What mileage do you get misfire codes due to plugged up intake?

[Remorseless]

My previous vehicle was a 2016 Nissan Juke SL with the 1.6 i4 turbo DI engine. I bought it brand new with 3 miles on the odometer. I used the same top shelf fuel and oil as I now use in the Jeep. I also changed the oil and filter every 5k miles, like I do with the Jeep.

At about 40k miles on the odometer, I started to notice that it didn't feel quite as crisp and peppy. Nothing seemed unusual with the used oil and I began cutting the filters open to check the media, but never found anything that raised further questions.

My wife bought the same exact vehicle. We drove off the dealers lot on the same day. Yeah, yeah... I know... "so cute". Reason for openly admitting that, is because she wasn't racking up the miles as fast as me, at that point, so I had a duplicate with a quarter of the mileage on it for a direct comparison.

By the time mine had 50k on the clock, the pep difference between the 2 cars had grown a noticeable amount more. Oil change and other non invasive inspections were still coming up with nothing, so figured it was time for a set of plugs anyway. Maybe that would do the trick. They were all ready for retirement, but nothing drastic. Electrodes were eroded a bit, but far from causing an issue from too big of a gap. Typical carbon buildup that I've seen on many family and friends vehicles (I've since learned to tell people that I work at McDonald's). The fresh set of plugs garnered no improvement according to the butt dyno.

I began searching the interweb, and quickly started hearing about carbon buildup in DI engines. My mechanical years were spent on commercial trucks and mostly heavy equipment, so just diesels. Up until the Juke and Jeep, all of my personal vehicles were diesels. I was well versed in diesel soot and the lovely clogging of the intake when a valve stem seal let loose, but never heard of the same from a gasser until this point.

I never got a chance to dig into the Juke, because I traded it in for my JLUR, which I happened to have already been researching since before losing pep in the Juke.

My wife's Juke has about 80k on the odometer now. On rare occasion, I drive it and notice that same bit of pep loss, but just a bit, and it hasn't had a single hiccup or CEL yet. Knock on wood. Still, I'm more concerned with the CV transmission. I'm hearing about them becoming nightmares as the miles stack up. She's needing a bit bigger of a vehicle, so her Juke will also be traded in sooner than later.

Point of all this babble? I'm convinced that the Jukes were/are suffering the carbon buildup due to DI. But with twice the mileage on my Jeep, than the Juke had when it lost some pep, and still feeling as strong as ever.... I see no reason to be concerned at this point.

Was this you?

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[Headbarcode]

Was this you?

Not quite.

Have you ever seen the Juke R 2.0? They were a limited number run, looked almost like a regular one, but had the 600hp engine and drivetrain from the GT-R Nismo.

 

[Remorseless]

Not quite.

Have you ever seen the Juke R 2.0? They were a limited number run, looked almost like a regular one, but had the 600hp engine and drivetrain from the GT-R Nismo.

Damn, little thing's got some go!

 

[Headbarcode]

Damn, little thing's got some go!

Yeah, it sure did give the actual muscle car a run for the money.

 

[Chance_P]

Lots of knowledgeable people posting in this thread so I'm going to ask this here.. theoretically, could carbon build up on intake valves be the cause of a funky popping sound coming from the 2.0 on cold starts? Almost sounds like popcorn popping in a microwave..

 

[diesel_dave]

Lots of knowledgeable people posting in this thread so I'm going to ask this here.. theoretically, could carbon build up on intake valves be the cause of a funky popping sound coming from the 2.0 on cold starts? Almost sounds like popcorn popping in a microwave..

I wouldn't think so. Next time your engine is cold, pop the hood, start the engine and put your hand on the linkage that goes between the wastegate actuator and the wastegate on the turbocharger. See if the sound goes away when you are holding that linkage. My 4xe is a little loose and rattles some times. My 2 door is not loose and doesn't rattle.

Obviously, don't do this if your engine isn't completely cool because you will get burned.

 

[wrc777]

You also have to consider the effect of a 20mpg 2.0 vs a 40 mpg 2.0 which is roughly the difference between a Jeep and a VW sedan. The 20mpg engine is running hotter with double the flow past the same sized valves. Heat and flow will both keep the valves cleaner. There are also intake and exhaust valve opening strategies that will help with the buildup that were not present on the first direct injected VW and Toyota engines.

The only plugging intake manifold I have heard of is the ~2000s VW TDIs. They ran EGR (which is full of soot and occasionally unburned hydrocarbons on a diesel) back through the intake manifold and that plus CCV could create quite the mixture of goop that would solidify in the actual intake manifold. I am not sure those ever had issues with the intake valves.

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