What procedure does Ford dealerships have to remove carbon build up on the ecoboost engines

[RANGER/HOBB]

I don't claim to be an expert on any of this stuff but it brings up a topic that I've always wondered about.

1. Does the RR benefit any in performance from using high octane fuels?

2. Is it truly important to use tier one gasoline such as Shell, Mobile, Exxon etc? Do these tier one fuels help keep engines running cleaner and possibly help in preventing the carbon buildup mentioned in this thread?

I used nothing but high octane tier one fuels in my 2020 and 2022 Mustang GT's but high octane fuels are way more expensive and I'd like to get away from that on my new RR that I've purchased unless it truly helps much in the performance and clean running due to the detergents in the tier one fuels.

You want peak performance you utilize 91. Use 89 or 87 and peak engine performance will not be realized. Timing is pulled with the latter two.

Higher octane of 93 may bring a little better combustion but above that there’s no appreciable benefit.

Using top tier fuel is good for injectors piston crowns, rings and fuel system free of water but not much else. Short answer is, “no.”

In a GDI engine; fuel is never washed over the intake valves. It’s injected directly into the cylinders by the GDI injectors. The only thing the intake valves get is; fuel, oil and condensation, that is recycled and re-burned in the cylinders as part of the emission control system

The only thing injector cleaner will do, is keep the fuel system and injector cleaner……….that's it. This is why it’s recommended to do a chemical induction service every 15K miles.

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[Lion77]

Here's my theory on this (I have a 2018 CX-9 the wife drives with now over 117k miles, plan to do a bore scope in summer to see how the intake valves look as a long-term experiment), but consider the primary source of carbon buildup in the ICE, oil.

It's not from the gasoline / combustion process. It's primarily from oil that is not removed from the cylinder walls by the control rings. That's why even port injected engines with poor ring seal (either from wear or improper break in or both) can foul up to the point of not functioning. The valves can lose seal due to debris buildup and the plugs can get fouled.

Example: the wife had a 2012 Honda Insight Hybrid when I met her. I noticed immediately it had cylinder rattle at only 100k miles. Then she told me she had to add oil ever 1k miles and the dealer kept telling her it's "normal"...I knew that was excessive and started digging and found out there was a huge class action lawsuit against Honda for over 1.5 million vehicles with excessive oil consumption due to a design flaw in the oil control rings...wasn't just Honda, Subaru used the same design and had same issues during that timeframe (2008 - 2015 MY's). We dumped it for a Prius, got way better gas mileage (50's vs. high 30's) and haven't had any issues in 160k, my daughter now drives it. But that Honda broke down on my wife one day driving to work, the plugs fouled up from oil to the point there was ignition failure. Had to replace the plugs.

The other primary source is oil vaporization from heat generated by friction that gets circulated back through the intake. If you control vaporization, promote ring seal AND use a factory paper filter changed regularly, there's very will carbon deposits and dust available to build up on the valves in a GDI engine.

I've found this work well in terms of keeping a car running good, agree with it or not.

1. Use OE paper filters and change regularly. They are cheap but filter MUCH better than oiled cotton or dry re-usable filters. Also the reusable filters have about 1/3 the dust capacity of a paper filter, so they flow better for a short time, rapidly clog up then become more restrictive!

The fine dust is extremely abrasive to rings and liners, it also tends to from a gritty mixture with vaporized oil and water, which fouls up intakes, valves etc. even on port injected engines (had to do an intake manifold on a 2007 Focus ST with the 2.3L NA, it was Fords' duratec series, nothing special, but the entire intake was coated in oil / fine grit including the intake valves despite being port injected, I was young and dumb and had a K&N Typhoon CAI in fender well....never will I do that again for anything but a dedicate track car on road).

2. Use synthetic oils as they do sludge far less than blends, especially over the life of the oil. So not only do you reduce vaporization rates, but also less sludging internally that can actually cause rings to become seized in the groove of the piston, then the ring doesn't float and seal properly further exacerbating oil consumption, compression loss and blow by.

3. As mentioned, on higher performance vehicles, premium fuels do provide some benefits not just in power / tq, but have some cleaning additives / detergents that help maintain optimal injector spray patterns.

4. DLC coatings. Why? Because it promotes ring seal as it forms on the rings / cylinder walls which REDUCES you guessed it.... oil consumption and vaporization. You're getting a better seal and oil control while reducing friction loses that cause localized heating and vaporization of the oil which primarily occurs in the cylinder, not on the cams, bearings or pump. The cylinder group is where most of the inefficiency is and problems arise in an ICE.

Consider the testing, decide if you think it would be beneficial for you. I've found many real-world benefits when I started using In Situ DLC coatings back in 2019, especially for track day on my 2016 GT 5.0L with a stage 2 Power Pack from FP. It's relatively new technology and I just did my RR at 5k and presently wearing it into the entire powertrain.

Informational - Science / History Behind In Situ DLC Coatings for ICE and Transmission / Gearbox Applications | Ranger6G - 2024+ Ranger & Raptor Forum, News, Owners, Community (6th Gen)

Post on that thread if you have questions want real discussion. That's my opinion based on the body of evidence and my own experiences. Sorry for the long post guys, but it's a complex issue.