Fuel system cleaner killing turbos?

[mullen78]

I have had a couple people (admittedly not techs) tell me they have heard of fuel system cleaners killing the turbos on Ecoboost engines. Is there any truth to this, or hint of it? My 2010 has 59 grand on it and I ran a stand alone on my Mustang every 60k as maintenance. Obviously, I don't want to do that if it's going to cause problems. Just don't know whether to believe it.
Also is there a valve adjustment needed on these engines, like on the first gen. cars?
Thanks in advance.

 

[yamahaSHO]

The fuel (or cleaner) shouldn't come in contact with the turbo until it has been through the combustion process. I'm not sure how some exhaust gas it going hurt the exhaust housing and turbine of a turbo.

 

[mullen78]

The fuel (or cleaner) shouldn't come in contact with the turbo until it has been through the combustion process. I'm not sure how some exhaust gas it going hurt the exhaust housing and turbine of a turbo.

That's what I thought, but... Figured it never hurts to ask.

 

[SHOnUup4]

Think it has something to do with the debris coming of of the valve and then that getting into the turbos. The fuel system cleaner looks to be fine though, it's the manual cleaning to avoid.

Think it's BG(?) that had a test SHO and ran their product through it. Looks like it worked well.

Rich

 

[yamahaSHO]

You'd be surprised the crap that gets flung through the turbine on a regular basis. You'd have to dislodge something HUGE to do any damage. From what I gather with DI, anything huge is on top of the valve where the fuel/cleaner isn't getting to anyway.

 

[SHOrod]

There is a video from Makulocco (sp?) that explains why Ford is concerned with the induction cleaning on the Ecoboost. He's a Ford Tech and claims that he spoke to Corporate engineers regarding an issue he was finding on a 4-cyl Ecoboost and explains why they are concerned with the induction service and what they recommend. I'm pretty sure a link to the video and discussion on the subject has been posted here before....

But I agree, if you're just referring to an additive that you add to the fuel tank there shouldn't be an issue. If you're referring to an induction cleaning, you'll want to familiarize yourself with the concerns so you can make an educated decision on that. If you have trouble finding the link, post back and we track it down.

-Rod

 

[Bosscav]

What is the preferred method to cleaning the valves then? (Other than the cleaning effects of methanol injection)

 

[SHOdded]

Walnut shell blasting (like they do in the BMW video on YT) is the best way to do it. Theoretically, you could also move through the cylinders, putting each piston at TDC and soaking the intake valves for that cylinder in cleaner (B12 might work well here), then clean out the resulting gunk thoroughly before moving on to the next cylinder.

http://www.will-son.com/docs/Direct_Injection_-_VW_Procedure.pdf
(can't upload file, too large)
http://www.aa1car.com/library/intake_valve_deposits_gdi_engines.htm

In any case, you should use a boroscope to determine the level of contamination before proceeding with valve cleaning, esp if you have mileage accumulated on the vehicle.

 

[SHOrod]

Ford says to replace the head. That seems a bit extreme though.

-Rod