Cleaning Carbon Deposits

[87BrnRsd]

Ive tried the ATF down the carb and it works. Did it on my brothers truck once. We just poured about 1/3 of a quart of atf down the carb while it was running, but slowly enough that it wouldnt stall. It makes a heck of a smoke cloud, but it will blow solid pieces of carbon out of the exhaust pipe when you get on it after that.
-Harrison

 

[88sub4x4]

GM has a TOP ENGINE CLEANER just for this purpose. I works great. Just follow the directions on the can.

 

[78Suburban]

Where do I get this GM engine top cleaner?

 

[jarheadk5]

Where do I get this GM engine top cleaner?

Your friendly neighborhood GM dealer's Parts counter, of course!

The GM part number is 1050002. GMpartsdirect.com says the GM list price is $6.87 per can, with a selling price of $3.58. Pretty cheap, actually...

 

[broncoman6524]

The GM cleaner aint sold at Discount auto or napa?

 

[78Suburban]

I used 3 or 4 oz of ATF through the PVC vac hose. Then I set my idling lower.. no more dieseling..

 

[jarheadk5]

The GM cleaner aint sold at Discount auto or napa?

Not that I've ever seen.

 

[merace19]

Of all the people that recommend water have you ever pulled your engine down right after it to see if it made a difference? I have many times. Water does nothing. Superfical at best knocks whats about to come off if anything. I have done it both ways and i have done nothing at all to see the difference. Chemicals made to cut carbon do just that. Water injection was used on trucks to help cooling of the combustion chamber during heavy loads, not cleaning.

 

[JOEDEZZY]

Water/methanol injection may have been made for that but over a period of time it does help clean pistons and valves and keeps them clean also it can improve horse power (at least on a turbo'd engine) and it will definitly cut down on fuel consumption as you have to cut the fuel back to compensate for the water/methanol. It has a lot of benifits the only draw back that I can see from it is that you may forget to fill your water up and run the tank dry which would cause you to run lean.

 

[ryoken]

It was originated for WW2 fighter planes to help eliminate detonation in high pressure cylinders...

And cylinders equipped with it are notorious for lack of carbon.. Maybe it wasn't done right... Whenever I've done it, I'll usually do it a few times before pulling it apart... Gotta make sure she's totally hot, I'll usually take it out for a romp beforehand...

I also see it everyday in the marine biz... Boats are the kings of running on water.. Literally....

I see every form of water in cylinders daily, from longterm leaky exhaust (steamy exhaust and super clean combustion chamber), to water in fuel systems, to saltwater leaks in raw-water cooled head gaskets, to fully spaghettied con rods from big injestion..

 

[merace19]

I believed in the water deal too so dont get me wrong. I was going off what EVERY body was saying and this was 20 years ago. But from 1st hand experiance i have seen that it is a plasibo affect. You see smoke and think its doing something. Its not. Now you run the chemicals though your engine and its not only cutting the crud out but also making a cloud of smoke. I wish it was easy as adding water down the intake. Hell thats super cheap and easy. Maybe thats why everyone wants so badly for it to work right. SOUNDS LIKE WE NEED TO GIVE MYTH BUSTERS A CALL.

 

[merace19]

(ryoken) Those engines are running under load. And yes that may be the key to making this water cleaning work better. But how can a person just wanting to clean an engine put it under load and inject water into it safely? Hard to do in your garage. I only ran the engine to normal operating temps 250 (yes) and at 4000 rpms and sprayed with a garden sprayer about 1/2 gallon over a 5 minute time. The engine was not under load so combustion pressures were a lot lower( I run 11.1 ratio) and the exhaust gases temps i am sure where lower as well. After a full run on the track my exhaust manifolds are normally red hot. I gues you could rig up a sprayer to inject it while driving but thats way to much work for unreliable results.

 

[JOEDEZZY]

thats what a water injection system does, it injects water while under load, while your driving down the road. it works off of vacuum, as the vacuum (rpm's) increase so does the amount of water injected into the system. i honestly i dont know if just pouring water or atf down the carb actually does anything but a water injection system does help

 

[opfor2]

Ya, I've used H2O, ATF, and seafoam and besides all the smoke with the last two I really don't know if it did any good. Like someone said above, it's smoking so it must be working. =)

 

[Slapperbar]

Seafoam straight thru the tbi/ carb and in the tank. No worries.

 

[sullivan8]

Water/methanol injection may have been made for that but over a period of time it does help clean pistons and valves and keeps them clean also it can improve horse power (at least on a turbo'd engine) and it will definitly cut down on fuel consumption as you have to cut the fuel back to compensate for the water/methanol. It has a lot of benifits the only draw back that I can see from it is that you may forget to fill your water up and run the tank dry which would cause you to run lean.

really? and here i thought methanol injection was helpful.. ever since i read about it online quite recently i have actually been considering it. perhaps i should ask around more.

 

[smier]

This reminded me of old dodge dynasty I inherited when I married my wife. She's notorious for never checking anything. Well, one night I'm riding in the car with her, it starts smelling HOT, and the check engine light comes on, find out it's out of oil. Of course I ask her if she's been checking it, she answers " Of course I check my oil, I checked it a few days ago...". Total BS, in my rage I open up the trunk and pull out 4 quarts of oil. It took all four to get it almost to the full mark!!! Next problem, I realize as I was yelling at her for being irresponsible that 3 of those quarts were ATF!!! Well we are in the middle of nowhere at about midnight, so I say the heck with it, and drive the car home... Immediately changed the oil the next morning, and replace it hoping for a miracle. That car never ran better!!! The valve tapping was gone and I couldn't believe how much better it ran!!! We drove the car with no issues for almost 2 years until my wife spun the car into a telephone pole in an ice storm... She claims pulling out after stopping because the car infront of her had slid. 11 years later I still haven't gotten the true story on that one either...