Quick info - stock RS1 manual and have around 27,000 car is a 2008. Car sat for 3 days and I hopped in to go to work and the car won't start.

More info - sounds like the engine is turning but no spark. Can smell gas (turned car over a few times) so gas is getting to engine. Have car towed to dealer. Figure this is a warranty issue, but get phone call and it is not a warranty issue.

Dealer says this - high carbon buildup on valves and injectors causing car not to start. Sounds odd to me since the car is at low miles, gone to same gas stations with wife's Honda and had no issues like this.

Plain facts - Was told that I don't rev the car up enough and short shift too often. This could contribute to the issue I'm having.

Solutions - well this is where you come in, anyone have this issue? Suggestions? Comments? Looking for your input here can't afford to part with money having the dealership or anyone else remove the carbon from my engine like this if I could prevent this from happening.

It's a ____er that I could possibly be preventing this from happening.

Cheers -

 

Yep, he's right. You gotta open her up once in a while and get on her. It's actually good for the engine. Obviously not all the time, but it's good for then engine to open her up so get all that carbon outta there. That is why when some people are driving and then they floor it, you see smoke come out their exhaust... that's actually a good thing. all that smoke is the shish that is built up in your engine. The injectors you should be able to clean off yourself, but the valves are another story. I would bite my tongue and pay for it to get done otherwise it will lead to other problems, like a destroyed engine at 50K and you don't want that. Good luck chief.

 

Growing up driving V8s and cruising I'm unfamiliar with revving up a 4cyl and not worrying about getting into that 4k to 5k powerband. I guess I still have a lot to learn even at my age

Time for that driving school.

Thanks

 

You got it grey fox

 

Something doesn't sound right.

Unless your lugging your engine constantly (which I doubt) you should not have that much carbon build up. Driving normally should not build up carbon like that. If so I am in trouble with my automatic xd.

I agree with criminaltc on revving the engine once in a while but really should not be necessary.

What octane gas were you using? Regular, mid or high octane?

 

I'm using 87 Octane - and I go to the same gas stations as my wife's Honda and no issues with the almost 100,00 miles on it. Also I have a log in the car of all my gas stops since when I bought the car in July of 08 the cost of gas was $4.09

 

Have the car back. So they flushed the Fuel Injection system/Exhaust and probably ran the car around at 5,000 rpm for fun. Also did a ECU update to the car. Explanation to the carbon buildup from the Service technician was that there is Oxygen added to the fuel in this area from 10-20% and this is a contributing factor to why this is happening.

Still scratching my head to the validity of this actually being the issue or not. I still think the ECU update was possibly the cause but why would the car run fine then not start?

 

try seafoam... its suppose to clean carbon deposits and stuff...or just pour a bit in your gas tank every few fill ups...it helps keep carbon low and injectors clean.

 

O2 added to what area? Was he basically saying the car was running rich and they leaned up the tune? Plus I don't buy into the whole carbon build up thing with a modern properly running fuel injected engine.

 

^X2. The dealer is giving you the symptom but not the problem. Your car is(or was) running rich(probably only at idle) which may lead to decreased life of your cat. If this continues start with cleaning your maf, then look at the O2 sensor. An easy way to keep your car working is to hit the gas(let it rev up to 2-3k) while turning it off. This will clear most of the carbon out of the cylinders so it will start better. Once again, this is treating the symptoms and not the cause.

 

First off.. You don't get carbon on the injectors.. Thats BS.. They can get clogged and develop a bad spray pattern from the fuel.. but they dont carboned up..
Your car not starting is not from the carbon buildup.. thats another issue..
It could have been flooded cause it didnt catch in time and then would not start..

As others mentioned, these are OHC engines and they are made to rev..
You need to get the rpms up to heat things up and burn off the carbon deposits.. You get that build up IF u lug the engine.. It's better to rev an OHC engine then to lug it.. they are not low torque engines like the domestics..
You can use some techron FI cleaner.. It's solvent based and works well.. Use a detergent based FI cleaner on a regular basis.. safer and effective without harsh chemicals that can destroy fuel system parts over time

 

That smoke you see when it's floored is a rich fuel mixture not being burnt completely. The manufacturers keep the engine rich under WOT to keep the EGT's in check. The ECM will also perform fine adjustments to run the proper air/fuel ratio under most conditions, except WOT..
which keeps the engine clean of carbon buildup..
Revving the engine is a good thing to do from time to time.. It mainly raises the temps enough to burn off mositure and combustion blow-by from the oil.. It will also help to burn off any carbon that might have built up..

 

The dealer is full of crap. You don't really think that you turned the car off and then while sitting for three days carbon built up enough on something so that it wouldn't start again.
That is silly.....especially if there were no symptoms prior to this.

 

I've had so many people around me say the same thing. The dealer is full of it and the more I hear the same thing the more angry I get at the dealer. If I get time today I'm calling them and demanding an explanation and looking to get my money back. It is not acceptable that they out right lied to me and then was happy to take my money.
On top of that when they pulled the car out of the shop the tech or whomever pulled it out and hit the door into a bush and the door had a bunch of pine tar on it.

I think the root of the issue was a firmware update that was done to resolve a issue where the car has some kind of electrical issue where it slowly drains the battery and then when it sits the battery doesn't have enough power to fire the ignition system and crank the engine over. Had someone mention the same issue and discribe it exactely as my issue so I'm thinking that the dealer is covering up a problem with the firmware for the car's main computer chip. Which is under warranty and they didn't need to charge me a dime for.

 

I have a turbo xA and just yesterday had the exact same problem. Tried to start the car to go to work, it didn't quite catch, stopped, and then just turned over and over like it had no spark. I am pretty sure it had been running rich lately, just had not fixed it. I do not know if that is the problem, it still will not start. It's not like I drive it gently all the time, so I don't think it would have a lot of build-up.

 

This is becoming a common problem:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=210630

It certainly has nothing to do with carbon build up.
It's hard to get it fixed unless it does it all the time. I have eventually been able to get it started so i haven't had it towed to the dealer. My car is a CPO so it has a 100K mile warranty with a $50 deductible so I hope I can eventually get it to the dealer when it is screwed up so it can be properly diagnosed. Since the car doesn't throw any codes it makes me think it is an ECM malfunction, since the dealer couldn't come up with the real reason they made up some crap about carbon build up. I suspect it is an ECM problem. If it was carbon build up it would do it all the time.

 

Do you have the tuning specs for when you tuned the car for the turbo?

 

I'll add to this thread with the same issue I am dealing with on my wife's car.

About two months ago we ran into the same issue: 2008 xD 144K

-Car sat for a couple days
-Wouldn't start up
-Very rough when first started
-Once running ran just fine and would start back up with no problems.

Differences:

-Threw Misfire Cyl 1,2,3,4 and misc. misfire OBD2 codes.
-Battery was deemed dead.
-Got new battery from dealer, issue went away.

Now here we are two months later and her car sat for a couple of days and it again will not start. My guess is that I will once again find the battery dead, and if I replace it it will be fine. When we drive her car daily it has no issues so I don't think its a charging issue as much as it is a draining issue.

I am completely in the dark here. I've got ECU reflash and OCV for the vvti system as solutions. The OCV/timing explanation makes sense to me, but does not explain the dead batteries.

 

Check your electrical system out.. See what kind of power the car is drawing with everything shut off.. There is always a trickle of battery power being used for the door locks, etc.. Make sure your not drawing too
much.. Also be sure the grounds are in good shape and are making good contacts so your battery is being charged back up properly..

 

FYI

http://www.automd.com/tsb/bulletin_b290649/

2008 Toyota Scion Xd Engine And Engine Cooling Service Bulletin 290649

NHTSA: Action Number: 10033637 Service Bulletin Number: 290649

Summary: Scion: no start or extended crank and/or mil on dtc p030# or p0015. Some model year vehicles may exhibit one or more of the following conditions after a cold soak due to carbon accumulation in the engine combustion chambers.

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Thats why your dealership said it was carbon build up.