GeoW97

Any idea whether motorvac is better than the BG 44k "in-office" treatment? I think they're both $100-$150; I'd prefer not to just get the 44K thing done by just any Goober Pyle at a smog shop, for one thing...

Shep 1.8T

it's pretty hard to fvck up from what I understand. They disconnect the fuel line mix it with the solvent and run your car that way, IRIC. It's pretty much as simple as that..I don't forsee any problems, but hey in the words of another AW member "The idiots in modern society are highly evolved and can defeat virtually any engineering solution"

Audi Junkie

Short of that, you can clean them by just driving with double-dose of cleaner in 1/2 tank of gas. If intake manifold and valves cleaning is what you want, dipping a pcv intake hose into Seafoam is way better than ANY thru-injector-to-get-to-intake service. I add some light oil too (MMO or 2-cycle). With a spray can is good too, I even use basic cheap Gumout like back in the carb days. Just do any service connected to manifold/intake runner somewhere after the MAF. My bet is that your need for any pro service is nill. PS some people say water is the best carbon cleaner!!!

GeoW97

Once again, thanks for all these insights; I've spent most of the day looking up a lot of this info (please send me $500 for lost time), and have some observations. I've ordered my bottle of Auto-RX and will do that whole routine; looks like a very good product with minimal risk. And as near as I can tell having looked at approximately 200,000 web pages, BG 44K looks like what I'd want to try on the fuel system. I'm actually pricing around for a direct-fuel-rail cleaning (Audi of Pasadena wants $290 but says that they have to pull the plugs and clean them, among other things: anyone know anything about this for Motorvac or whatever?). If I can get Jose at Euro-Tech to do it, I'll trust him with it and I'd bet it's $120. I'm quite optimistic that those two things will put the engine back in spec to where it feels right to me; I don't think there's anything wrong with the engine, just somewhat sluggish. I get mixed reviews on the MAF sensor; some people say that cleaned ones are prone to failure in the couple months after, though I'm curious to see what that would do. Jose replaced the PCV valve (it's actually not a PCV any more, but he replaced what it was, I forget but he blew through one end and it was completely clogged.) He replaced all the bad fluids as well, keeping the old ones in a kind of gruesome display of their degeneracy. A couple questions about your post: Would Jose not have reset the ECU when he replaced the cam adjuster? Or did he just clear the code? For all my research, I'm not clear on what clearing the ECU would do for me. And I'm most curious about this:

<<<you can recode the 30v engine with a VAG to A6 fuel/timing codes for a full 200hp, 211ft-lbs>>>

How would my engine not already be coded to the A6 fuel/timing codes? I'm unaware of any of this, but it sounds interesting. I'm one of those who really just wants the car running in peak condition as the factory intended...

Thanks again!

Audi Junkie

I assume you have an A4 since this is the A4 Forum. If you have an A4 with a Tip, you can recode for the extra 10hp A6 200hp fuel/ignition settings, A4 is 190hp with different fuel map. You are over obsessing about the FI cleaner, it is just fine to do a slower approach, through the fuel, a lil extra cleaner at first then a normal amount over time. The intake cleaning through the vacuum tube is a much better service for the car than any "pro" FI cleaning. Try to do that DIY or talk to your mechanic about it. People rave about pro service because they paid for it and are defensive about the fact they were duped. Also a clean MAZF is better, it will not fail if you use the right cleaners and dry it before driving. On 12V Foum, 1pissedoff90 used to build custom intake tracts, velocity stacks and do a lot of custom MAF things, just clening an oem one with some cleaner made for electronics is a normal thing for all cars, not just on Audis. Leave the battery disconnected overnight to reset the computer afterwards. Don't forget the power steering fluid exchange and G-12/Dexcool is not the best coolant, it in fact hurts the system. Get into more DIY, that's where it's at.