V8 Carbon Clean Recommendations

The yanks swear by stuff called "Sea Foam" but AFAIK it is not available here.

But IMHO none of these things will reduce /prevent the most common/serious problem with V8s ie carbon build up on the exhaust valves.

Graeme Cooper told me many years ago that they had tried all of the magic potions but the only thing that worked was to take the heads off and manually clean the valves.

My 3.9 with about 110 KK on it and worked hard still had a lot of deposits on the exhaust valves even with 5KK oil changes. I did not put seals on my exhaust valves on Graeme's advice and the car has done about 110KK since the top overhaul. So it will be interesting to see them next time , although since I have regularly towed the camper which loads the engine much more.
Regards Philip A

Two-stroke oil is added to petrol primarily for lubrication in two-troke motors. (That stands to reason I reckon).

The most common mixture ratios are 1:20 (older two-strokes) to 1:50 (latest outboards, snow-bikes, last generation off-road bikes).

The two-stroke oil has a reasonably low flash point (100 deg C IIRC), and these days has advanced anti-sooting properties.

So: add 100ml to 80L of petrol, and you have a mix that combusts easily, but also assists with the removal of soot and carbon from the exhaust ports. An added benefit is extra valve lubrication.

Similar to Wynn's Valve Ease, but will also clean the exhaust ports. And it costs NOTHING.

I used a nozzle in the centre of the air intake which worked by vacuum generated on full throttle, however I saw a setup on a P38 using a vacuum switch and washer pump which worked well. However it needed a LPG safety cut-out relay to prevent the pump running when the engine stopped. The water remains suspended in the air stream, any puddle of excess won't run into the cylinders but evaporate over a few K's as it sits low in the plenum. I didn't remove the valves so can't help you there. All 4 pistons tops on one side were equally clean.:)

Some of you may be familier with this, but this is for diesel engines, jakeslouw says this will work with petrol too (adding 2 stroke)

Freel2.com - View topic - 2-stroke oil and diesel

Its a long post but very interesting

PS not tried it myself, I have a V8

Must admit have not done this myself for a few years now, had forgotten about it. Got shown it by an old mechanic, used to do it on my old MKII RS Escort and also in my MKII GTE Astra, used to keep it running sweet. Never tried it in a diesal but the theroy should be the same.
Used to fil mine then go for a good hard drive.

NEVER put water in your engine

Water doesnt compress

if just a little bit to much water gets in your pistons it will crack it or it could cause the heads to be popped off rip the bolts right out of the block at best you will do a head gasket

G'day Cockie55,

Thanks for the invite for me to comment, after my thread in The Verandah. (Sorry, I haven't learnt how to insert the link yet for those who may be interested.)

My experience stems from use of the FTC Decarbonizer over some 20+ years. Basically it is added to the fuel (petrol or diesel), and the vehicle (or other) is operated normally. There is no downtime, special applications or mechanical tinkering required. Rather than remove carbon quickly, it is burnt off progressively. Importantly, it decokes around exhaust valves & turbos, as there is sufficient tail end burning of the fuel to accomplish this.

Running engines at high load will also tend to decarbonize engines, because the temperature in combustion and exhaust spaces is sufficient to burn away the carbon. FTC Decarbonizer acts as a chemical catalyst to combust carbon at much lower temperatures...approximately 150 deg C less. FTC is entirely suitable for ongoing fuel treatment, so has the benefit of providing keep clean status throughout the engine's life.

While I know of the carbon clean machines & their application, and believe them to be effective, I am unsure if they are capable of decarbonizing around exhaust valves. Their use is clearly clean up, but no keep clean ability.

I hope those comments are helpful. I am only here by invitation, and it is not my intention to hi-jack threads for commercial purposes, but would be happy to advise where I am able.

Regards
Brid

I've been using Marvels Mystery oil for over three years now, and not had that much of a real problem

::Marvel Mystery Oil::

Or try and use a good injector cleaner with Techron added, Caltex do a good cleaner with all the added stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by steve_35

NEVER put water in your engine

Water doesnt compress

if just a little bit to much water gets in your pistons it will crack it or it could cause the heads to be popped off rip the bolts right out of the block at best you will do a head gasket

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Water is fine as long as you can control its flow as a spray and have the engine working under load at higher revs. No liquid compresses so anything such as brake fluid has the same risk of locking.

Brid your welcome. http://www.costeffective.com.au/ftc_decarboniser.php If you are not familiar with Rover V8's their exhaust valves are particularly prone to carbon build up so traditional fuel additives don't seem to do much. Can you tell us a bit more about using FTC Decarbonizer (that combusts carbon at much lower temperatures) in petrol engines as most of your web site info is orientated towards diesels???

It is odd no one seems to know anything about the "Wynns Carbon Blaster / Purging Equipment System" or had this upper engine job done on their V8???