Is there anything that can disolve carbon?

Status
Not open for further replies.
not sure what exactly you're asking, but in terms of removing it from, say, a throttle body, I'd remove it and use Seafoam. It does a great job of cleaning it out. I'm not a big fan of using any product with these components in place to clean throttle body, intake, etc, as whatever is "cleaned out" ends up in a much more sensitive and critical part of the engine - the combustion chamber.

Not exactly sure what you're looking to do, but...hope that helps
 
I guess any form in any part of the engine. I was told that carbon is insoluble and no product can reduce or eliminate carbon buildup. So I came here to find a challenge or confirmation to that claim.
 
I think my chemistry book says carbon disulfide will. I don't think it would be practical for cleaning engines.

There are plenty of threads here about cleaning engines. I usually leave mine dirty.
 
Originally Posted By: greencrew
I guess any form in any part of the engine. I was told that carbon is insoluble and no product can reduce or eliminate carbon buildup. So I came here to find a challenge or confirmation to that claim.

Many fuel additives can remove carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. Some oil additives can remove carbon buildup around the piston rings. Many solvents can clean carbon buildup from the intake tract.
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Many fuel additives can remove carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. Some oil additives can remove carbon buildup around the piston rings. Many solvents can clean carbon buildup from the intake tract.


Are you saying they don't actualy disolve the carbon? I really want to focus on disolving carbon rather than removing, just for the sake of discussion.
 
Originally Posted By: greencrew
What can dissolve carbon?


Put one can of seafoam in the tank, and then fill the tank with a top teir gasoline, such as conoco, shell, chevron texaco these are all top teir gasses and have an added amount of cleaners in them, continue to use these types of gasses and do some interstate driving and it will start to break it up over time. use the seafoam about every 5000 miles and you should be good.
 
It's interesting that you suggest Seafoam, because the discussion I'm having is about Seafoam. I don't use Seafoam, I ue Neutra mixed with Lube Control. I also run a maintance dose of Auto-RX. I'm driving down the road thinking not that I'm carbon free, but that my engine internals should be good.

But,,,I realy have no proof?
 
Originally Posted By: greencrew

Are you saying they don't actualy disolve the carbon?


Yes that is what we are saying. Maybe it is soluble in molten iron or nickel, not sure which. Neither would make a very effective additive.
 
Last edited:
The 'carbon' in our engines isn't pure carbon. The stuff on a throttle body is oil/carbon mixture that will desolve with the proper chemicals; the oil, etc. will desolve and the carbon goes with it.
Combustion chamber cleaners, even water ingestion methods break up the carbon and the other stuff it's mixed with and it goes out the exhaust.
 
Throttle body cleaner, sold at most auto parts stores, works great. Spray it in the throttle body, watch carbon run out. Start the engine and burn it off. Just watch our for the MAF sensor. Sucking stuff in a vacuum line really doesn't clean the throttle body.
 
Sure there is stuff that will break up the carbon deposits and then flush the slurry through your engine out your exhaust. It sounded like the OP was asking if there was anything that could actually dissolve the soot deposits into an aqueous solution and the answer to that is no, nothing will dissolve it completely.

Personally I use carb cleaner to clean my throttle body and wipe it out. For the rest of the upper engine I use 1 can of seafoam through the vacuum line on the plenum (slow, slow drip takes about 30 minutes for one can). I did my head gaskets about 5,000 miles after an induction cleaning with seafoam and the upper and lower IMs were pretty clean. There were black deposits that nothing but brake cleaner would remove from the upper IM. Don't want to spray brake cleaner through your engine though.
 
Last edited:
Carbonaceous solids are a complex substance. Infact there is a peer reviewed journal devoted to nothing but. Very high impact factor.

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/258/description#description

Carbonaceous deposit can be divided up into stuff that is soluble in toluene, stuff that soluble in quinoline, and then stuff that is not soluble in quinoline.

The deposit itself consists of a complex mixture of solid things, semi-solid insoluble things, not very soluble liquid things, things that are very sticky, things that have polymerized to form a film that hold other things in place etc.

The basic strategy to clean this sort of thing, is to cause the deposit to swell and soften, so that it in can be removed by mechanical action and then held in solution by some sort of dispersant.

While stuff like soot, cannot be disolved, it can be "dispersed" to make a colloidal solution.

Intake valve deposits are different that oil deposits. E.g intake valve deposits involve coking, where as oil deposits involve the formation of varnish that holds other stuff in place to make a deposit.
 
You don't want to disslove carbon, but to simply wet it with light oil + solvent and it will meerely break off the metals surface.
 
So I take it no product can disolve carbon because it is insoluable, but I also understand that whats in engine cylinders ins not pure carbon, and can be fractured and broken down.
 
I do think carbon disulfide will dissolve pure carbon, but that is irrelavent to cleaning an engine. If your concerned about cleaning yours, try some of the things suggested here.

Lye in methanol will strip off burned on junk. It will etch aluminum.
 
Originally Posted By: labman
I do think carbon disulfide will dissolve pure carbon


I was not aware that CS2 dissolved graphite or diamonds. I've read Carbon disulfide dissolves phosphorous, sulphur, selenium, fats, resins, and rubber and maybe Fullerenes (maybe that is what you are reading). Not sure if you plop a diamond or graphite in CS2 if it will dissolve though. I'm not certain either way though.

Regardless you don't want CS2 in your engine, too volatile and will dissolve gaskets and o-rings.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: lipadj46
Regardless you don't want CS2 in your engine, too volatile and will dissolve gaskets and o-rings.


Correct, limited to products you can safely add to your engine. As I research this I'm realizing that we don't need to dissolve carbon, we just need to dissolve carbon build up which is made up of more than just carbon, as pointed out in this quote from a Seafoam site:

"Carbon is leftover residue resulting from the fuel burning in the engine cylinder. Most of the carbon residue formed by burning fuel in the cylinders is expelled through the exhaust valve and out the exhaust system. However, over time as fuel varnish deposits collect on cylinder walls and on the tops of the pistons, small bits of carbon get imbedded into this varnish. As this process continues, significant carbon deposits can accumulate. Carbon retains heat, and some of these deposits remain so hot that they act like small spark plugs, prematurely igniting the air/fuel mixture that is injected into the cylinder before the piston has reached the correct position – a condition called detonation or pre-ignition. Detonation can cause severe damage to the pistons, valves, sparkplugs and cylinder walls. Sea Foam Motor Treatment dissolves the varnish which is the glue that holds the carbon deposits, and thus allows these deposits to be expelled safely through the exhaust system. "
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top