The sight of a 100psi shurflo pump next to a lawn mower gave me an idea. Good or bad remains to be seen. If the lawn mower doesn't have an air filter, would misting air at the intake point do it any good, a cheap decoke? Thought about trying it with an old 2-cycle scooter first, but maybe smarter heads will prevail.
Anyone try water misting into intake?
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Years ago I did it into the carb on a B&S mower engine. I got very hot water and put it into a Windex bottle and went to town spraying it into a warmed up engine at about half throttle, and from time to time would rev it up a bit. I got smoke black smoke coming out of the exhaust. When I was finished I changed the plug and the oil. I got a lot of years from that machine, which was pulled from the trash.
That has been used for many years. A method of decarbonizing an engine as the English would put it.
If more people can give more personal experience with this method, and that it really works, I'd try it on my Toro lawnmower but seeing as it lasted over 10 years now with just oil and spark plug changes, I must be doing something right...
I was thinking of just leaving the thing misting water while the mower idles. I don't think lubrication will be a problem because it will be coming in the fuel instead of having climb the cylinders.
I did this to my 1990 K1500 Chevy truck last summer. I had a terrible pinging/pre-detonation.
I have a throttle body, so I spent about 20 minutes flowing approxiately 2 gallons of water through my engine at about 2500 RPM's. Yes, 2 gallons.
Yes it works. Pinging immediately gone.
She smoked like crazy. Whole neighborhood smelled like a burnt firecracker for a few hours. That's the smell of burnt carbon.
The increase in RPM's is to give you a safety margin so it doesn't hydrolock. When the RPM's begin to dip, let off the water. I used a gallon milk jug, with a piece of tubing and fork or "Y" at the end of the tube so both sides of the throttle body got equal water.
After about 1.5 gallons, no more smoke. But I finished off the second jug anyhow.
It works. Honestly. Just use caustion. If you hydro-lock it, you can cause major damage....but if you use your head, it's pretty much a no-brainer.
I have a throttle body, so I spent about 20 minutes flowing approxiately 2 gallons of water through my engine at about 2500 RPM's. Yes, 2 gallons.
Yes it works. Pinging immediately gone.
She smoked like crazy. Whole neighborhood smelled like a burnt firecracker for a few hours. That's the smell of burnt carbon.
The increase in RPM's is to give you a safety margin so it doesn't hydrolock. When the RPM's begin to dip, let off the water. I used a gallon milk jug, with a piece of tubing and fork or "Y" at the end of the tube so both sides of the throttle body got equal water.
After about 1.5 gallons, no more smoke. But I finished off the second jug anyhow.
It works. Honestly. Just use caustion. If you hydro-lock it, you can cause major damage....but if you use your head, it's pretty much a no-brainer.
In a past life I had a small business fixing cars in the late 60's early 70's. One day had a friend come by and when he shut off the car it continued to "run", dieseling, jerking pretty bad.
I took it for a ride doing a couple wide open throttle runs up and down the highway. It left a cloud behind it. When I pulled back into my driveway the engine stopped when when I turned the key off. I then finished the job by slowly dumping a couple quarts of water through the carb while manually working the throttle. Had more exhaust cloud.
Owner said "it runs like new now".
I took it for a ride doing a couple wide open throttle runs up and down the highway. It left a cloud behind it. When I pulled back into my driveway the engine stopped when when I turned the key off. I then finished the job by slowly dumping a couple quarts of water through the carb while manually working the throttle. Had more exhaust cloud.
Owner said "it runs like new now".
I used to reguarly do this too.Helped every time.
Years ago I did it to a '92 Aerostar 3.0 (which I still have) trying to get rid of the pinging. It was mid summer and I just got back from a 20+ mile run, so I pulled the intake tubing off and reved it to about 4000 and slowly poured water into the intake (not mist, but poured) for a total of a pint. The whole area around the aerostar smelled like spent firecrackers after I finished. Never did get rid of the ping, but it was fun doing it.
Originally Posted By: Phishin
I did this to my 1990 K1500 Chevy truck last summer. I had a terrible pinging/pre-detonation..
Funny! I did the exact thing to a 1990 Chevy W/T with a throttle-body injected 4.3L. It did seem to improve things.
I did this to my 1990 K1500 Chevy truck last summer. I had a terrible pinging/pre-detonation..
Funny! I did the exact thing to a 1990 Chevy W/T with a throttle-body injected 4.3L. It did seem to improve things.
If you've ever worked on a car with a blown head gasket, you would notice where the break in the gasket was, the cyl looked like it was "steam cleaned". It will work to decarbon the motor, just use a mist not liquid.,,
YES, this actually works really well! You need to give it some part throttle to keep up flow of fuel/water/mist and to prevent hydro lock on all engines. Any Tech that has ever taken apart an engine that had a head gasket/coolant in the intake/engine will attest that water in the engine will STEAM CLEAN it and it'll be good as new when done! Often done at tune up/oil change time just so you can change oil and get the rest of the moisture out of system too is a good practice to use. Also have done it on a longer basis/gentler on engine probably with an injection needle from Farm and Fleet/vet/etc. and found an orfice size that works well with the engine that you can poke into a vacuum/pcv hose and drive with it coming in under the engine's vacuum. Works well for an engine for a poor man's water injection system for detonation in the old days....can even add alcohol to this mix for further "fuel" if needed..
Originally Posted By: BurrWinder
Also have done it on a longer basis/gentler on engine probably with an injection needle from Farm and Fleet/vet/etc. and found an orfice size that works well with the engine that you can poke into a vacuum/pcv hose and drive with it coming in under the engine's vacuum. Works well for an engine for a poor man's water injection system for detonation in the old days....can even add alcohol to this mix for further "fuel" if needed..
How would I set something like this up on my old truck in my sig? How do you know when you've found the right flow of water or water/methanol into the intake?
Is there specific flow rate I'm looking for?
I was thinking that if I ran this "full time", it would help keep this oil burner alive.
If you've done this before, what would you guess is the size of needle I'd need for a 350 Chevy motor? And where would you put the needle at.....the brake booster hose? Maybe the PCV hose?
Also have done it on a longer basis/gentler on engine probably with an injection needle from Farm and Fleet/vet/etc. and found an orfice size that works well with the engine that you can poke into a vacuum/pcv hose and drive with it coming in under the engine's vacuum. Works well for an engine for a poor man's water injection system for detonation in the old days....can even add alcohol to this mix for further "fuel" if needed..
How would I set something like this up on my old truck in my sig? How do you know when you've found the right flow of water or water/methanol into the intake?
Is there specific flow rate I'm looking for?
I was thinking that if I ran this "full time", it would help keep this oil burner alive.
If you've done this before, what would you guess is the size of needle I'd need for a 350 Chevy motor? And where would you put the needle at.....the brake booster hose? Maybe the PCV hose?
I have a few in my box that I'm looking at.. I cant for the life of me tell you the size/gauge, etc. that they are... But if you are familiar with carb jets, you should have an idea of what size you should need ie what an orfice "flows" for a given size. They have been with me for awhile.. they aren't very expensive if i remember correctly... Maybe even get from a vet doc a bunch of sizes that are "used" for this purpose if you know of someone. Shouldn't be a problem for a human. I have personally only used them for decarb reasons, but know there are some old school techs/books that you could use for reference for water injection amounts. That is mostly for high compression engines on cheap pump gas in the "old days" 60's/70's, etc on carbs.
Kind of a balance between a decent volume of fluid delivered in the vacuum stream and not overkill for the size of the engine - a bit of trial and error - starting relatively small. I believe the one I have here I have used in many engines is about the size of a normal average sewing needle. Likely a bit large for "permanent use". You can also use a valve on your liquid hose from your jug to help meter/control flow of fluid, or even solenoids/switches if you so desire. Just poke it into an existing vacuum hose on the intake or "make" a short length put into the regular (or maybe ported vacuum if using on "permanent" basis to keep it only off idle) vacuum hose and try it out. Most hoses "heal" from this small poke, but you can replace it or make that special hose for this purpose if desired. Keep it relatively close to the port as possible with not much "belly" in the hose to prevent any puddling when off. Works especially well in vehicles with a vacuum suction side PCV hose, as this hose/system is already designed for this kind of moisture/air mix anyway going into the engine. MAKE SURE it is the line from the PCV to the vacuum source or else it'll just suck it into the crankcase!
Kind of a balance between a decent volume of fluid delivered in the vacuum stream and not overkill for the size of the engine - a bit of trial and error - starting relatively small. I believe the one I have here I have used in many engines is about the size of a normal average sewing needle. Likely a bit large for "permanent use". You can also use a valve on your liquid hose from your jug to help meter/control flow of fluid, or even solenoids/switches if you so desire. Just poke it into an existing vacuum hose on the intake or "make" a short length put into the regular (or maybe ported vacuum if using on "permanent" basis to keep it only off idle) vacuum hose and try it out. Most hoses "heal" from this small poke, but you can replace it or make that special hose for this purpose if desired. Keep it relatively close to the port as possible with not much "belly" in the hose to prevent any puddling when off. Works especially well in vehicles with a vacuum suction side PCV hose, as this hose/system is already designed for this kind of moisture/air mix anyway going into the engine. MAKE SURE it is the line from the PCV to the vacuum source or else it'll just suck it into the crankcase!
Thanks BurrWinder...
Will the PCV vacuum or brake booster vacuum really have enough vacuum to suck water through a needle, through a short piece of tube, and out of a gallon jug?
I guess I'm just gonna have to play.
I found some sources online that says that the water shouldn't be more than 10-15% of the fuel consumption.....so since I have a 22 gallon tank on my truck, I'm thinking a gallon of water per tank of gas (approx. 5%) would be ideal.
And since PCV vacuum and brake booster vacuum are greatest at idle (I think), I'm really want to make sure that 5% water is the MAX at idle/coasting. Who cares if there is no water when high revving....I just want to keep my piston tops clean.
Will the PCV vacuum or brake booster vacuum really have enough vacuum to suck water through a needle, through a short piece of tube, and out of a gallon jug?
I guess I'm just gonna have to play.
I found some sources online that says that the water shouldn't be more than 10-15% of the fuel consumption.....so since I have a 22 gallon tank on my truck, I'm thinking a gallon of water per tank of gas (approx. 5%) would be ideal.
And since PCV vacuum and brake booster vacuum are greatest at idle (I think), I'm really want to make sure that 5% water is the MAX at idle/coasting. Who cares if there is no water when high revving....I just want to keep my piston tops clean.
Oh, it'll suck it out all right - No Problem. My question is why do you want it all the time ? I mean, if your truck is set up to run normal fuel, and is in decent state of tune, you shouldn't need it all the time. No high compression pistons/chambers to worry about, just do it for a jug or so and then drive it normally, knowing you've done your part to clean up the innards of your engine and go from there. Maybe again, as needed, in future, but your driveability may suffer on a constant basis without enough reason for the added "moisture" in the chamber all the time. Or if you do it constantly, u wont need a very big needle or it'll likely be too much for it to handle running on and consuming all the time.
phishin< you can buy kits to do what you are asking
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