Overview

Decarbonize and Get a Pleasurable Driving Experience

OXY-HYDROGEN CLEANING PROCESS

This is a preventive maintenance for vehicle’s engine to remove the excess sticky carbon formed during combustion. Sticky carbon reduces combustion efficiency – affecting performance & fuel efficiency, increases emission, noise, vibration, wear & tear etc. Oxy-hydrogen technology is a clean & non-harmful process which removes sticky carbon from combustion chamber & related parts using a very simple science – carbon is removed as CO2 and Water vapor in presence of Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Oxygen and hydrogen gas produced from pure drinking water are sucked in by the idling engine as per the engine requirement through the vacuum tube or air intake. After the process time as decided by the service person is over (Minimum of 20 minutes), the vehicle is turned off and the vacuum tube or air inlet is restored. After restoring, the vehicle is turned on again and is driven for around 5-10km.

In car cardiac care we address a question faced by each and every vehicle owner alike. I do everything the service guys ask me to; even then my vehicle feels a lot older than it is as soon as it turns 30000 km. Why?

WHY IS CARBON BUILD UP MENACE?

Every car owner’s story begins with buying a dream new car, taking care of it in the best way he/she can, servicing and changing whichever parts the service executive ask him/her to: normal wash, automatic wash, polishing etc.. But just after an year or as soon as the vehicle nears 20k – 30k kilometres every owners starts to get the following problems – Power loss, Reduced mileage, Reduced Pickup, Increased Emissions, Vehicle feels a lot older, Noisy, No comfort etc.

Why is it happening?

Here we will tell you the what the exact problem is, how it happens, why it happens in the most simple yet scientific manner.
What we want from you is – Open up your mind and let common sense alone guide you. This reading can change your way with cars forever as well as forget those cliché problems.

“There is only one answer for all the above questions and problems – It’s the carbon build up inside your engine.”

HOW CARBON BUILD UP HAPPENS IN THE ENGINE?

Any engine running using fuel does so by burning the fuel inside. We all know whenever fuel burns smoke and soot is formed. This soot is nothing but sticky carbon. This carbon produced from the unburned fuel is stuck to the side walls of cylinder, which burns like that in a dying flame. Carbon deposits do not present a noticeable problem to drivers until they become excessive. But the effects of carbon build-up are present in almost all vehicles on the road today which is masked by the super powerful modern engines. Thus the vehicle driver realises it only after the carbon build up gets very serious.

Both petrol and diesel engines build up carbon deposits inside the cylinders over a period of time. This carbon build up happens for various reasons – from design of the latest DI engine, improper burning of fuel, to substandard fuel quality and general build up with age. It deposits itself as soot on the piston, , on the cylinder head, on the intake & exhaust valves and in the exhaust manifold, etc..

Now your doubt must be, is this carbon such a menace and how much carbon can possibly form inside the engine??

Let us consider a situation that happens inside the combustion chamber of a vehicle.

This is the most important part of an engine – the combustion chamber consisting of cylinder and piston. The perfection with which it is made shows that there is not even the tiniest of space for a foreign body inside the combustion chamber. Do you know for a vehicle to cover 1 KM at average 60 KMPH at 2000 RPM, it requires at least 1000 combustions inside the cylinder. Imagine its speed. To run at 60KMPH combustion should take place at least 16 times in one second.

Now Let’s suppose one micro gram is formed during one combustion then imagine in one kilometre 0.00096 gram Carbon is formed, then what about a vehicle that has covered 30,000 KMs.. a whopping 28.8 gram carbon is formed in one cylinder. If suppose it is a 1600 CC diesel vehicle with 4 cylinders then a minimum of 115.2 CC will be reduced or will be covered with carbon deposits over time. Remember 10-6 or a microgram is far less than the actual.

The formation of carbon and the amount depends on various factors:

We all know the quality of petrol we get from various petrol bunks is not the same and the olefin present in the fuel causes the formation of sticky carbon inside the engine. The olefin content present in the fuel available in India is greater than 18%.

Quality of fuel and the corroded metal particles etc. from the fuel lines will cause blockages in the fuel injector and the amount of fuel sprayed will be reduced which is one of the factors aggravating carbon formation. Part of the fuel injector’s job is to atomize fuel by physically turning the liquid fuel supplied to the fuel rail into very tiny droplets. But in order for the fuel to be fully combusted and release as close to 100% of its energy as possible, it must be vapourized, then only the fuel can effectively mix with oxygen. Even in a brand-new engine, total vapourization of fuel will never take place. Over time, the problem of inefficient atomization from blocked injectors will build carbon deposits on the valves, pistons, etc. Because carbon deposits are a very poor heat conductor, the fuel vapourization process eventually will become less and less effective and consequently will reduce individual cylinder combustion efficiency, waste fuel, decrease performance and create more undesirable emissions.

During the combustion process, heat transforms unconsumed vapourized HCs into a solid or hard substance known as an activated carbon. Activated carbon will accumulate on hot components within the combustion chamber in a grainy composition containing many small cracks and edges exposed at its surface, making it extremely porous and a natural absorbent of additional raw or un-reacted hydrocarbons.

Not all fuel enters the combustion chamber is burnt fully. Each time the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber some unburnt fuel is left behind. This unburnt fuel along with the carbon stuck to the cylinder walls catches fire before the actual ignition by the sparkplug in case of petrol engines and before the apt temperature is reached in the compression stroke in case of diesel engines, thus forming multiple flame fronts. When these multiple flames collide, they do so with explosive force that produces a sudden rise in cylinder pressure accompanied by a sharp metallic pinging or knocking noise. The hammer-like shock waves created by detonation subject the head gasket, piston, rings, and spark plug and rod bearings to severe overloading. Thus pre-ignition also called detonation is a cause as well as an effect of carbon build up.

DI engines are the latest advanced engines, has a lot of advantages over port injection engines like more power output, improved fuel efficiency etc. But carbon build up is a shortfall. Unlike port injection, fuel do not get sprayed over the valves and a substantial carbon build happens due to this on the behind portion of intake valve as shown in figure.

This causes incomplete closure of valves thus leading to the escape of unburnt fuel mixture thus reducing power and fuel efficiency. Another contributing factor to the formation of intake valve deposits is unburnt fuel vapours and oil vapours being siphoned back into the intake manifold through the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) system. This is done to control crankcase emissions and to remove moisture from the oil (which helps prolong oil life). The fuel vapours, carbon particles and oil droplets that the PCV system routes back into the intake manifold are re-burned in the engine to reduce pollution. But these same vapours can also form carbon and varnish deposits on the intake valves. The more blow-by an engine has due to cylinder and piston ring wear the greater the volume of crankcase vapours that are pulled back into the engine by the PCV system. High mileage engines typically have more blow-by than low mileage engines, so the build-up of intake valve deposits is usually faster.

This doesn’t allow the engines to get heated up enough causing the carbon to settle down in the engine.

Stop and go traffic causes more carbon build up in the engine.

Excessive idling by diesel engines is also a main cause of carbon build up on pistons, ring, injector and valves.

Why is carbon build up bad?

What happens when cholesterol gets deposited inside your heart valves and arteries??

Simple your performance goes down, loses stamina, you become sick, easily tired, fatigue, then slowly death. In a similar way depending on how much carbon has built up in your engine parts your vehicle will show symptoms like rough idle, reduced power, reduced acceleration, reduced fuel efficiency and in worse cases noise, vibration & thick smoke and slowly death.

EFFECTS

Parts vulnerable to carbon build up

Valves

Valves do not close properly: this leads to over-heating, power loss, escape of unburnt fuel and a lot more.
Studies have been done on diesel cars, taking newer vehicles (starting at 15,000 miles) and comparing the horsepower of the vehicle at that point and then with another 5,000 miles added (along with the intake valve carbon deposits). At 15,000 miles, the cars had 324 “all-wheel horsepower”. 5,000 miles later, the horsepower was measured at 317. Another 5,000 miles and the horsepower was all the way down to just 305. That’s a drop of almost ten percent in less 10,000 miles. (Reference: https://www.bellperformance.com/bell-performs-blog/blog/carbon-buildup-in-diesel-engines).

EGR

Some carbons will normally exit through the exhaust system. Activated carbon is then reintroduced back through the intake via the EGR system and tends to build up and clog EGR passages. Oil-based carbons can build up when piston rings become worn, enabling oil to leak past the rings from the crankcase or it can also be drawn into the combustion chamber from worn intake valves or valve guides. Oil-based carbon deposits will appear to have a wet and sticky composition.

Spark plugs fouling

According to spark plug manufacturers, carbon fouling accounts for the majority of all spark plug troubles. Carbon produced by incomplete combustion accumulates on the firing end of the plug, the insulator resistance between the centre electrode and the metal shell will be reduced and this may cause misfiring.

Injector fouling

Carbon deposits that build up on fuel injector tips will definitely cause an uneven fuel pattern spray. As the spray pattern degrades to unevenly atomized patterns, an increase in carbon build up will also occur.
Fouled injectors cause to reduce power and lower fuel economy, Cleaning and or replacing fuel injectors is not trivial in terms of cost and downtime. The problem is exacerbated by advanced fuel injector designs, which have ever narrower orifices.

  • Carbon deposits can also accumulate on the throttle body and intake manifold as well as in the catalytic converter and on oxygen sensors.
  • Also accumulates in the piston ring area.
  • Excessive hard carbon deposits also effectively reduce an engine’s volumetric efficiency.
  • Carbon deposits on the oxygen sensor too and it will lead to reduction in the fuel efficiency.
Other ill effects of carbon build up:
  • Exhaust sensors failing
  • Power drop
  • Mileage drop
  • Heavily carbon-coated combustion chamber components like pistons and cylinder walls become a very effective fuel sponge,
    absorbing greater and greater quantities of raw hydrocarbons.
  • Increased emissions
  • Depreciates engine life
  • Reduces the life of engine oil
  • Excessive hard carbon deposits also effectively reduce an engine’s volumetric efficiency
  • Thick deposits tend to increase engine compression because the carbon deposits take up more space inside the combustion chamber.
    Abnormally high compression may result in spark knock (detonation), particularly when driving under load or accelerating.
Symptoms of a carbon affected car
  • Less Power
  • Less Mileage
  • Increased Emission
  • Rough Idling
  • Poor Acceleration

Above all these there is a huge environmental impact because of carbon deposit inside engine

Because of carbon deposit there is massive reduction in fuel efficiency of the vehicle; considering the number of vehicles plying on road we end up using more fuel than the actual. This depletes the fuel reserves and there wouldn’t be anything left for the generations to come.
Also more fuel implies more mining thus more degradation of mother nature.
Another reason being increased emissions which lead to polluted environment, degradation of Earth.

Now what is the solution for this? How to remove carbon?

Decarbonising

Carbon build up happens over a period of time. Decarbonizing an engine includes removal of carbon deposits from the engine and other parts of the vehicle. Usually the best time to decarbonize an engine is after it has done about 30,000km. This is a preventive maintenance procedure. There are three ways in which an engine can be decarbonized – Chemical decarbonisation and physical decarbonisation and oxy-hydrogen carbon cleaning.

Chemical Decarbonisation

The most popular method is using fuel additives, which are advertised as being effective in eliminating carbon deposits while you drive. While I will not go into the possible health and environmental issues related to the handling and use of these chemical additives, in general, they must be used regularly to be effective and do not prove able to remove the hard carbon that comes from long-term build up. One very common main ingredient in these types of products, including the ones used by new car dealerships, is formaldehyde, the same controversial chemical that is used for embalming

Physical Decarbonisation

This involves opening up the cylinder head, removing the intake and exhaust valves and physically “scrapping” the carbon deposits off the valves, cylinder head and manifolds. The exhaust pipe will also need to be dismantled and cleaned thoroughly using high-pressure water. If the exhaust muffler is clogged with carbon deposits, sometimes it will need to be heated and tapped out, before flushing with water. Mechanical decarbonizing of modern 4-stroke engines and their overhead camshaft(s), injectors, multiple sensors and electronics, is a very complex procedure, which needs great expertise, is expensive and more often leading to reduced performance.

Oxy-hydrogen carbon cleaning process

This is the latest revolutionary technology for carbon cleaning. It is a fool proof German technology tried and tested in many nations around the globe. It is already been used in some states of India. Here there is neither dismantling nor a question of effectiveness. You can see the result with your own naked eye. Process is also very simple and you can have an amazing driving experience in just 30 minutes.

For the first time in South India, we in Car Cardiac Care are introducing this revolutionary technology.

Process

Here hydrogen and oxygen gas is used in the ratio 2:1.
This oxy hydrogen is obtained by electrolysing pure drinking water. This gas is passed into the engine’s combustion chamber through the vacuum pipe in case of petrol engines and through the air inlet in case of diesel engines. It is a completely computerised machine and time, flow of oxy hydrogen gas is set according to the engine capacity and then the gas is passed into the engine. The Hydrogen gas in HHO then reacts with the carbon deposits inside the engine and forms hydrocarbon which in turn reacts with oxygen to form CO2 and H2O which is expelled through the exhaust pipe.

Result

The result is immediate - the safe removal of excess carbon build-up restores the air suction capacity thus improving the combustion efficiency. This helps restore the lost power, mileage, smoothness & Reduces emission, noise, vibration and black smoke. Most of all this improves the engine life.

If visible smoke and carbon are not ejected out of the car after oxy-hydrogen treatment, this doesn’t mean that there was no carbon build up. There will be evident difference in emission test and driving experience. The interval of carbon cleaning depends on the mentality of the car owner as to how well the vehicle condition should be which will directly affect the life of the engine. We suggest first at 30000KM and then every 20000KM.