Thread: old engines and baked on carbon - a tip

"Back in the day" a common de-carbonising method was to run the engine and slowly pour Red-ex (upper cylinder lubricant) into the intake until the voluminous clouds of black thus created dissipated. I never pulled an engine down to do a before/after comparison but this method certainly produced vast amounts of black smoke which eventually dissipated

Deano

We used carbon tetrachloride as a baked on gunk remover until it was withdrawn from use. Apparently carcinogenic and caused severe liver problems. It would take the black stains off a cabinet minister's character. Dry cleaners used it daily for difficult stains and spots. Poor buggers are probably all dead from it now.

The block won't fit, but I think the head would fit in a typical dishwasher - the detergent used in them is pretty close to oven cleaner........

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

We used carbon tetrachloride as a baked on gunk remover until it was withdrawn from use. Apparently carcinogenic and caused severe liver problems. It would take the black stains off a cabinet minister's character. Dry cleaners used it daily for difficult stains and spots. Poor buggers are probably all dead from it now.

We used to pour some carbon tet down the plug holes of gasoline engines and leave it overnight. Start the vehicle outdoors. You would be surprised what amount of black muck got spat out the exhaust hence the starting outdoors. You did not want that crap all over the workshop walls and floor..

Old mate of mine said they put rice in the cylinders, and ran them.
Head didn't need to be taken off, to decoke.

whitehillbilly

Back when people used RedX in there fuel . when we had to remove the head for what ever reason ( head gasket , valve grind) the carbon was easily removed with decarbonising brushes , the carbon was soft. those that didn't use it we had to chip it away with a hammer & screwdriver. I always used RedX until unleaded fuel was introduced & I was told not to use it with unleaded , not sure why or if it was true. I now buy a Liquid Molly & put in my vehicles when ever I am going for a good high speed run to clean every thing out.
We our company Ute's we had a 20 lit drum RedX & would put some in all the Ute's every couple of weeks .

Originally Posted by Rick Fischer

Something perhaps for the "good oil" too

Once upon a time in a previous life one used "carbon remover" for cleaning baked on carbon. When I saw the inside of my S1 2ltr did try and find same. Not any more apparently.

Anyway, was still not happy with wire brushes of all descriptions. Need mask and brushes rotating or otherwise don't get it all!

Did spot on Utube someone mentioned ye olde standard oven cleaner.

Have found it is the best thing around other than an engine shop's hot chemical bath for removing baked on engine carbon.

Foam it on wait a few hours then wash it all off, most anyway :0) re-application gets what was left. Wash off with det and hot water and stiff bristle brush. Gets all the nook and crannies too, not like rotating wire brush, and no dust!


Barby stuff worked but not as well.

Cheers

Rick F

I wonder if this would work on the fouled up spark plugs in small 2 stroke engines/outboards as a temporary fix to keep them running until you can get a new plug??