Carbon Buildup in the LT1 - Direct Injection
 

Hi everyone. I am new on these forums but I wanted to know if the carbon build up is as bad as some other direct injection engines. It might be too soon to tell on this gen of camaro but has anyone already experienced the problem?

I searched all over for problems on the LT1 regarding this matter, but the corvette forums show "preventative" measures and just general acceptance of this. Doesnt tell me much.

With the LT1 on the Camaro, built a catch can into part of the engine, on the PVC side you need a 3rd party one like the one Mishimoto created.

Catch can ASAP...

A catch can does seem to be a great help, but i just hope this is not something that I have to experience at 30k miles. Going to have to speak to a mechanic at the dealership to get a feel for how this is handled and what I should anticipate.

This is a 100k and above situation, things dont really break, just need to be cleaned out at that mileage..

Relax, forums can create paranoia easily......

I decarbonize every 50k as well as flush injectors on all my cars. Going to begin doing it at 25k. Once you have the equipment, the chemicals are about $20.00

The older generation direct injection engines were really bad.

They have made changes, and want engines to last without any problems through the warranty period.

Its for sure still a problem, but it will take some miles to really get enough carbon to start causes noticeable problems.

The truth is nobody knows how bad the LT1 is with carbon build up.

Wanted to resurrect this topic. Any new information on this topic of carbon build up? It's a real issue in many German manufacturers with DI.

There are already well over a million of these engines on the road since 2013 and no sirens going off.

As mentioned, having an oil-air separator on this engine helps with carbon build up quite a bit. I don't expect there to really be any issue. I will likely run a cleaner once I get near 40K miles, but that's about it. I think the engine would be fine until maybe near 100k, but I'm all about preventative maintenance.

Here is mine at 15.5K miles. This was taken tonight. The Mishimoto unit has been on for about 14K miles. There is a bit of accumulation at the base of the valve stem but the top face of the valves looked good.

Attachment 835397

Tim

Wow, that looks much better than I thought it would...

So you have a Mishimoto catch can, what oil are you running?

Don't forget the LT1 does have a "catch can" so to speak built into the factory system. The oil drains back into the pan. Now I am not saying a catch can is a bad idea or that you shouldn't get one if it makes you feel better. It will not hurt a thing if installed correctly. Just saying we do have one from the factory.

Factory one is on the other side...and works differently.