Carbon buildup?

If his lips were moving when he said that, he was lying.

 

Ask him to SHOW YOU the carbon, and that you want to verify it's existence, then watch him verbally "dance"......Save the money or enjoy a nice dinner !

 

Tell them that you can pour in your own can of BG44K.

Then ask how much they charge for a transaxle fluid change.

 

^ +1.

Add a can of BG44k and Amsoil PI to clean out the fuel system. Then manually clean the throttle body with a can of throttle body cleaner. The injection of a solvent into the top-end of the engine for cleaning carbon has its benefits, but is probably not needed at the time. Still, if you really want it done, you can take it to Walmart TLE (gasp) and they will do their 2-step service (upper-end cleaner + in-tank additive) for $20.

I also have begun using RLI Bio-Plus at every fill-up w/cheap fuel, in order to keep the fuel system clean. This solution is much cheaper than using plain top-tier fuel and subjectively, I've noticed a slight improvement in drivability.

 

If his lips were moving when he said that, he was lying.

 

LOL!!....:crazy:

 

The BG44K AND Amsoil PI BOTH are really not necessary. Either would do. The Amsoil PI is excellent.

Using RLI Bio-Plus at EVERY fill-up rather than top tier gas is more than overkill and completely unnecessary.

 

If you usually buy E10 (10% ethanol fuel) the car has been getting all the engine cleaner it needs, and there is no carbon buildup.

 

A half tank of E85 will clean anything in the fuel system & combustion part of the motor. 50/50 gas/E85. I have run that in my daily driver for several thousand miles now.

Mike


iPhone

 

With traditional cars, at 50K I check under the throttle butterfly where the EGR comes in, but always remove and clean at 100K. This car is a little different, so will look at it at 25K just to get an idea for myself. Yes, make them prove it needs it, if you are not a doityourselfer.

 

For anyone thinking of trying this, you must not put in more than what Mike suggests, 1/2 tank. You will get lean burn trouble codes if too much E85 is present. The car will extend fuel trims (injector pulse width) by 20% to compensate for the lower volumetric energy density of fuel before setting a code. E85 has 30% less energy, so 1/2 a tank of E85 will lower the energy density by 15%.

 

I bought an E85 converter for my Prii when I get it in May

Mike


iPhone

 

With 106K miles I could eat off my tailpipe. Listen to PC

 

Taste tested, Prius Chat approved

Mike


iPhone

 

Gee.
A consensus.

How often does THAT happen in PC????

Look. Here's the real deal.
Check out your maintenance schedule. Does it call for a $169 dollar "Carbon Cleaning service"? No.
It doesn't call for "A/C Refresh-o-matic" service either.
Same goes for nitrogenating your tires.

The next time somebody mentions "Carbon Buildup", tell them that you're already driving a Prius, and thus you're already doing your part to reduce carbon.
Your car is running fine. If you have 170 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, spend it on something more useful, like lottery tickets.

STOP GOING TO THAT DEALERSHIP.
They're CROOKS.
Additionally, I'd be tempted to fire off an angry inquiry to whatever Toyota has for a customer service branch in your area and demand to know why they're putting up with representatives of their company trying to fleece paying customers out of more of their money than need be spent on this vehicle for routine maintenance.

Good Luck!

 

The cleaning, when required, is for the area directly behind the butterfly of the throttle valve to the intake valves (the intake system). The reason is EGR (exhaust gas recirculation). [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation[/ame] This is where the "carbon", as it's usually refereed to, comes from. It affects the surface flow, dimensional area, and sometimes free movement of the butterfly, together causing the fuel/air mix to be richer. This results in less complete burn, higher fuel usage and reduced life span of the catalytic converter.

The affect and build up on the Prius should be less per mile because the engine runs less by comparison to conventional engines. It must however still be monitored and dealt with when evidence shows the need. As stated, I will check mine at 25K and every 25K there after before manually and chemically cleaning when needed. If the Dealer is trying to sell this service early, require proof first, then make sure they are not just adding crap to the fuel. Look under the butterfly before and after. Proper cleaning will require changing of the spark plugs as well. This has always been an up sale item, even though not usually required with conventional engined vehicles before 100K. There have been exceptions like VW TDI, which is problematic for heavy intake deposits, and a few others that require/d it sooner. I doubt seriously that the Prius will require this "service" at 30K, but will check mine on schedule to make sure. That's the long and short of it.

 

I agree except for the lottery ticket part. The OP should send any money he wants to throw away to me instead of buying lottery tickets. The end result for the OP will be the same either way, but if he sends the money to me, the joy of receiving his money will be within the PC community.:cheer2:

lot·ter·y

[lot-uh-ree]


noun, plural -ter·ies. 1. A tax on the mathematically challenged.

 

It's also easy to take a spray bottle of E85 or some Iso-Heat and a toothbrush and scrub the inside of the throttlebody and idle the motor while you spray rinse the black goop with the spray bottle. The motor will suck the alcohol rinse in and burn it. You end up with a sparkling clean throttlebody

Mike


iPhone

 

I meant OR. Oops.

Generic fuel may not contain enough detergency to prevent carbon build up. Using RLI Bio-Plus will solve this problem.

RLI Bio-Plus + generic fuel is significantly cheaper than top-tier fuel alone.

MB860 ?