Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Back when we would run water/alcohol injection on our turbo cars, upon teardown the pistons, heads, turbo, and headers looked like the engine had never been fired. I've always assumed it was the water and not the alcohol. Now that I run straight methanol, everything looks pretty normal.
I've heard that many times and don't have any doubts that it is true. Obviously there is a difference between water in the form of vapor as the product of combustion and the effects of injecting it in liquid form, which seems to do the steam-cleaning thing to the engine's internals.
I am curious: how/where is the water actually injected, and how much is used? I once tried to get a similar effect by running a line from the washer reservoir into the intake with a small orifice and used up a gallon in perhaps twenty miles of driving, but didn't see any noticeable change in the appearance of the piston tops.