GDI Engines Worth It?

[CajunMick]

Well, I have a new 2023 XLT. And probably intake valves pretty shiny now. Been reading about these GDI engines, and how affects engines, particularly the valves. I was a mechanic in my younger days, did lots of valves jobs. Even back then with carburetors those valves would get dirty, mostly the exhaust valves, covered with carbon. Intakes would have some junk on them too.

So the modern GDI/turbocharges engines would tend to see backsides of intakes get really dirty. Not a warm fuzzy feeding for me.

some say change your oil often with Ford spec good oil, drive easy, not tow hard, nor do hills, where the turbo will put more boost., this might minimize buildups on the intake valves.

The more I do research here and elsewhere, I am beginning to think if I did right thing, buying a Maverick. The dealer I brought the truck from has a Warranty Forever program on drivetrains. But these warranty programs have hic cups clauses in them. I may have to seriously consider the FordProtect plan. I had that on my F250 truck, given the complexity of these vehicles. The saving grace may be I’m retired, don’t travel as much these days, vehicle parked in driveway. I had it fir 3 weeks so far, only 344 miles on odometer so far.

however, I want to point out my F250 diesel has direct injection, turbo feeds to Intake valves, other than the fuel, not much different aspects from any GDI principles.

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[surfstar]

You'll be fine. Internet is full of horror stories. Most aren't true. I had some worry with previous VW - turbo GDI - never had any intake valve problems.

If it happens, deal with it at that point. Running around adding catch cans and worrying about fuel and additives and all that - its a bunch of worrying for a small likelihood occurrence. Pay for a cleaning if the issue comes up. In the meantime, enjoy your retirement!

 

[icegradner]

Not running cheap poor quality gas will help too. Just keep up on oil changes at 5k miles (ignore the non-sense in the manual) and you'll be fine.

 

[EIlig]

Well, I have a new 2023 XLT. And probably intake valves pretty shiny now. Been reading about these GDI engines, and how affects engines, particularly the valves. I was a mechanic in my younger days, did lots of valves jobs. Even back then with carburetors those valves would get dirty, mostly the exhaust valves, covered with carbon. Intakes would have some junk on them too.

So the modern GDI/turbocharges engines would tend to see backsides of intakes get really dirty. Not a warm fuzzy feeding for me.

some say change your oil often with Ford spec good oil, drive easy, not tow hard, nor do hills, where the turbo will put more boost., this might minimize buildups on the intake valves.

The more I do research here and elsewhere, I am beginning to think if I did right thing, buying a Maverick. The dealer I brought the truck from has a Warranty Forever program on drivetrains. But these warranty programs have hic cups clauses in them. I may have to seriously consider the FordProtect plan. I had that on my F250 truck, given the complexity of these vehicles. The saving grace may be I’m retired, don’t travel as much these days, vehicle parked in driveway. I had it fir 3 weeks so far, only 344 miles on odometer so far.

however, I want to point out my F250 diesel has direct injection, turbo feeds to Intake valves, other than the fuel, not much different aspects from any GDI principles.

Ignore the 'internet research".

Most of what you're reading are anecdotal experiences combined with the ignorance of armchair mechanics...

You'll be fine

 

[NoVaJimmy]

Not running cheap poor quality gas will help too. Just keep up on oil changes at 5k miles (ignore the non-sense in the manual) and you'll be fine.

Gas quality has nothing to do with valve buildup, it's direct injection, the fuel gets injected directly into the cylinders and never touches the top side of the valves. There will be carbon buildup after about 30k miles, severe if you change oil less frequently, use an inferior oil or have certain driving habits/routines. When it gets bad you'll experience a cylinder miss or possibly a loss of compression. How do I know? I clean my valves every 30k and there is ALWAYS buildup. I will be sure to take photos of my next cleaning in about 12k miles but you can easily do your own google search or watch videos on youtube.

 

[icegradner]

Gas quality has nothing to do with valve buildup, it's direct injection, the fuel gets injected directly into the cylinders and never touches the top side of the valves. There will be carbon buildup after about 30k miles, severe if you change oil less frequently, use an inferior oil or have certain driving habits/routines. When it gets bad you'll experience a cylinder miss or possibly a loss of compression.

Ah, so the ECO isn't dual injection? Makes sense, guess it was one of the cost saving measures.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

Ah, so the ECO isn't dual injection? Makes sense, guess it was one of the cost saving measures.

Some ecoboost engines are and supposedly there is a new version of the 2.0 that will use both port and DI but the Mav is too much of a budget vehicle for Ford to want to do that.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

Ignore the 'internet research".

Most of what you're reading are anecdotal experiences combined with the ignorance of armchair mechanics...

You'll be fine

So what proof do you have that it's not an issue? Not sure how you can claim with certainty that it's not a problem when there is plenty of evidence via photo and video to disprove your baseless claim.

87k miles:


120kmiles:

 

[CajunMick]

You'll be fine. Internet is full of horror stories. Most aren't true. I had some worry with previous VW - turbo GDI - never had any intake valve problems.

If it happens, deal with it at that point. Running around adding catch cans and worrying about fuel and additives and all that - its a bunch of worrying for a small likelihood occurrence. Pay for a cleaning if the issue comes up. In the meantime, enjoy your retirement!

Probably what I do.
One thing I will do, like I did for our Escape 1.5 L engine, after buying new, did ~1,000 miles on the oil, then took it in to local dealer fir fresh oil n filter change. Service mgr pushed back saying too early, not ready fir oil change. I pushed back saying “you will change oil, I’m paying for it!“ And if not, there’s another dealer around who will.

 

[fossil]

so the carburetor engines with the intake valves constantly awash in "cleaning" gasoline gummed up. who would have thought it possible.

 

[BlueOval5.0]

I am having second thoughts as well. I think you are on to something.

 

[surfstar]

A whole LOT of modern engines are GDI for emissions and efficiency.

Yet there aren't recalls for gunked and failed valves. It happens, yes, but it isn't a widespread, common issue like some on the internet want you to think. If you see a "compelling" title to a YouTube video - that's called clickbait and has nothing to do with presenting true, relevant information.

 

[Guv]

We had a 2013 Escape with the previous gen 2.0 that I drove like I stole it for 70,000 miles. Most all highway with premium and M1 from the start. Never had a lick of trouble, fuel economy never changed and it ran like a striped ass ape! I’m sure it had some int valve deposits but you sure couldn’t tell, it was awesome.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

A whole LOT of modern engines are GDI for emissions and efficiency.

Yet there aren't recalls for gunked and failed valves. It happens, yes, but it isn't a widespread, common issue like some on the internet want you to think. If you see a "compelling" title to a YouTube video - that's called clickbait and has nothing to do with presenting true, relevant information.

All due respect but you sound like someone who has never actually cleaned valves on a DI engine to be honest. This is my third 2.0 Ecoboost and I cleaned the valves every 30k on the two previous which went 150k miles each and at 30k there was significant buildup. This was even back when Ford was having a lot of issues with carbon buildup on 2.0 valves and their official stance was that there was no authorized method of cleaning the valves, their "fix" was to replace the cylinder head. I was blasting them with walnut shells anyway and never had a problem.

 

[surfstar]

All due respect but you sound like someone who has never actually cleaned valves on a DI engine to be honest. This is my third 2.0 Ecoboost and I cleaned the valves every 30k on the two previous which went 150k miles each and at 30k there was significant buildup. This was even back when Ford was having a lot of issues with carbon buildup on 2.0 valves and their official stance was that there was no authorized method of cleaning the valves, their "fix" was to replace the cylinder head. I was blasting them with walnut shells anyway and never had a problem.

Correct.
I was fully prepared to have to pay to Walnut blast my VW valves. Never needed over 75k + miles and 10k mile oil changes and cheap 87 octane fuel.

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