Carbon removal...over the counter products?

[HammerDown]

I'll say about a qt, maybe a touch less. Girlfriend held rpm's at 2000...as I dribbled it down the carb via squirt bottle.
The only thing I really noticed was the engine stumbled a few very short times, thats about it.

I would like to drive the driving down the hwy deal w/vacuume hose etc, but I'm a little worried about maybe burning a valve being the engine's under more of a load.

 

[Sid]

Was it a fine mist you sprayed? I don't think much should be happening. Especially if your girlfriend was holding it at 2000 RPM's. I had a very funky smell with power foam (The power foam along with running rich will do that to ya) but no white smoke (although it says that it may do that I THINK).

 

[jamesn]

i have had really great luck using steam. go to your local car dealer detail shop. they will have a steam cleaner to get all of the gunk off of the used car engines that they sell. set it on low and feed steam straight into the carb. it wont hurt a thing. zero chance of a hydrolock. 5-8 minutes at part throttle will do it. i used to have to do this to a toyota truck i used to own. the first time i did it, the results were amazing. it had so much carbon on one of the pistons that it knocked on startup. 15 minutes cleaned it up to the point that it idled properly for the next 6 months. it will cost you 15 bucks tops. give it a shot. it cant hurt.

 

[Toysrme]

Nothing beats water injection for cleaning valves, & everything in the combustion chamber.
Simple systems are as easy as a few feet of tubing, some cheap form of atomizer & either splicing into the washer pump (not cool) Or buying another washer pump & installing one ($5 shipped on ebay).
I'm not a fan of just dropping water into the manifold. It's too easy to let how much water is entering the engine run away.
As opposed to a mist of water, which can displace 50-80%+ of the fuel in the mixture & most engines will still run A-OK.


I like seafoam. It does a good job cleaning in the combustion chamber. has other uses, like many similar things, has been around for years & mainly it's $5 a can.

 

[bkrell]

CHemtool works wonders for me. And that's w/ a rich running saab turbo! Plus it's cheaper and stronger (in my experience) than seafoam!

 

[HammerDown]

So today I walked into a local parts store...I looked at ...Sea Foam, Lucas fuel system cleaner, Gum-Out fuel suystem cleaner, B-12 Chem Tool, Techrone(sp) and a host of others.
I dazed and confused, I left empty handed

 

[hounddog]

I used Gum Out decarbonizer for the first time in a 1998 1500 Dodge Ram 1500 318 and a 2000 Mercury Gran Marquis.First time EAITHER auto EVER had a additive.Used it and some Marvel Mystery oil added to FUEL tank.Used the PROPER amount listed on the bottles.The Merc.it cured a LITE spark knock(its got 74k)and the Dodge it idles better then new and I never thought it had a hesitation off idle but it must have had a slight one.Now it its SMOOTH from off idle.Big Differance.One treatment! Will do again in 10k or so.Both auots have been driven a few thousand since treatment and still the same as when first tank with additive was used.So SOMETHING worked as LABLED.Went looking for SEAFOAM and store didn't have any so used the GUMOUT product with Marvel Mystery oil

 

[Alex P.]

Gumout didn't impress me, except for Gumout Regane. Techron and BG44K are still my favorite OTC cleaners.

 

[OiledMustangGT]

i would use the techron for a light treatment

or 1/3 bottle of seafoam for a deeper cleaning

 

[bkrell]

Chemtool = toluene = good stuff. I promise!

 

[chenobylite]

What bkrell said. Toluene is the active ingredient in many good cleaners. Use it. All the better if you can do as I and buy it straight.

 

[bkrell]

Yeah, where can you get those cheap gallon cans I've heard about? The recent hurricane issues have pushed Chemtool up near $3.00 a can.

Coincidently, I scooped a bit of sludge out of my valve cover and soaked it in MMO. After 2 days nothing. Soaked it a few minutes in Chemtool and it disintegrated into tiny particles until the Chemtool boiled off.

 

[chenobylite]

Home Depot or a paint store. $5-6 a gallon. It's not the top shelf industrial grade sought after for racing but it works great for cleaning. As you know, toluene is bad stuff so be careful with it. No huffing allowed

Chemtool is going for about $13/gallon here so not too bad. I stay away from MMO, Seafoam, and the like. They're all lightweight solvents bordering on oil of snake.

Know what else is great? Hoppes #9. Nothing cleans like that stuff, especially when heated or used ultrasonically. If there is a better fuel injector cleaner out there I haven't found it. Not cheap though.

 

[Shannow]

quote:

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Know what else is a great solvent? Hoppes #9. Nothing cleans like that stuff, especially when heated or used ultrasonically. If there is a better fuel injector cleaner out there I haven't found it. Not cheap though.

---

Seriously you've used it in engines ????

is it the
Ammonium oleate (CAS#544-60-5)
Amyl Acetate (CAS#544-60-5)
Nitro-benzene
K1 Kerosene, or the
Neutral Saponifiable Oil ?

I reckon Ed's Red works better on powder.

Works OK on copper (and gently, which I appreciate)

 

[hounddog]

It was the Regane.Whatever it said DECARBON and it obviously worked.Big differance in one tank two differant auto's.

 

[bigbadbowtie]

I did the water clean last night on a 170000 mile 305 in a 1986 Chevy C10. The heads have never been off this engine.
I bought it 2 years ago from the original owner.

Once the truck was warm you could walk to the back of the truck, listen at the dual exhaust and it sounded like it had multiple stuck valves or ones that were not closing all the way.
It had the "fuh fuh fuh" sound from both sides.
It also had detonation issues even with the timing back off.

I pulled off the vacuum line from the brake booster and incerted a plastic needle thats used to blow up beach balls,floats ect ect(about a 1/16" opening). I put the needle in a large glass of water(for about 3-4 seconds at a time) until it was gone while keeping the engine running. I used maybe a quart to 2 quarts.

It REALLY worked. The truck idles quite well now and sounds great. NO detonation issues this morning on the way to work.

Its free and worked well.

 

[kang]

I like Techron, Gumout Regane and BG44k. I’ve also had good results with Valvoline MaxLife Cleaner. I’ve used B12 Chemtool in the tank once, it seemed good too.

I broke an engine (about 20 years ago) with the water treatment, so I am reluctant to do it again. I know there are lots of positive remarks about it. I was dribbling water in very slowly and heard a loud bottom end bang. That engine had a bottom end knock from then on.

The in-the-tank cleaners work much slower, but they are much safer. I’ve recently run about 10 tanks in a row with the above cleaners, sometimes with a double dose. My engine is running the best it has in a long, long time.

I have never heard of any damage caused by in-the-tank cleaners.

 

[HammerDown]

Ok so I try a 16 oz can of Berryman B-12 Chemtool (Total fuel system clean-up)for the slight ping in my car.
This is even what their rep told me to use. He said..." oh our's is the best product on the market, just look at all the ingredients in our's vs others".
Some $8.00 out of my pocket and a tank of fuel later....NOTHING...not one speck of difference

Just for the heck of it, Im going to pull my EGR valve off and see if it's clogged up. And maybe try the water treatment again.

So much for Berryman's

 

[04SpecV]

quote:

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Some $8.00 out of my pocket and a tank of fuel later....NOTHING...not one speck of difference [Roll Eyes]
Just for the heck of it, Im going to pull my EGR valve off and see if it's clogged up. And maybe try the water treatment again.

So much for Berryman's

---

B12 Chemtool is $2.50-$3 per can definently NOT $8

Its one of the strongest solvents you can buy.
Obviously ONE treatment of B12 in the gas isn't going to solve major problems. Especially ones that might not even be related to the fuel system.
If your EGR is clogged up, why do you think any product added to the gasoline will fix it in one treatment?

 

[bkrell]

Hah! $8? That's why I don't waste time w/ anything but their basic can of cleaner. Everything else is the same. If you have pinging, one reason may be carbon coated piston crowns. If the crowns are coated, they can be decreasing cylinder volume AND causing heat retention. For this, I would never waste time putting it in the tank. I would use the combustion chamber cleaner method. Some people suck it in through a vacuum hose. I pour it down my spark plug holes, which is what I'd recommend to you on a transverse 4 cyl. I am not promising anything, but I promise, if your problem is something covered in carbon, chemtool WILL clean it.