Straight answers, including the awkward ones.

It is a maintenance process that removes the carbon deposits which build up inside every combustion engine. We feed hydrogen and oxygen — produced on the spot from distilled water — into the air intake while the engine idles. That helps break down the hard carbon baked onto valves, injector tips and piston crowns, and it leaves through the exhaust. Nothing is dismantled and no harsh chemicals are used. There is a longer explanation in our plain-English guide.

A basic clean is around 45 to 60 minutes. A deep clean runs roughly 90 minutes to two hours. Your car stays in the same spot the whole time, so you can be inside working or out entirely as long as we can get to it.

Yes, always — this is a fully mobile service. The machine and everything it needs travels in the van. Home driveway, work car park, a relative's place. We cover the whole North East with no call-out fee.

Both, plus hybrids. Cars, vans, 4x4s and light commercials. Diesels usually show the biggest change because they build carbon fastest, but modern direct-injection petrol engines benefit just as much — arguably more, because they lost the fuel wash that used to keep intake valves clean.

Yes. It is a non-invasive process — nothing is taken apart, no solvent goes into the engine, and the only thing introduced is gas made from distilled water. The one caveat: we would not run a clean on an engine with an active mechanical fault. If we spot a serious misfire, heavy oil burning or a cooling problem, we will tell you to get that sorted first. More on that here.

Often, yes — but we will not quote you a figure, because it depends entirely on how fouled the engine was to begin with. A heavily sooted diesel that has done nothing but school runs for six years has a lot to recover. A well-kept car that gets regular motorway miles has very little. Anyone promising a fixed percentage is guessing. The honest version is here.

Sometimes, if the root cause is carbon fouling on a sensor or a sticking valve. But a carbon clean is maintenance, not a diagnostic repair. If a component has actually failed, it still needs replacing — and we will say so rather than take your money.

No, and we will not claim otherwise. A carbon clean helps reduce the soot load going into the system, which supports a DPF over time. A DPF that is already heavily blocked needs a forced regeneration or a specialist clean. Full explanation here.

It can restore performance the engine has quietly lost to deposits. It will not give you more power than the engine was built with. If the car feels noticeably quicker afterwards, that is you getting back what carbon had taken away.

Basic clean £99, deep clean £149. Both include travel anywhere in our coverage area. No call-out fee, no mileage surcharge, no deposit, no upsell on the driveway. Full pricing here.

Because we run this alongside another business. Rather than publish a calendar we cannot always honour, we take requests and come back with times that genuinely work — including evenings and weekends. You send the details, we reply, and nothing is confirmed until you have agreed a slot.

Usually within a few hours, by text, call or email — whichever you prefer. If it is late at night it will be the next day.

Somewhere safe and reasonably level to park, access to the bonnet, and at least a quarter of a tank of fuel. No mains power needed. That is genuinely it.

Usually yes. Plenty of North East streets are terraced with no off-street parking, and the common answer is to do it at your workplace instead. Mention it on the booking form and we will find something that works.

Cash, bank transfer or card on the day, once the job is done. You get an invoice and receipt either way.

Yes — a dated invoice and receipt every time. Keep them with your service history. Documented maintenance protects resale value, and it is one more thing that tells a buyer the car was looked after.

Once a year, ideally alongside or close to your annual service. That is our honest recommendation and it is the whole basis of how we price it. Carbon never gets the chance to build to the point where it costs you money, and the clean slots into a routine you already have. More on the yearly rhythm.

Either works, but there is a slightly better order depending on what the service includes. We have written it up properly here.

If your emissions reading has been borderline before, it is worth doing a couple of weeks ahead rather than the day before, so you get some normal driving in afterwards. It is not a guarantee of a pass. Detail here.

Not too late, but expectations should be set properly. A high-mileage engine with heavy deposits usually responds well; a high-mileage engine that is mechanically tired will not be transformed. We go through it honestly here.

Take it for a decent run — twenty or thirty minutes at proper road speed, not stop-start town driving. That helps clear anything still working its way through and lets the engine settle into its new normal.