removing carbon and fuel additive ash build-up

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
After looking at RICKS post on the ash build-up on his spark plug electrodes I figured Id point out a tip here!
the best way to reduce or eliminate most of the combustion chamber ash deposited is to both limit
the oil entering the combustion chamber and to use a high quality fuel, but today's fuels commonly contain 10% -15% ethanol and LOTS of additional additives to both keep the ethanol alcohol from causing internal fuel system corrosion and engine damage.these additives leave an ash residue that can cause or at least promote detonation over time as they build up.
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a quart of high detergent oil like marvel mystery oil, added to your oil change will tend to help keep micro debris in the oil suspension for its trip through the engine so the oil filter can remove the larger components, and keep the smaller bits of soot from causing damage , but an occasional cleaning of the carbs fuel system and or fuel injectors and frequent oil changes are a huge help, as clean oil and fresh fuel also reduce ash build-up.
on most engines you can add a can of fuel injector cleaner to the fuel tank about every 10th fill up to reduce the crud build-up in either a carb or injectors ,
but a spray bottle with a mix of components can also be used,I generally dribble/or spray about a quart of the mixture slowly through the engine once its up to operational temperature,


methanolal.jpg


seafoam.jpg


but a mix of about
33% distilled water
33% methanol alcohol,
33% Seafoam engine additiv
e
no the mixture will NOT stay properly mixed for long so you will need to constantly shake the spray bottle to keep the mixture in suspension and yes the mix will over a fairly short time tend to screw up the spray bottles o-rings and pump internally so the mix should be added just before use and the bottles a one trip to the dumpster deal after use, but the process does work, look at the spark plugs before use than after the engine cools off, youll notice a n obvious difference if you did the combustion chamber clean-up correctly

dribbled or sprayed into a hot engine while you hold the throttle slightly
open so the engine maintains about a 3000 rpm speed will effectively STEAM CLEAN a great deal of the ash build up off the combustion chamber surfaces and spark plug electrodes.
I generally dribble or spray about a quart of the mixture slowly through the engine once its up to operational temperature,
The best way to clean carbon build-up out of your engine is NOT to take the car out and run it as hard as you can. This only results in meetings with local law enforcement personnel, and doesn't do much for cleaning out carbon.
If you really want to clean the carbon out of your engine follow these simple steps.
buy a spray bottle and fill it and spray the listed mix into the throttle bores with the engine up to temp and maintain that 3000rpm, keep in mind water won,t compress and can cause sever mechanical damage if you do more than mist the mix into the throttle bore or carb inlet so be frugal and careful, lots of light gray exhaust smoke is normal, but it will clear minutes after you stop spraying the engine inlet port area.
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I just add Marvel Mystery Oil to the Gasoline Grumpy.
MMO Does a Great job.
 
Has anyone ever tried brown rice? (not Minute Rice) I have. It's an old timer trick.
The exhaust system must not have a catalytic converter that can clog. Rev the engine as
Grumpy says above, to get a good airflow through the carb and slowly pour the rice down
the carb. It will not only "sandblast" the combustion chamber, but the intake and exhaust
ports as well. But the rice is soft enough not to damage anything. The rice that shoots out
of the tailpipe will be black from the carbon you have removed.
 
Grumpys concoction mix I have never tried.
Worth a try.

In the past There was GM Top engine cleaner. Did a great job.
The chemical has been discontinued .

The Trans Am in the past had leaded fuel deposits build up running Race gas after approaching 10,000 miles.
I was leary of pouring anything down the carb to clean out of combustion chambers with Titanium Valves in the engine.
I did the Opposite of what Grumpy says not to do.
Did a Top end Blast to 160 mph.
Cleaned all out.

Illinois has become like Oklahoma .
Street Outlaws.
5.0 just not out there.
They are Broke.
No gas $ for the squad cars.
 
I've done straight water internal steam cleaning on normal vehicles but not with other products mixed in. Seemed to work OK. I guess road track sessions and 1 mile Land Speed races to 150 MPH would count as top end blasts in my Firebird.
 
Probably a good idea to clean the combustion chambers out in the T-bucket engine.
The T- is made to Race.
Driving it slow mucks things up.
 
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