Liquimoly Diesel Intake Cleaner

8

8v-of-fury

Guest
Dang, looks super easy.

I'd give it a go if I didn't just do it the "hard way" too haha.
 

curtludwig

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Location
Winchendon, MA
TDI
1998 Jetta, 2005 Golf
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Remember they're spraying that into the intake. Where do you think the crud is going?
 
8

8v-of-fury

Guest
Right out the exhaust? lol

That stuff probably turns the soot in to a chemical "fuel" burnable by the engine.
 

KLXD

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Location
Lompoc, CA
TDI
'98, '2 Jettas
I figger all that crap just gets washed further down the pipe and settles out.

"Look customer, nice clean EGR valve! That'll be $200."
 
8

8v-of-fury

Guest
The way I see it, people have been doing that with "Seafoam" for a long long time. This is just a diesel safe version of that, one which isn't so much of a fuel for runaways maybe??
 

curtludwig

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Location
Winchendon, MA
TDI
1998 Jetta, 2005 Golf
As long as all the pieces are broken completely into a slurry theres a possibility they could move through the system completely without hurting the car. If chunks of crud get loose and get into cylinders and pounded between the piston and valves you'll wish you hadn't...
 
8

8v-of-fury

Guest
If the liquid in the cylinder doesn't provide a situation for bent rods or valves, I don't see the mushy soot to be an issue either?

That stuff in the intake is pretty soft after all.
 

curtludwig

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Location
Winchendon, MA
TDI
1998 Jetta, 2005 Golf
Cripes you're right I didn't even think about liquid in the cylinder pounding holes in the pistons...

"Magic beans"
 
8

8v-of-fury

Guest
I don't think it is as huge an issue as you are making it out to be, clearly water injection setups aren't out there destroying anything.

LoL.
 

Digital Corpus

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Location
Ontario, California
TDI
'97 B4 w/ 236K mi body, 46K mi soul
Given that the solvent can rev up the engine, it is a fuel that some diesel engine can run on. I wouldn't worry about piston pitting.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
The BG guys were here a few years back, and saw that we had several TDIs in the shop. They mentioned a system they had that was pretty much identical to this by the sound of it, that hooks into their gasser decarb system (which I own, and it works quite well).

I asked him about diesel runaway, hydrolocking, etc. and they answered with "No, I don't think you have to worry about any of that". So I said "OK, send us the setup with enough product to do a couple cars, and we'll try it out."

A week went buy, never heard anything. I was genuinely interested, as BG seems to make good stuff, and I have had good luck with their gasser intake cleaner system over the years. I eventually called them, and they said "Oh, sorry, we can't sell any more, we suspended the product, too many techs were blowing engines up". :eek:

So, while I think the idea of this sounds great, in practice it probably is a little too sketchy to work in a manner that doesn't offer too much possibility of catastrophe. Granted, you could tooef a gasser, too, if you were not careful, but that is MUCH less likely to happen.

I think the only way for this to work would be to take it slow... VERY slow. And it may end up taking SO long and using SO much product (and fuel) that it would be just as easy to yank the EGR/intake off and manually clean it. At least on the TDIs. Luckily, with ULSD the gunking is very much reduced. But in light of that, it makes me wonder if a system like this would be more useful for periodic cleaning since the "clogging shut" issues have vanished.

I've since talked to the BG folks again, and they have a newer system in place that is supposed to be safer. I have not decided yet if I want to try it out.

http://www.bgprod.com/catalog/diesel-fuel-system/diesel-induction-service-set/#bg-product-13
 
Last edited:

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
When I posted about it, the responses were essentially saying that it's a good maintenance product AFTER cleaning the intake out. It makes sense to me to be cautious of dislodging pieces falling into the combustion chamber or jamming a valve open. Obviously, if you just dump out a cup of it in the intake, you could hyrdolock the motor, but I might pick up a can to use on the residue on the intake only after it's off the motor, so there's no risk involved. If you guys want to, let me know, I can find some and make a video so we can see what comes out of an intake that's not been cleaned. It might turn all that oily sooty goodness into fluid or make it fall out in chunks. I plan to use it as a maintenance product though. It's quick and easy enough to squirt some in the intake past the MAF or just remove that rubber elbow in front of my EGR. I have a MK4, but I don't think it makes a difference for the purposes of just seeing HOW it affects the gunk in the intake and to see what comes out of it.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I would tend to agree, BUT the CR EGR systems may be a bit more fussy. Plus, looking at the cutaway of the new engine's integral intake/charge air cooler it looks like a periodic cleansing may be a good prophylactic item.
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
Do you guys think that even if the ULSD fuel tends to leave less junk in the intakes, that there's a motor that tends to get more dirty than others(average driver, average miles, average everything)?
 

curtludwig

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Location
Winchendon, MA
TDI
1998 Jetta, 2005 Golf
I don't think it is as huge an issue as you are making it out to be, clearly water injection setups aren't out there destroying anything.

LoL.
Unless I misunderstand water injection works similarly to a fuel injector in that the water is atomized in the intake where it then evaporates instantly. That evaporation takes heat away (heat is required for the state change of the water) and gives a more dense air charge. Because the water is already atomized and then evaporates no liquid water reaches the engine.

Go find an engine with a dripping injector from using unheated WVO and you'll see what liquid does to an engine...
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
looks like another gimmic that does no real benefits.

a chemical solution will never solve a physical problem.
 

iluvmydiesels

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Location
phila area
TDI
AHU
for one almost anything sprayed down a diesels intake can burn, hence rev the engine up, w/o any type of governor.
i removed the intake, had my shop chem clean it, took 24hrs to do. carefully cleaned the intake runners in head, 1- only clean a runner if that valve is closed, i think a few months ago lisa did this, had a load of soot end up in 1 or more cylinders, she couldnt turn engine over(by hand), because of this(letting an open valve let soot into cyl(s)), she had to pull the head. clean intake runners, and with valve still closed!, take a vac and get as much of that stuff out as you can. new intake gasket, probably need a new egr upper gasket as well, and its pretty good. to complete the job, i had my head off, fashioned an egr block off blank/plate, and should have no-0- recirculation in the intake now. theres a couple of places you can put a block off plate, i put mine on the exhaust manifold, before,@first flex pipe, for this place head needs to come off, engine is built just for that, so you cannt by-pass emissions. or another good place, the 1st flex pipe, going into the cooler, before the cooler.
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
TL;DR version: it's from 2013... about a product that was evidently discontinued shortly after introduction, because too many folks were blowing up engines. :)
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
HAHAHA, i never look at dates until its too late. Facepalm.jpg
 
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