scissorhands
08-12-2008, 04:12 AM
I dripped 1 liter of water into a running engine with a raised idle for about 15minutes.
Afterwards, lots of carbon bits were on the ground around the exhaust.
The car had been very poorly maintained before I got it, and the air filter was very dirty.
Has anyone tried steam cleaning their piston heads, combustion chamber and valve heads in this manner?
Engine feels crisper, since this operation, but alas I have no instrumentation, and am yet to calculate FE on tank fill/milage statistics.
GreenVTEC
08-12-2008, 07:23 AM
um.... I was always under the assumption water in engine block = bad
No negative results afterwards at all?
southerncannuck
08-12-2008, 08:06 AM
There are products that work well on carboned up engines. The boating folks have been using them for years. I use Yamaha Ring Free on the Grady White. They are added to the fuel. They are far safer than water.
shifty35
08-12-2008, 08:19 AM
People have been doing this for *decades*. Great results when done correctly, little risk of damage.
Must be done slowly to avoid hydrolock.
scissorhands
08-12-2008, 08:56 AM
No drawbacks at all.
I have also done this a few times in the past, with no issues as time unfolds.
Some old timer mechanics have said it was a good thing to do on a high milage donkey and/or with a poor service history.
Anyone tried water injection with timing advance for improved FE? I read it was common on wartime turbo ICE aircraft to boost power by 40%, with 40% FE improvement too!
Another old guy said using a redline upper cylinder lube kit but running water instead of redline upper cylinder oil. Some setup and inuse isues with advancing timing manually via a manual choke type knob...Sounds too good to be true to save another 40% on gas?
rweatherford
08-12-2008, 08:58 AM
I prefer to mist it in with a sprayer, but dripping will work if done slow enough.
It does help on older vehicles. There is also a product called "Seafoam" which is designed for this and for stabilizing fuel for winter.
Chuck
08-12-2008, 09:03 AM
25 years ago I made the big mistake of running a garden hose on a 1974 Civic with no coolant. :( Yes, I cracked the engine block and it died a few months later.
Guess the key is clean with a small volume of water.
