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engine cleaner??

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otisringle

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anyone know of a good engine cleaner. Something that I can add to the oil or gas or somethnig to clean the inside of the ingine. I remeber something someone used a while back that made a huge cloud of smoke out the tail pipe. I cant remeber what it was. Any suggestions
 
seafoam is what you are talking about....you can search about it here or dare i say theres a whole bunch of people over at fullsizechevy that use it....please dont ban me for using that name here!
 
Engine cleaner

Here is a old school trick that my Dad taught me,start with a cold engine, drain the oil, but LEAVE the filter on, refill the crank case with 1 gallon of deisel fuel, start the truck and run it for NO MORE than 5 mins, let it cool to the touch, drain, change the filter and now you have a clean engine inside... We use this method on our race car once a season...worked great and cheaper than SPT, GUNK, or whatever brand you like.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Here is a old school trick that my Dad taught me,start with a cold engine, drain the oil, but LEAVE the filter on, refill the crank case with 1 gallon of deisel fuel, start the truck and run it for NO MORE than 5 mins, let it cool to the touch, drain, change the filter and now you have a clean engine inside... We use this method on our race car once a season...worked great and cheaper than SPT, GUNK, or whatever brand you like.
Click to expand...

Very interesting...

Could that harm my engine in any way? Not that I'd run out and and do it right away.
 
Uncle Fester said:
............refill the crank case with 1 gallon of deisel fuel, start the truck and run it for NO MORE than 5 mins..........
Click to expand...


not that i don't believe u, but i would think that desiel wouldn't have enough oiling properties to allow an engine to run 5 mins w/out hurting it.....

then again desiel is the only thing that lubricates a lot of injector pumps
 
i ran about a quart or alittle more of trans fluid in a motor for a few days with the oil, then drained it out and refilled with clean fresh oil and new filter.
 
heres another question linked to the main one....... is it even nessasay to clean the inside of the engine if it doesnt really need it. Im not to sure if it really needs to be done, but couldnt hurt if I do right???
 
the Diesel thing COULD hurt. The only thing your crankshaft rides on is oil. It does not really touch the bearings. When it does, thats when you have bearing wear. I do not believe for a second that Diesel has the ability to support the crankshaft during power pulses, even at idle. Lubing a spinning injection pump and an up down moving, object are two very different things. The only time I use the Diesel/Kerosene(kero works too) trick is on an engine that I truly think is on its last leg and its my last choice. While trying to get the 2.8L V6 in my S10 going I used Kerosene to try and unstick a stuck lifter/valve(so we thought at the time). Didn't do a thing for that, but thats not to say it couldn't work.

The best way to clean the inside of an engine(oiling wise) is to change the oil regularly, do so when the engine is hot(you get more old oil out that way). ATF could be an option. It has more detergents in it than regular engine oil does. Could help clean out your engine more. Personally, if there is crap in your engine, unless its causing a problem, leave it well enough alone. Gunk and such is inevitable and if you mess with it, it can get into things and ruin an engine. Best thing you can do is prevent further buildup.

To clean the intake tract, head, exhaust? Seafoam has always been recommended to me. Personally at work we use a BG service that cleans all of these things. Smokes like mad out the exhaust. More smoke = more crap in the engine. Seen some cars idle smoother and run happier after one of these services. Gonna do it to my Saturn in a day or two.

I used to take a can of carb cleaner, while the engine was running, spray it through the throttle blades with them slightly open. Hit the throttle hard once in a while, while doing it. Did it work? damned if I know, just something I did to try and clean crap up.

Having any running issues? Think your engine is gunked up? if not then I wouldn't worry about it at all.
 
atf in the engine oil is an option. when i bought my k5, it smoked horribly at idle. found the oil drain holes at the top of the head plugged and would let the oil sit in the top of the engine and leak past the valve stem seals.

anyways, i unplugged the holes, topped of the engine with a 1/2 quart of atf, and let it run and got good and hot. probably 30 minutes or so. then drained the oil and repeated several times. never had a problem since, and doesnt even smoke on start up.
 
Sled, what you said about my dads trick to clean a engine does have some validity to it, and all I can say in responce is we never had any problems...we never let the engine run for long...usually just till the temp guage JSUT started to move, then shut it off and drained it... ect ect I know dad did it on a fairly often, at the end of the race season each year, and it worked fine. I guess like most back yard remadies...use caution and common sence !
 
Someone correct if I read the original post wrong. He DID say leave the filter alone. That leaves approx 1 quart of oil to mix with the diesel. I have seen engines idle for extended periods of time (over 5 minutes) with no oil. If I had a motor that was really gunked up, as a last resort I would try the diesel remedy. I am a believer in the ATF added to the oil, it really does make a noticeable difference. Also, spraying water down the carb while running, helps loosed and dislodge carbon deposits in combustion chambers and on top of pistons. By spray, I mean water in a windex bottle, not a garden hose!
 
not always a good idea..

I have seen more engines fail after a "flush" than ones that ran better afterwards..its not a good idea to loosen old sludge and tar in a crankcase,and circulate it throughout all the oil passages,bearings,and other parts like hydraulic lifters..the oil filter only can catch so much crud,then the by-pass valve opens and allows UNFILTERED oil to flow all thru the engine..acts like grinding compound and clogs small oil passages..

I've seen lots of old antique cars and tractors,etc ,that were run on old fashioned "non detergent" oil die a rapid death after being changed to a high detergent multi-weight motor oil,especially if they sat idle for a long time before being awoken...

We learned the hard way at the junkyard to pull the oil pan and valve covers and clean out as much of the muck BEFORE starting the engine as possible..then if its still on the dirty side,use non-detergent oil,not newer detergent oil..synthetics usually bring on a quick seizeure!..a few cars we even steam cleaned the INSIDE of the motor and blew it dry with an air hose!..and they ran great after we got them fired up again..I bet the motors would have smoked and seized, had we just got them running and changed the oil,judging by what came out of the oil pan and crankcase..:eek1:

But my dad had always told how they used to run the older cars on only a quart of oil, and the rest kerosene at idle for 5 minutes ,then drain it and change the oil..I suppose if its done on a regular basis,before a lot of sludge built up,it was a good way to keep it clean..seen it ruin a lot of sludged up motors though....at the least,hydraulic lifters often clatter incessantly after such a "flushing"....and often NEVER quiet down ever again...:doah:

Marvel Mystery Oil was also a favorite shade tree additive that cleaned out gunky engines..it has a very high film strength,higher than most heavier oils,so that would help prevent scuffing and wear due to low oil film strength..but dirt would be the biggest cause of damage in my estimation..

Todays oil is much better than our "fathers oil"...it does not let much goo build up like the old stuff did,unless you never change it,or overheated the motor and didn't change the oil..other than that,most of the motors I've had apart the last 20 years have sludge only under the intake(valley pan/lifter gallery) and a bit on the heads under the rockers,and at the bottom of the oil pan..

A little sludge can actually be benificial!--I've found more than a few valve stem seals,timing gear nylon teeth,and hydraulic lifter pushrod seats and their retaining clips trapped in the goo at the bottom of the oil pan..if those peices had got into the oil pump,or wedged between the rods and crank,you can bet there would be carnage!...:doah:
 
lots of miles? dont clean the crankase, you will set things free that you dont want in you pump pick up screen. low milege? drain the oil add 2 qts oil ang three dextron run till engine reaches normal op temp drain and fill with oil and change filter.
intake valves and piston tops? ever see what the pistons look like when you blow a head gasket? sparkly clean, just spray water down the t-body or carb with a spray bottle. not too much at a time, can you say hydrolock?
 
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