Carbon buildup on intake valves is part of life for direct-injected engines, but there are things you can do to slow it down.

The other day I dropped my car off at a European specialist shop, and while I was there, a technician was working in the engine bay of a Mk7 Golf R, cleaning out carbon deposits off the intake valves.

What an oil catch can does, how it works, and which cars and engines it might benefit.

Gasoline direct injection, or GDI, is one of the most crucial bits of technology in the modern internal combustion engine. In engines equipped with GDI, highly pressurized gasoline is sprayed directly ...