I use Ultra Platinum Pennzoil and I baby mine, and change twice a year no matter what mileage...No oil war intended again...I believe going easy to keep the intakes from oil deposits.., but don't lug or let the engine labor under loads..

 

 

I have a 2014 Ford Escape 2.0 Titanium. It has about 85K miles on it and I have done regular maintenance on it.

My question are:

1) Carbon build up on this model because of the design of the pistons as the fuel is sprayed underneath and does not work as a cleaner and cooler. Hope this makes sense? If that is the case then the fuel cleaner would not work to clean carbon?

 

I moved your carbon buildup question to this forum. Have a look at some of the other posts for help

 

so these have been around for 6 model years now, I haven't read all 11 pages of replies but has anyone reported widespread issues? Any higher mileage engines with this issue? I have both a 2016 Escape 2.0 and Mustang 2.3 EB and while I was concerned when getting the stang in 2015 it seems these issues are largely overblown, and Ford has somehow done what BMW and Audi/VW could not which is make intakes not coke up to the point of an issue.

 

I don't think a single person has come on this forum and shown proof positive that this is a problem. When I sold my 2013 with 122,000 miles on her, the valves were not that bad. IMHO, if someone is going to keep their ecoboost for more than 150,000 miles, then probably want to clean the valves at lest once in the vehicles lifetime.

 

I have a 2013 2 liter Titanium AWD 98,000 miles
I only use top tier gasoline,and 100% synthetic oil "pennzoil platinum" made from natural gas.
So far have had no engine issues
I also have had all updatable modules updated with current software,including the ECM

 

I don't know if this has been linked in the thread earlier- it's worth reading : Blog : Understanding your PCV system, upgrades, and catch cans : Stratified Automotive Controls

 

OK, so I took on the job of cleaning the carbon off the intake valves of my 2015 Escape 2.0 engine with 42K miles. The job was pretty easy and took roughly six hours total. Here's a rundown:
I began by pulling the coils and the plugs. I didn't disconnect the battery because I didn't want to upset the computer programs. This is not a problem as long as you keep your fingers out of the throttle body, which is not hard to do as long as you're careful.
The manifold comes off easily: five bolts and maybe six electrical connections plus a couple of vacuum hoses, plus disconnecting the intake hose from the throttle body. None of that is a big deal.
I cleaned the carbon and oil out of the throttle body with throttle body cleaner and a rag.
The intake valves were pretty dirty for 42K miles. All four had about 1 mm of hard, dry coking on them and a large ball of oily black goo the consistency of play doh stuck to them. I cleaned them using a set of small brass brushes I got from Harbor Freight, connected by a flexible extension to my electric drill, along with a set of brass tube brushes I got from Amazon (see photos). With a bit of patience, they cleaned up pretty well. I jury-rigged a narrow flexible tube to my small shop vac and vacuumed all the debris out several times during the cleaning process to keep anything from falling into the cylinders.
I only worked on the valves in the closed position. I accomplished this by turning the engine over with the starter while the plugs were out. I only had to turn it over twice. The first time, valves in cylinder 2, 3, and 4 were all closed. After the second spin, only valves in cylinder 2 remained open. After scraping with a long screwdriver and a bent pick, and running the brass brushes over them, I sprayed in some throttle body cleaner and let it set for a few minutes, then soaked it all out with a rag. They looked pretty good when i was done. I turned the engine over for about 20 seconds when I was done to blow anything out of the cylinders through the spark plug holes that might have fallen in there. I put the manifold back on, replaced the plugs and coils, and fired her up. I had to start and restart her twice because the computer got confused and faulted on the first start, I believe due to the change in the airflow through the intake. It relearned and by the second restart the fault cleared on its own and she was purring like a kitten!!
One important takeaway from this: a catch can is not only a good idea; I think it's absolutely required if you want your ecoboost to last. I was pretty shocked at how much carbon buildup there was in the intake of my engine at 42K and how much peppier the engine was after the cleaning! So you only have two choices, I think: either plan on manually cleaning your valves every 40-50K miles or invest in a catch can. That is my next project.

 

Just to clarify, there are two intake valves per cylinder, so there are a total of eight valves to clean. So please hold your comments on that, since I wasn't clear on that in my comment; thanks!!

 

Some pictures; dirty valves, jury-rigged vac attachment, Harbor Freight brushes, drill and extension

 

One more comment and I'm done
I just rented a 2020 Ford Ranger pickup for a couple of days. The truck had 7800 miles on it. Its engine: a 2.3L Ecoboost. It ran like crap and had that stupid feature where it shuts off automatically at stoplights and has to restart when you hit the gas to proceed. What a piece of junk!! Also, in doing a bit of research, I learned that this new vehicle's engine STILL only has direct injection - not the multi-port injection that the other automakers are going to in order to solve the valve coking problems. So Ford continues to stick it to customers with this GDI system, with no solution other than to sell the damn things when the warranty runs out or to have to spend money on expensive maintenance procedures. I'll be buying a Toyota or a Honda next time!!

 

Direct injection was purely done to meet tighter emissions. But the side effects are going to create a worse emission problem as carbon buildup on older engines negatively affects engine efficiency. Sort of fixing the certification problem but ignoring long term issues. The Start/Stop feature doesn't help if you ask me. Remember when experts said it was hard on a engine to start and stop it? Again, another trade off to meet emissions to satisfy a initial certification that has negative ramifications later on. Yes, the solution to carbon buildup on DGI is the addition of port injectors to aid in basically cleaning intakes. But this adds complexity so now you have double the injectors to maintain. Later in life these engines could cost a owner a lot to keep running. My Toyota RAV4 has Port and Direct injectors, my Ford Ecosport 2.0 only had direct. At 6000 miles it already idles rougher then new. As a former mechanic, my recommendation is to wait to do any sort of de-carbon treatment until you notice reduced performance or MPG. Obviously any form of fuel additive does nothing for a DGI system unless you also have port injectors. I don't blame car makers for this mess, but environmental agencies that set the bar to high only to see these engines perform worse in the long run.

 

Somewhere in this site is a report on my experience with removing the intake manifold and manually cleaning the intake valves. It isn't a bad job; just takes a few hours. What I found was a lot of soft carbon but little hard coking on the valves. The soft stuff and most of the coking was easily removed. I believe that the non-severity of this situation was due to using top-tier gasoline (yes, additives do matter) and full synthetic oil changed every 4K miles. I've been ridiculed in this forum for changing the oil so often, but since most of the stuff that is reinjected back into the intake is suspended in motor oil it helps if that oil is both kept relatively clean and is a higher-flash-point synthetic oil. At the least, this certainly doesn't add to the problem. Keep in mind that the low-friction rings used in these engines, combined with the high ignition pressures, will create more blow-by, and the makeup of that blow-by, combined with crankcase oil, is what is being reinjected over your intake valves. Less gunk blowing by from top-end to crankcase (top tier gas burns cleaner), combined with a cleaner high-flash-point oil is, in my opinion, going to reduce carbon build-up and coking on intake valves. And it doesn't cost $500+ (and possibly void the vehicle warranty) like putting in a catch can most certainly can/will! Just my two cents...

 

i used a ovs/catch can on my 2014 2.0 fusion.. it works well,, still have some carbon build up( got the car with 143000 miles on it,, carbon is not to bad.. i will clean my valves soon.. but i am making a my own ovs/catch can.. bigger in diameter to get more of a pressure drop... and some brass pot scrubbers inside... to add to making the air cleaner..i have a old goretex jacket.. and i will use a patch of it to cover the exit from the ovs/ catch can..still use a bronze filter at the last section.. goretex will alow only air thru no vapours,oil or water.. and goretex is made of teflon it should not fall apart in the air stream

 

So you clean it?? If yes..how?? Manually? Thanks