New engines more susceptible to fouling? Here's how to protect them
By Bardahl • The 3/6/2025 • 5 min reading
If you're even slightly interested in automobiles, you've probably heard of downsizing. This English term means "reducing size." Since around the 2000s, car manufacturers have been reducing engine displacement while improving the power-to-liter ratio. Here's a concrete example: a 1.6-liter, 150-horsepower 4-cylinder engine, for example, was converted into a 1.2-liter, 3-cylinder unit with the same power.
Initial objective: reducing emissions
But why resort to downsizing? To reduce polluting emissions from engines. However, "downsized" engines are subject to more technical constraints, while requiring "gimmicks," such as turbochargers, to be ever more efficient.
To reduce pollution, internal combustion engine cars have also been fitted, over time, with catalysts, EGR valves, and particulate filters. All of these technical components are extremely sensitive to clogging, which degrades engine performance.
Other factors increase fouling
Increasing traffic jams, coupled with low-speed city driving, also contribute to engine fouling. Indeed, when operating at low revs, an engine has difficulty warming up and evacuating exhaust gases. As a result, soot and carbon build up inside the engine, which eventually becomes dirty. The popularity of automatic gearboxes, which change gears very quickly at low revs, further exacerbates this phenomenon. The same is true for Stop/Start systems that automatically shut off the engine at traffic lights or at level crossings, for example.
And then there's the issue of modern fuels containing increasingly high levels of bio-based and/or recycled particles. These particles create unburned residue in the engine, which leads to fouling.
Solutions exist!
Fortunately, solutions exist. The first solution might be to use higher-quality fuels (SP98-E5 instead of SP95-E10, for example), which are richer. Unfortunately, the best fuels, which also receive a whole host of additives beneficial to your engine, are generally the most expensive at the pump.
Fuel additives alone aren't enough to protect your engine over the long term. That's why Bardahl has developed solutions that target every part of your engine.
These additives are there to combat:
Premature fouling.
Excessive fuel consumption.
Engine performance losses.
Possible breakdowns and reduction in the lifespan of technical components.
The proper use of fuel treatments
Additives should be used at the right time. Fuel treatments, whether gasoline or diesel , have a preventative effect with better lubrication and protection. They are simply added to the fuel tank when you fill up at the gas station. Other additives, such as injector cleaner for example ( gasoline or diesel ), have a more curative effect. Their chemical performance is stronger and more targeted to help dissolve fuel combustion deposits (soot, carbon, etc.).
Bardahl has designed specific additives that target each engine component: the turbo, the particulate filter, and the EGR valve. Better still, Bardahl has designed the 5-in-1 Gasoline or Diesel Cleaner that targets the five engine components most susceptible to clogging. It's very simple to use, simply add to the fuel tank when you fill up at the gas station, without disassembly.