Just had my husbands car carbon flushed, primarily to clean the injectors, performance is so much better now, the mechanic said it also flushes out the carbon deposits throughout the engine....

would this be beneficial for the beetle????

probally not as your Bettle dosent have fuel injection

the best service for your Beetle is to change the engine oil regularly

i know there is no fuel injection.... the angle i'm curious about is the carbon deposits in the engine that have built up over 45years.... could the flushing work for that... or is it even an issue???

Depends

When was the motor last rebuilt??
Does it run on when you turn it off??

"Some" people recommend putting/pouring a SLOW stream of water down the carb whil the motor is idling at high revs.
This will clean any carbon deposits out.

How much did they charge and how did they do it??

an old mechanic freind that i know showed me how to properly do the old italian tune up method with water

all these old grannys that putt down to the shops and back once a fortnight that carbon up theyre cars he had a method for

he had a spray bottle rig setup get it nice and warm and give the carb a few squirts of water while flogging the shit outta it down a quiet country road cos of the smoke screen it makes

came back with a nice steam cleaned engine purring like a kitteh again

Thanks for the advice, the engine has been rebuilt but before i owned it. She is starting to run for a second or so after ignition is turned off.

the carbon flush is $180 and i don't know how they did it, but the other car is great now.

I used to do them when i was a mechanic. Basically you pull the fuel pump fuse, disconnect the fuel line from the rail, crimp the return and Hook up the pressurised can of solvent to the rail. The rig had a little pressure reg so you just started the car and adjusted it so it idled ok and let the can run through until empty, about 10min from memory. I dont think it would remove massive deposits from a couple hundred thousand KM's, but if done every couple of services should keep the injectors clean and remove deposits from the ports and valves before they got really hardened and built up.

On another interesting note BMW V8's(maybe the others as well?) from the 90's had a real problem of clogging up the intakes with carbon deposits, so we had a Factory BMW Walnut Shell Blaster!!! Complete with BMW approved walnut shells! You would remove the intake manifold, turn each port over till the valve was closed and bolt this contraption over the port and it would sit there blasting the port with walnut shells till it was clean as new! Engines ran like new afterwards!

You can get carbon build up in the heads...

around the valves and spark plugs and on the valves..

its Not normally a problem with VW engines these days...

VW Engines do not get carbon build up inside the engine
as they used to in the 50s 60s because of the Detergent oil We use now...
when detergent oils were first introduced..
many engines rattled and lost compression
as the carbon was keeping the engine tight and oil pressure high... this was with All old car engines...
and caused major problems..

I wouldn't waste $180 on Your VW engine...

You can buy additives You add to Your fuel tank to clean Fuel injectors... Wynns NULON etc..

You used to be able to buy a spray to spray down the carburetor throat to clean the engine inlet exhaust etc
but this is hard to find now as Carburetors have Not been on New cars for many years....

Lee

http://www.superbeetles.com/index.htm 

You can also buy a bottle of REDEX or Wynns ??
called engine flush [I think]
You pour it into the engine oil
run the engine for a few minutes
then drain the oil and all the sludge will come out..

I have had a bottle of this for about 5 years....
never tried it out yet.....

Lee

http://www.superbeetles.com/index.htm 

Those engine flush additives are ok I think, but no substitute for regular oil changes. Doing a simple oil change in between the service intervals (eg at 7500kms) is the nicest thing you can do for a new car. The main problem with carbon builups is in engines with hydralic lifters and tensioners etc, mainly from manufactures extended service intervals. Lift the oil cap off a newish car that has had 25000 km oil changes and city driving and you will see what I mean. Ive also seen Bora's etc with blocked pickups.

Thanks for thice guys, i think i'll try the additives then oil change.

Use Wynns "spitfire plus" in your fuel (directions are on the bottle)

Redex also makes a fuel treatment, I used this in my L Bug when I drove it back from Melbourne. Put some down the carbie throat and the rest in the tank...............................works well

You need to use a petrol treatment for carbon build up, not an oil treatment.