What Actually Happens During a Mobile Carbon Clean
Nobody likes booking a job they cannot picture. So here is exactly what happens during a mobile carbon clean on your driveway, from the moment the van pulls up to the moment we hand you the invoice.
Most of our customers have never had this done before, and the honest reason people hesitate is not the price — it is not knowing what they are letting into their driveway. This is the whole appointment, described plainly, with nothing dressed up.
Before the day: what you need to do
Very little, but three things help.
- Somewhere to park. We need to get the van reasonably close to your car — a driveway, a work car park, an unobstructed bit of street. Not a tight underground car park.
- Fuel in the tank. The engine idles for the whole cycle, so a quarter of a tank or more. Not much is used, but running out mid-cycle wastes everybody's morning.
- Tell us about the car honestly. Mileage, fuel type, any warning lights, any known faults. If there is something that means a clean is the wrong job, we would far rather know beforehand — we will tell you and we will not book it.
You do not need to clean the engine bay, arrange a bay, book time off, or supply power or water. The machine runs from the van and we bring our own distilled water.
Arrival and the first ten minutes
We turn up in the agreed window, park up, and start with a conversation rather than a machine. We will ask what the car is doing, what you have noticed, when it was last serviced, and what you are hoping for. If there is something in the answers that changes the picture — a DPF light, a misfire, heavy oil use — this is the point where we tell you.
Then a quick look over the engine bay. We are checking oil level, coolant, obvious leaks, the state of the intake ducting and anything visibly wrong. This is not a full diagnostic and we do not pretend it is, but it means we are not running a cleaning cycle on an engine that is telling us something.
If we open the bonnet and see a problem, you get a conversation, not a bill. We would rather lose the job than clean an engine that needed a garage.
Getting the engine ready
The engine needs to be at proper operating temperature before we start, so it either arrives warm or we run it until it is. A cold engine runs a richer mixture and less predictable combustion, and the process works best on an engine that is settled and hot.
We then connect the machine's gas feed into the air intake. Nothing is removed, nothing is unbolted, and no chemical goes anywhere near your fuel tank or your engine. Fitting takes a few minutes.
The cycle itself
This is the long part and, frankly, the dull part. The engine idles. The machine electrolyses distilled water into hydrogen and oxygen and feeds it into the intake, where it changes how combustion happens in the chamber — the mechanism is explained in full here. Loosened carbon leaves through the exhaust.
| Stage | Basic clean (£99) | Deep clean (£149) |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival, questions, engine bay check | 5–10 min | 5–10 min |
| Warm-up and connection | 5–10 min | 5–10 min |
| Cleaning cycle | Roughly 30–40 min | Roughly 70–95 min |
| Disconnect, checks, handover | 5–10 min | 5–10 min |
| Typical total on site | 45–60 min | 90–120 min |
Throughout, we stay with the vehicle. We are watching temperature, idle behaviour, and how the exhaust looks. On a properly sooty diesel you often see a darker haze partway through that clears as the cycle goes on. On a cleaner car you may see nothing, which simply means there was less there to shift.
You do not need to sit and watch. Most people go back indoors and get on with something. It is your own engine idling, so it is no louder than warming the car up on a frosty morning — no compressor, no rattle guns, no revving.
Finishing up
When the cycle completes we shut the engine down, disconnect and remove the gas feed, and put everything back exactly as it was. We check the bay over again — levels, connections, nothing left behind — and clear our kit off your drive.
Then a short handover. We will tell you what we observed: whether the engine looked heavily loaded, whether the exhaust told us anything, whether we think a deeper clean would be worth it next year or whether a basic is plenty. If we spotted something that needs a garage, you get told that too.
You get an invoice and a receipt every time. Keep them. They are what turn a series of individual jobs into a documented maintenance history, and that history is worth real money when you come to sell.
The first drive afterwards
Drive it normally. There is no running-in period and nothing to be careful about. If you can, take a longer run in the next day or two rather than a series of short hops — a sustained drive at proper temperature helps clear anything remaining and is good practice anyway if your normal pattern is mostly short journeys.
Some drivers notice a difference straight away, particularly in throttle response. Some notice it over a week as they settle back into normal driving. Some notice very little, and on a car that was already fairly clean that is a legitimate outcome rather than a failure — we will usually have warned you at the start if we thought that was likely.
When it fits into your year
Ideally once a year, close to your service. The reasoning, and which order to do them in, is in carbon clean before or after a service and how often you should carbon clean. Because we work evenings and weekends, fitting it around your week is usually straightforward — put your preferred times on the booking request and we will come back with what we can do.
Frequently asked
Do I need to be there for the whole appointment?
No. We need you at the start to hand over the keys and at the end to run through what we found and hand you the invoice. In between the engine idles and you can get on with your day indoors.
Do you need my electricity or my water?
No. The machine runs from the van and we bring our own distilled water. All we need is somewhere safe and legal to park next to your car.
Is it noisy? Will it annoy my neighbours?
It is your own engine idling — no louder than warming the car up on a cold morning. There is no compressor, no impact gun and no engine revving. Most neighbours do not notice.
Can you do it in a shared car park or on the street?
Often yes, provided we can park safely alongside the vehicle and we are not blocking access. Tell us the parking situation on the booking form and we will say straight away whether it works.
Want this done without leaving the house?
We are fully mobile across the whole North East — Newcastle to Middlesbrough, coast to the Tyne Valley. Basic carbon clean £99, deep clean £149, no call-out fee, invoice and receipt every time.