Clean Pistons ???

[andyy]

Possibly a stupid question but any advice would be gratefully received

I've got the cylinder heads off my Griff at the moment with the block still in the car.
The tops of the pistons are quite gunked up but not too hideous.
Should I bother cleaning them - if so what with ???
And do I need to worry about any of this crap sticking to the cylinder walls if I get it off ??

many thanks Andy

[boosted ls1]

I wouldn't worry about it to much but if you do decide to clean the pistons smear some grease around the circumferance of the cylinder so that the crud sticks to that. Then when you lower the piston you can collect the muck with a paper towel. Usually a blast with the throttle clears the cylinders. If the car's high mileage then excessive carbon can be scraped off with a feeler guage.

Boosted.

[The Moosehunter]

How long did you leave them soaking for ?

I've got 6 more to do and looking for the easiest method too

Is that your head soaking in the backround too. Did it work on the valves ok too

Moose

[that daddy]

If their still in the block i wouldent bother, as Boosted said a good bootful will clean the crowns,no chance of the carbon going where it shouldent then.

[The AJP Griff]

Dishwashers are great for cleaning parts,if you can get away with it!

[spend]

The AJP Griff said:

Dishwashers are great for cleaning parts,if you can get away with it!

TROUBLEMAKER! [and you enjoyed it ]

Dave

[trackcar]

2 schools of thought on this : first is leave the carbon as it's an insulation layer and slightly raises compression pressures, second is clean it off before it becomes an incandescent pre-ignition problem. I'm in the "leave it alone" camp.

[The AJP Griff]

spend said:

The AJP Griff said:

Dishwashers are great for cleaning parts,if you can get away with it!

TROUBLEMAKER! [and you enjoyed it ]

Dave

[antonyj]

Andy, do you have the facility to remove and refit gudgeon pins?

[red griff 500]

My piston tops looked a bit cruddy when I peered throught the plug hole. Is thee any sort of gunky stuff you can put in yer petrol to clean them? I guess it may not be too healthy for the Cats if they get blasted with a load of debris?
Whilst we're on the subject, what about injector cleaner added to the petrol?

[GreenV8S]

red griff 500 said:

My piston tops looked a bit cruddy when I peered throught the plug hole. Is thee any sort of gunky stuff you can put in yer petrol to clean them? I guess it may not be too healthy for the Cats if they get blasted with a load of debris?
Whilst we're on the subject, what about injector cleaner added to the petrol?

Water added to the combustion chamber gets rid of the coke, one of the signs of head gasket failure is a shiny clean piston, and water poured down the intake used to be one trick used to decoke engines when that was a more common occurrence.

[andyy]

Anthony - no I dont have the facilities to remove the gudgeon pins
I dont have enough patience either !!!
I think i'm going to leave them dirty as I need to get it back together and drive it !!

thanks for the advice folks