I was invited by a Ford Tech I know to be involved in a test of an induction cleaning system that is being considered by Ford for the 6.0. My 2006 has just over 32,000 miles on it. I brought it in, and was invited to watch the cleaning procedure and ask any question I might have of the Ford Tech, and the sales rep from Wynn's (who makes the cleaner). Before the procedure, the EGR valve was response tested, and oil/coolants temps were noted. EGR valve testing show some hesitation in opening, likely due to carbon/soot buildup, but it wasn't too bad.

The tech then remove the EGR valve. There was a fair amount of carbon/ soot on the valve. The fact that I use an additive year round probably helped keep the carbon/ soot from being much worse. Then, the air cleaner and the tube from the intercooler to the intake was removed, and a purpose built plug went into the intake opening. A special rig with an intake screen, and a port for the cleaner to enter was placed into the EGR valve port. The engine was started, taken to 1,000 rpm, then the cleaner can was opened. The engine was run until the cleaner was gone. After shutdown, and the cleaning rig removed, the intake was amazing clean! The tubing and EGR valve were replaced ,and when the engine was restarted, it was AMAZING how much carbon and soot was blown out of the engine, literally clouds of it!! The EGR valve response was retested, and a significant improvement in it's response was noted. Oil and coolant temps were also much better.

I will be monitoring the mileage/performance of the truck over the next week or so, to see what, if any, improvements were noted.

 

That sounds like agood deal Pat..

Is this something they are doing across the country or just test marketing??

Also is this just a procedure to clean the system or is there something like a filter that they add to the motor??

 

Fantastic post - thanks. Do you know if this procedure is being considered by all Ford service departments or just your local area?

How long did the procedure take? Did you ask what the charge for a service like that may be?

When I changed my EGR valve (did it as a preventative measure at my own cost), my valve and intake was pretty dirty. I know that cleaning what you see is only a fraction of what is in the intake system.

 

If I understand this correctly, they plugged the intake, and therefore all intake air had to come from the EGR port (EGR valve removed) and the cleaner was introduced at the EGR port?

 

I'm not sure how many places are doing this Don. I know it is one procedure that Ford is considering. The Ford Tech said that Ford is getting very, very picky on their warranty claims, and that this cleaning may help with the EGR cooler problems also, by keeping it from getting clogged.

No filter is added, basically it's just running cleaner through the induction system after the turbo/intercooler.

 

It won't be cheap, I think they said around $200 for the service (got it free for volunteering the truck this time!) It took them about an hour total to run the cleaning.

Yep, that's exactly what it was. There was a little screen on the fixture, for air to enter.

 

There have been past posts where dealerships charged customers for an intake cleaning. Usually as part of an EGR warranty claim, and the dealer is obviously trying to chisel some cash out of the customer. I wonder if that was the process? IIRC, some of the quotes were around $600.

 

I wonder if that involved removing the entire intake? I've heard of that before. I'm thinking this is supposed to prevent that, and prevent clogging of the EGR cooler.

 

$200 seems a little steep for a 1 hour job, but all-in-all still affordable. If it is effective, it sounds tempting to have it done as a preventative maintenance task. I hate waiting for problems - they all seem to snowball into more problems. I am hoping that since my ccv re-route at 30k or so, and with the fuel additives, the build-up is not still occurring (or at least not too bad).

 

I think that's what kept my from getting too badly crudded up, I have used Stanadyne in it since I bought the truck.

 

When you said the EGR was replaced, did you mean the old one was re-installed?

 

Yes, he just sprayed it off, removing the carbon and soot, since it was still working okay.

 

"The EGR valve response was retested, and a significant improvement in it's response was noted."


Okay thats exactly what would happen when you clean the EGR valve.
SO let's pay Ford $200 to clean the EGR valve and run built up carbon into the cylinders? I thought we were trying to keep particles out of the cylinders as a rule of thumb, we have air filters don't we?

EGR cooler failures can be related to several issues, this is the first I have ever read of them related to carbon build-up. Why not just remove it? No EGR system and your problems go away.

Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with my modded up pipe and a SCT that removes the EGR operation. No carbon, no build up, no EGR problems, no EGR cooler problems, no problem at all.
You can run stock programming with the EGR operation removed using the SCT for those not wanting to run performance tunes. XCAL 2 units are found cheap and I bet you can get the tuning done cheaper than this cleaning service.

 

I'm more interested in cleaning the intercooler. Also - I would expect that the carbon will slowly get into the cylinders anyway.

 

When you consider the amount of carbon deposits that we find on EGR valves, I'd rather have a DPF that I could clean every 10-20k over the carbon going into the engine. Diesel motors have never been clean burning motors anyway.

Guys really think about this "cleaning" it's a band-aid at best on a wound that needs stiches to close up.

Actually the EGR falls under the 100k warranty right? SO this should be no charge if the dealer wants to do it for a repair.