's tried it.

[@BryanBoardwell]

That I have no idea. Maybe ask on a forum related to those cars. I know it’s related to the direct injection so if your car has that then there probably is build up depending on mileage. The zip ties should be fine as long as you have access once intake is off. Sorry I can’t of anymore help. Good luck!!

[@Dstromb232]

The volkswagen dealer wanted $900.00 to clean the valves on 2.0 motor,

[@BryanBoardwell]

Yup, you can do it for less than 1/2. And since it's you your able to ensure every last thing is done to your liking... especially if you have a mild case of OCD.. They don't clean while their in there on other items. You can take your time and make it look new again, not just the cleaning of the carbon but possibly other items which aren't looking that good anymore due to age.

[@clv1959]

Checks out. My local shop said about $1,000 for my GTI. Oof! So, here I am, lol

[@aljorma]

Why do you choose the zip ties instead of the walnut blasting ?

[@BryanBoardwell]

for me it's the mess and in actuality if you get 98-99% of the debris out and don't make the inside look like a new head what's the difference? The minute you drive the car that same cleaned area (created from walnut blasting) will look the same as mine does after we were finished, black. Thats my feeling on the issue at least... We talked about that a lot that day and we're on the same page as to why we chose this rather than blasting. Appreciate you watching!!

[@arturosanchezrodriguez5365]

The small wall nut can be stuck on the piston and damage

[@alexkay7823]

Even for GTI MK8 VW refused to bring a real Gen3 engine with dual fuel injection to the US. Our 888 Gen3 is different from the rest of the world. I understand why we had fake Passats and no new Tourags on sale but fake 888 Gen3 with zip-tie tool is beyond me.

[@ernest6980]

First Volkswagen 17 Passat any thoughts? So far 1 year owned

[@BryanBoardwell]

All depends on mileage. I also am unsure of the setup for your 2017. I would think since it's direct injected you would have the same issues down the road but if you have low mileage then maybe install catch can

[@ernest6980]

@@BryanBoardwell 60000 miles all stick 1.8 engine

[@ralphtaylor787]

Is it a big issue if some gets into the cylinder?

[@BryanBoardwell]

It’s a fine line between good and bad for carbon falling into the chamber. The legal advice would be it’s bad, but most of the time the carbon isn’t hard so it has less potential to cause harm to the chamber. So small amount will me burnt off or find it’s way out the exhaust. Best advice would be to avoid this from happening by ensuring the valves are closed when that particular area is being cleaned.

[@ralphtaylor787]

@@BryanBoardwell i understand. Thank you for the advice and video.

[@ernest6980]

Catch can recommended?

[@BryanBoardwell]

I would say yes but don't do until after you complete this task unless you have a low mileage example in which case the catch can would be extremely helpful and may keep you from needing to do this in the future.

[@supergrendel]

Can't you just put a nylon brush on a drill or something to clean the valves?

[@BryanBoardwell]

I would say maybe not… if you’re too aggressive with a drill with a nylon brush attachment you could damage the softer materials. I would play it conservative which is why we chose to do it by hand instead of power assisted. Also, with some nylon brushes there may be a harder component to it like the handle or mounting surface. In this scenario we kept those out of the equation. These are my thoughts at least… thanks for asking!

[@supergrendel]

@@BryanBoardwell I would think nylon or brass even would be softer than the intake valves. But if the zip ties work then that's probably safer as you say since you don't have to worry about the mounting surface of the bristles maybe being harder than the bristles themselves. Cool idea though!

[@timothyschneider7484]

I’m having these cold start issues at 49,000 miles on my 2016 VW Jetta 1.8t TSI. Nobody has mentioned this.

[@jessicadu4884]

Can I ask your mechanic friend do it for my car? I am in Phoenix.

[@BryanBoardwell]

I would find a reputable mechanic in your area. That will be way cheaper than traveling the 10 hours from phoenix to here. Anyone who is familiar with these engines should be able to handle this project. I would ask specifically if they do carbon cleaning. Most of them would use walnut blasting but this is a viable option as well. best of luck

[@jessicadu4884]

@@BryanBoardwell thank you!! Dealer asked me to pay for $2300 with fuel injector changed as well! I just feel robbed.

[@BryanBoardwell]

@@jessicadu4884 That's absolutely crazy!! I would feel the same way.

[@lightningchallenges2534]

Cost??

[@BryanBoardwell]

Depends on where and who you take to. I paid around $400

[@TonysTechAndCars]

There not bulletproof....

[@georgej8254]

I just got a 2010 GTI, and I'm learning that they are basically a money pit after 100K miles. What an over-complicated, fun-to-drive, piece of crap.

[@Adam497]

No injectors cleaning? No new spark plugs? You won't notice much difference. One day It might break the piston because of cylinder misfire. The carbon deposits weren't that bad. Get a professional injectors cleaning asap. You may add some cleaning stuff to your gas tank TODAY.

[@TechCrazy]

GTI cars are fast food of cars. Not worth the maintenance costs.

[@dumbeezy5480]

Use your little puny arm to maintain your vehicle

[@duskobogos2348]

Carbon/Cholesterol... in the intake manifold.. electric vehicles have non of that... but even better than that 'the future is in perpetual magnet motors" ! No fuel, no polution, get the picture! It's been invented about 80 years ago BUT it's NOT profitable! 'They' have us as mugs! Zip tie technique!!! Very sofisticated.... lovely! tie up some zip ties and attach them to a electric drill and of you go scrubbing the top of the valve... a bit of cleaning afterwards... wow! Spare me of you know what!

[@mathewhoffer4541]

What ? you charge someone to R&R the intake and clean the carbon on the valves and you pick the worst method available with the poorest results ? why not do it RIGHT ? most people do not want to be charged all that labor and get simply better then it was before ? you did not even pull the injectors and clean them and re seal them? you could have been soaking the injectors in cleaning solution in a sonic cleaner while you were soda blasting the intake valves. SODA works better then walnut shells and is water soluble so no chance to harm anything simply do a short interval oil change to flush the system afterwords. You performed a shoddy incomplete service and possibly charged more then most people would charge to do the entire service "correctly" and you video taped it to boot ? talk about rocket scientists ? LOL