Carbon buildup at 25k miles - A short story

[Vitis805]

Which path did you snake the bore scope in order to see this? I have one laying around...

Please post your photos if possible.

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[Msfitoy]

Please post your photos if possible.

Will do...haven't gotten around to doing this yet...

 

[Pinepig]

I thought the valve stem looked pretty crusty, too. backside of the valve looks good, however.

When I did the ones on my wifes old Tiguan at 83k that's how it grows, almost all of the carbon will be glued to the valve stem creeping down on to the face. I hope when it comes time to do the nasty on the Ranger the intake manifold is easier to remove than that POS FSI 2.0 turbo in the VW.

 

[NeilP]

I'm watching these carbon threads closely. I ordered a catch-can system for my 2020 Escape, but have yet to install it. I WAS going to order a catch-can for my new 2022 Ranger, but cancelled the order at the last minute.

I have a friend that is a Ford Senior Master as well as an ASE Master Automotive technician. I've know him for close to 30 years, and if I still lived near him, he'd still be the only tech that I'd let work on any of my vehicles.

I asked him about adding catch-cans, carbon build up and the direct injection. His reply to the carbon build up was that folks that hare having the problem aren't changing oil as often as they should be, or they are not using a quality oil. OK.....I get that part!

In regards to the direct injection, & I think I may have to call BS here and I think he is mistaken......he says that the 1.5L and the 2.3L engines that I have in the Escape and the Ranger have both direct & port injection. Anyone heard or that? If that is the case, then I am not going to mess with installing the catch can on the 1.5L nor bother ordering one for the 2.3L.

 

[SilverSlugger]

Nice info

 

[D Fresh]

I'm watching these carbon threads closely. I ordered a catch-can system for my 2020 Escape, but have yet to install it. I WAS going to order a catch-can for my new 2022 Ranger, but cancelled the order at the last minute.

I have a friend that is a Ford Senior Master as well as an ASE Master Automotive technician. I've know him for close to 30 years, and if I still lived near him, he'd still be the only tech that I'd let work on any of my vehicles.

I asked him about adding catch-cans, carbon build up and the direct injection. His reply to the carbon build up was that folks that hare having the problem aren't changing oil as often as they should be, or they are not using a quality oil. OK.....I get that part!

In regards to the direct injection, & I think I may have to call BS here and I think he is mistaken......he says that the 1.5L and the 2.3L engines that I have in the Escape and the Ranger have both direct & port injection. Anyone heard or that? If that is the case, then I am not going to mess with installing the catch can on the 1.5L nor bother ordering one for the 2.3L.

Not sure about the Escape's Ecoboost. But no Ford 2.3l Ecoboost is dual injected from the factory.

Ford made this move on the Ecoboost V-6s, but not the 4s.

 

[grammat95]

I'm watching these carbon threads closely. I ordered a catch-can system for my 2020 Escape, but have yet to install it. I WAS going to order a catch-can for my new 2022 Ranger, but cancelled the order at the last minute.

I have a friend that is a Ford Senior Master as well as an ASE Master Automotive technician. I've know him for close to 30 years, and if I still lived near him, he'd still be the only tech that I'd let work on any of my vehicles.

I asked him about adding catch-cans, carbon build up and the direct injection. His reply to the carbon build up was that folks that hare having the problem aren't changing oil as often as they should be, or they are not using a quality oil. OK.....I get that part!

In regards to the direct injection, & I think I may have to call BS here and I think he is mistaken......he says that the 1.5L and the 2.3L engines that I have in the Escape and the Ranger have both direct & port injection. Anyone heard or that? If that is the case, then I am not going to mess with installing the catch can on the 1.5L nor bother ordering one for the 2.3L.

Your 2.3 is definitely not dual injection in the Ranger. I still have yet to see any evidence that catch cans make a difference.

 

[grammat95]

When I did the ones on my wifes old Tiguan at 83k that's how it grows, almost all of the carbon will be glued to the valve stem creeping down on to the face. I hope when it comes time to do the nasty on the Ranger the intake manifold is easier to remove than that POS FSI 2.0 turbo in the VW.

Hopefully when I take another picture at 50k we'll be able to see if the stem is building up more carbon or not. At the rate i'm driving that'll be sometime next spring.

 

[HenryMac]

Happy Labor day Ladies and Gents,

I've read way too much about intake valve buildup over the last few years and I was curious what my valves look like at 25k. I was able to
get my borescope into the intake manifold and get a picture of one of the valves. IMO it looks pretty good. I don't really see any point in wasting money or time on any extra preventative measures at this point. See below for my driving habits/maintenance.

I will try to get a picture of the same valve every 25k miles...

Maintenance / Habits
- Full synthetic 5W-30 (Valvoline) from the first oil change. No more than 5k intervals.
- Lots of towing (often times at max cap.), I would guestimate around 10k miles
- Most trips are at least 20 minutes
- I have not noticed any fuel dilution issues with oil

Thanks for posting this. Just the kind of real world data that is needed. Well played.

I'm curious what grade and type of gasoline you are using?

 

[grammat95]

Thanks for posting this. Just the kind of real world data that is needed. Well played.

I'm curious what grade and type of gasoline you are using?

I use Regular 87 octane. I don't have any sort of preference towards brand.

 

[Hellrazor]

Stem looks dirty to me

 

[HenryMac]

I use Regular 87 octane. I don't have any sort of preference towards brand.

And that's good news. If you ran top tier premium fuel, the buildup would be even less.

 

[grammat95]

And that's good news. If you ran top tier premium fuel, the buildup would be even less.

And that's good news. If you ran top tier premium fuel, the buildup would be even less.

I'm not really sure if running top tier fuel would make a difference in regards to the intake valves. The whole issue being that they're not washed with fuel like a port injected setup would be.

 

[grammat95]

Update: I'm at 37,000 miles now... shouldn't be too long before 50k comes up.

 

[reidmefirst]

Thanks for the post. I bought my ranger mostly for towing too. I have a boat, the boat+trailer is ~6300 pounds (hopefully will be down to 6000 before I start taking it to races).

I got a used low miles ranger and it ended up 'decked out' in Lariat trim so I'm rather enjoying it as a vehicle. Have a small car to get me around for the most part, though. So mine will be similar: lots of miles towing I think, but much less driving overall than you. Looking forward to your 50k update so I know what to expect!

BTW what does your trailer rig weigh? I saw your other post about it, is it a 3600 pound excavator plus ? (~2500 pounds?) for the trailer? Curious if you ever weighed it on a scale.

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