Engine decarbonising

[jimbob82]

one eyed mick said:

It.s certainly not that!!!!!

[GasMunkey]

The guys in the states swear by 'seafoam'

There is real proof of compression ratios on the up and leak down tests seeing a reduction on leak,

I'm not so convinced myself, but not going to rule it out either

There's a few before and after pictures of the use of water/meth cleaning you're engine internally that look promising simalar to what's been said about steam cleaning

[honestjohntoo]

GasMunkey said:

There's a few before and after pictures of the use of water/meth cleaning you're engine internally that look promising simalar to what's been said about steam cleaning

To further clarify my research on this subject, below is part of a new web page under construction for my website on the subject of

Steam Clean Inside a Rover V8 Engine - Whilst its Running



Not exactly what I had in mind for steam cleaning an Engine, but lets consider how and why one can do the same to the innards of an engine whilst it's running - to achieve something more like this:



So, on a much smaller scale, steam cleaning can be an unusual answer to the oft answered forum questions regarding how to decoke a Rover V8 Engine without having to remove the cylinder heads.

Googling the subject, there are various methods or preparations one might purchase to perform this unlikely task but what follows is a process that captures the cleaning properties of very high pressure steam to blast away the carbon deposits from inside the combustion chambers of a Rover V8 Engine, whilst the engine is actually running. What on earth are you on about, Ramon?

Are you completely MAD?

Humour me for a moment whilst I first admit to not having used this process personally, mainly because my Rover V8 Engine is not affected by unwanted carbon deposits. However, upon researching the phenomenon, it has become quite clear that people have used this process and that carried out with due diligence there appears to be no reason why it would not succeed.

So with a couple of proviso's, here goes with a brief word of encouragement to study all the notes and imagine how the cleaning power of super-heated steam might complete a difficult task for the average home enthusiast in less time than it takes to do a complete oil change.

Steam Clean Inside a Rover V8 Engine - Whilst its Running

• Spray misted water continuously into the engine intake/plenum via an available inlet under the influence of inlet manifold vacuum with engine is running at 1500 rpm?

• The water turns to steam inside the combustion chamber and under normal compression of 120 - 160 psi, superheated steam cleans off carbon crud from everything thereabouts.

• Including - Piston Crown - Combustion Chamber - Valve Heads - Rings and Ring Grooves

• Exhaust Valve Seat Area - Channels in Header/Manifold - Downpipes etc.

• The expelled carbon residue floods out of the tailpipe into a very large black puddle.

• Keep allowing in water under the influence of vacuum until the tailpipe expels clean water.

• It might take as much as 20 litres to clean heavily carbonned innards.

On my life - I had never previously heard of this process and resolved to know more. One person a Rover V8 owner enthusiast, claims to have used it, and assures that hydrolock is not a problem and has only beneficial effects. One might ask though, if there are any other downsides such as:

• Risk of Nuclear Explosion as the water cracks into Hydrogen and Oxygen?

• Engine Oil Contamination?

• Mayonnaise Everywhere?

• Water collecting around plenum intake trumpets?

• Water collecting in the Exhaust System?

• Back-firing into the intake components?

If you "Never heard of it?" as already mentioned, me neither! No matter, let's examine what might be going on here to try and decide if and how it can work?

• A Rover V8 Engine churns out loadsa water from the combustion process during its life especially when the engine is cold and that water generally all exits into the exhaust system and does not enter the lubrication system.

• But can it handle up to another twenty litres in a shorter order, steam cleaning as it goes?

• We already know that a similar process does work cleaning off all local crud in the combustion chamber area as is evident from Rover V8 engines with head gasket problems, cracked bores and slipped liners which have coolant leaking into the combustion area where the affected cylinders are always very much cleaner, indeed sometimes spotlessly so!.

• Ah! But what about carbon residue upsetting silencer packing materials, fibre glass, etc.

• Clearly too much water would seem to be a recipe for disaster with care needed in monitoring the 1500 rpm idle speed to prevent going over that line.

• Hot or recently boiled water might generate a faster process.

Here is a collection of feedback/comments, from other forum's - so far!

• I guess water injection works, so perhaps the basic water principle is not completely daft. Is it better than Redex or similar accepted methods? Anyone got a scrap car to try it on? Intriguing! - (Alley Kat - UK).

• This is quite an old remedy and can be used quite effectively if carefully done. Best way is to spray the water through a jet so you get a fine mist as in water injection used to avoid detonation. The process will work and clean off all the crud in the combustion chamber area as is evident from Rover V8 Engines with cracked bores and slipped liners which have coolant leaking into the combustion area where the affected cylinders are always a lot cleaner - (CastleMGBV8 - UK)

• Have never had the need to do it, but don't see why it can't done providing oil and filter are changed immediately. There also used to be a similar process where you poured Redex into the induction system in the same way (secondhand car dealers decoke) but this generated a fog of burnt oil whereas the water system just generates steam - (CastleMGBV8 - UK)

• Yep, poor mans Redex, I've seen it done a couple of times, I dont know how effective it is, Same as Taxi drivers putting 1/2 a gallon of petrol in a diesel tank to clean the engine out - (ian.stewart - UK)

• I've seen some very clean cylinders as a result of head gaskets seeping water into the bores. So this principle could work. But I'd be removing my silencers first so they dont catch the crud - (mgbv8 - UK)

• Soaking glasspack silencers in the black glop isn't appealing - (Alley Kat - UK).

• Done the same thing with straight Seafoam, not 20L of it, but liquid in the intake is liquid in the intake. Smoked like heck for a while then ran like a champ. It's all about discreet metering of the liquid input. I definitely would recommend a fresh oil change immediately afterwards - rtkraken (Maine USA)

• ATF works just as well as seafoam, I like water because it doesnt smoke. Also with water, I could see what came out the other end. There was a big black puddle at the back of the truck, about the size of a small car, all carbon - Bandit86 (Ontario)

• At first this looked like a prank post like the one about letting the engine suck in sand to port polish his engine! But the more I read this the more sense it made, also about how blown head gaskets make an offending cylinder squeeky clean from water entering the combustion chamber so I thought there must be some truth to this after all. After googling, found a lot of people doing this. So now I can wait to give it a shot to my Disco - (desertdude - Dubai).

And Finally, its time to go to Google and to the Movies

Google this: "steam cleaning inside an engine whilst its running" without the quotation marks.

And watch this movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&am...

There are literally hundreds/thousands of items to read on the subject of steam cleaning the inside of an engine whilst its running.

E & O, feedback, comments all gratefully received.

Ramon
www.vintagemodelairplane.com - Web pages for SD1, RV8 and 4CU Fuel Injection enthusiasts.