TerraClean -Just had it done + air filter + vortex breather.

TerraClean -Just had it done + air filter + vortex breather.

Author
Discussion

Digby

Original Poster:

8,230 posts

245 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
quotequote all
So, picked up this 2000 330D manual for some hacking about in and have to say, I am rather impressed.
She's not mint, but not bad for something which has covered 154k miles.It only needed a minor job for the new MOT so also came with 13 months.Nice.




On startup, it did smell a tad smoky / sooty, although there was minimal exhaust smoke, but despite decent history, I thought I would treat her to some bits..

First up, an air filter and a newer Vortex type oil breather / seperator...

I think it's safe to say it needed a new air filter! Changing it was a bit fiddly compared to most I have done, but not as bad as I thought.I was certainly suprised at the size of the thing! The result of changing the air filter was positive indeed.It lost the sooty smell on startup and certainly seemed to pull better.






At the same time the housing etc was off for the air filter, I changed the oil seperator for the newer Vortex type.It's certainly safe to say it needed a new one of those! If you pressed your finger into the old sponge, you could almost produce liquid due to it being so blocked..





I then ordered up some new engine oil + filter, some diff oil, a new bonnet badge and a new battery for one of the keys (I will probably break this mind you seeing as it involves cutting open the key rather than paying BMW a fortune..) so will do thos jobs when the bits arrive.

Moving on..

My old school mate had his Audi fail the MOT and tried a local TerraClean guy to remedy the problems.He came, did his thing and the car passed first time.Despite my BMW having no major issues (mot passed, idle was good, performance was good etc) I thought I would treat her anyway as I just liked the thought of it having some crud cleared out.I know some will say an Italian tune up is just as good, or various other additives etc can make a difference, but I wanted to see if this service made much difference to a car which didn't have any real issues in the first place..

The mobile guy arrived in his van and set to work.I have to say, I have never seen so many hoses and connectors in my life (forgot to snap his box of bits!) and the equipment certainly looked impressive (and expensive!)







He was here for over an hour doing his thing and you are probably wondering whether it was worth having it done or not..

The answer to that question, on my car at least, is a resounding YES!

Once he had finished, he asked me to take the car for a spin (and it probably would have if the TC was off).I gave the old girl some stick and instantly noticed it pulling harder lower down the rev range.It felt decent before, but not as good as it does now.It also kept pulling really smoothly compared to before.My grin was wider and longer lasting, no doubt about it.I realise what all the PH fuss was about, now!

Two things really stood out for me however..

1) The engine on tickover just sounded less like a diesel.I'm not saying it was a clattering mess beforehand and I'm not saying it's silent now, but it now just ticks over with less noise and less audible 'stuff' happening.

2) Everything feels super smooth when changing gear.Again, it wasn't a jerky / bucking affair before the service, but unless you partly focused and made a small amount of effort with inputs on gear changes, you got a 'not quite how BMW intended it to be' type of feeling.Something probably akin to a wearing prop joint or similar; like something was taking a moment to 'catch up'.I came back from my test drive feeling like the car had just had a new clutch fitted.It now appears to gracefully ease in the power when you change with a silky smoothness.

The guy was a real nice chap, too and was happy to arrive early and crack on with it.All in all, a nice treat for the BMW bus smile

LeoZwalf

2,802 posts

229 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
quotequote all
Interesting stuff. My dad has a 2000 Mercedes 320 CDi with around 200,000 miles on it and has been talking to me for a while about a strong unpleasant diesel fume / exhaust smell. Although no complaints about the way the car drives, I wonder if this treatment might be worth him trying. Before I mention it to him though I do have some questions for you...

What does this treatment actually do? I found their website but it doesn't give much useful information even on the "How Terraclean works" page.

https://www.terraclean.co.uk/how-terraclean-works

Terraclean website said:
How TerraClean Works

TerraClean is a technology developed by a group of scientists in Canada. They were commissioned by the Canadian government to develop a zero emissions engine. They did manage to achieve this goal, but the technology involved and the fuel used to achieve this would necessitate an increase to the price of the vehicles, due to the need to retro fit a "reactor" which molecularly alters the state of the fuel. That increase in cost coupled with the cosof the highly refined fuel, developed for the project, which would retail at over £ 40 per litre rendered the concept non-viable to introduce into the cars motorist drive.

All such engineering projects demand close attention to the condition of the test vehicles being used. The engineering inspections carried out in this project clearly demonstrated that the process was not only not developing carbon build up, usually associated with all internal combustion engines, in fact it was removing pre-existing carbon previously built up in the engines as well as other deposits which usually build up particularly from use of lower grade/quality fuels.

So whilst the Zero Emissions vehicle project was set aside the technology was taken in a different direction and the concept of TerraClean Decarbonisation equipment was developed. This has proven very successful with over 13,000 machines in operation in the North American market, mainly in franchised dealer workshops. Whilst quite new to the UK marketplace already the technology is proving its value to private owners and fleet operators alike, who are both saving money by reduced fuel costs and lowering their emissions. Essentially by taking a vehicle back to its level of cleanliness not long after being new the efficiency and performance are improved.

So if you have not already done so, use the simple link to the right, instantly identify your local Service Agent and take the first step to improving your vehicle today.
Sounds like marketing guff to me.
So - what did all those pipes and tubes do?
Can you give us a rough idea of cost?
Have you seen a change in MPG?

hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
quotequote all
In my e60 the same result could be achieved by restring the gearbox learned values.

Having said that it had already been manually cleaned out of gunk from intake and egr.

My d5 equipped volvo was recently fitted with a brand new intake manifold and the difference In Drive ability was immense.

However you clean it out it makes a difference in a good way

Digby

Original Poster:

8,230 posts

245 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
quotequote all
Price was £130 for a diesel engine this size.It is less for smaller engines and petrol, though.

The pipes take over from your fuel system so despite the car running for extended periods of time, the fuel and cleaners are all provided via the hoses and the machine.As mentioned, there are probably other ways to clean a system and get results, but I didn't fancy getting my hands dirty this time round and had heard good things about this method.

Not sure about MPG as this was only done this morning.Mine seems to be quite good anyway so I wasn't worried about that side of things, but it's nicer to drive now, less noisy and pulls better.

It's also worth mentioning that the air filter and Vortex have been in since last weekend, so the improvements are not a result of those.I was sceptical, I must admit, but I am really pleased with the results.

Digby

Original Poster:

8,230 posts

245 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
quotequote all
If anyone missed the Wheeler Dealer episode..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiViPKIoG68


hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
quotequote all
But where does all the carbon, soot and oil go when it's terracleaned? Through the engine and into the exhaust catalytic and dpf??

BGarside

1,564 posts

136 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
quotequote all
Anyone had good results from this on a petrol?

I'm wondering if my 21 year old BMW might benefit from this as it's quite low mileage and might have spent quite a lot of time sitting unused.