I heard from somebody that you can pour a very small amount of water down the carb when the engine is at operating temperature to give it a kind of steam cleaning, as long as you don't pour too much in. If so, how much is too much? It sounded crazy to me. I was always told that water was the last thing you want in your engine. Anyone have an opinion on this one?
steem cleaning I use a spray bottle and wind up the engine a bit 1800-2000 rpm when doing thatthen crack the throttle a few times inbetween ( warning ) DoNot do this on an engine with an O2 sensor i.e. computer controlled it will destoy the O2 senser ou:
I've heard the same, supposidly breaks up the carbon deposits.... I also heard that transmision fluid does an even better job.... but that is not confirmed....
I use water and alcohol under load in my car with a water injection unit.Back 30 years ago it was a staple in the tune up process here in N.S.As was mentioned keep the revs up a bit and squirt away with a hand-held pump sprayer.Environmentally more friendly than using ATF or Bardhal as I also used to do.Rod
Fog up your neighborhood with a can of Sea-Foam down the carb. :Brow: There was a time I didn't think twice about it. Now I find an empty parking lot in an industrial area and smoke away. Damn! that made me think of cigarettes! :gt: time for yet another piece of candy. I know that the water down the carb was a Smokey Yunick trick. Dale
Water will clean the carbon out. I know that it will clean the carbon out because the water jacket on the exhaust manifold of my boat cracked a few years ago. Dumped water big time into the engine. Fortunately did not mess up anything major. When I pulled the heads the the back two cylinders had no carbon. Did not do a lot for the valves though.
The reason I asked is that I have a knocking sound coming from the bottom of my 350. Mechanic said that it was the rockers(from the bottom of the engine? ). Another guy said lack of oil flow and the lifterso No: . Yet another guy said carbon build up. Who's right, I don't know. Can'yt afford a rebuild right now so I guess it will HAVE to hold. Time will tell.
At a minimum I would drop the pan and look in it for metal, check the oil pump screen pick-up. Then I would pop some bearing caps to see how the bearings look. I don't think water will stop your knock.
The water spray will remove bulk buildup of carbon and is very effective. ATF in the tank (1 qt per full tank) will keep it clean, and remove varnish from the fuel lines.
I recommend NOT revving your engine and pouring some chemical (ATF, water, you name it) or other through the carburetor until you have a definitive answer on the source of that knock. Draining the oil and looking for shiny material would be my first check. ANY metallic looking material is a clear indication of crankshaft bearing, or possibly, camshaft bearing, trouble.
I was just going to say that this thread was brought back to life with advice to the original poster and by now the problem has been figured out, the engine is dead or rebuilt! By the way, I was a LOT older than you are now when this thread started. Makes it seem like the thread is less old when the percentage of your life that's passed since the thread started is smaller.
Exact;y! I realize this thread is also old, but it brings back memories of fogging my neighborhood when I was 18.....:laugh: I can only guess my neighbors hated me..... Scott
there used to be a product sold by Supertest Petroleum (hq'd in london, on), back in the 60's & 70's, called "combustion cleaner". it was dumped down the carb and was supposed to remove any carbon buildup on the pistons. i used it once in my '70 chevelle. did it work? maybe. it sure did generate a lot of blue/black smoke...
Had a leaking head gasket on an '89 Chevy PU with a 350 engine. A compression check determined which side, and after removing the head, it was not hard to determine where the leak was - the piston top on the leaking cylinder was shiny, with 0 carbon build up, after the 'steam' clean. :TU:
Wonderful stuff for freeing stuck rings. Doesn't work any better than a urine-stream of plain old water down the carb primaries at ~2000 rpm for getting rid of carbon on the piston tops and cylinder head combustion chamber. It's best to change oil after the water treatment; the oil will have moisture in it.
I've always been told-by father and grandfather-ATF is the way to go. Pour it straight down the carb.
