Piston soak, alternatives to MMO?

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Of the carbon is a result of usage patterns, you need to change usage.
That said, a water decarb is as effective as anything else you can do with the head on and cheap!
Most time efficient and thorough way I've found to clean piston tops is with the head off - let some brake cleaner sit on the carbon for 10 minutes, grab some shop towel and it wipes right off.
 
Yep which is why I changed my usage pattern about a month ago :p
No more economy mode, and regularly take it out to 4000rpm, Definitely running better since but would still like to give it a soak!
Also tried the steaming technique, I misted distilled water though the intake on a hot engine, seemed to help with hard starting but i think it needs doing again
 
Is your ignition system trash and good to go? Timing correct? D you have Torque for android to pull data in real time?
CTS, MAF, CPS etc etc can cause hard starting
 
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Yep which is why I changed my usage pattern about a month ago :p
No more economy mode, and regularly take it out to 4000rpm, Definitely running better since but would still like to give it a soak!
Also tried the steaming technique, I misted distilled water though the intake on a hot engine, seemed to help with hard starting but i think it needs doing again


Can you get injector cleaner that has PEA in it?
 
Originally Posted By: badtlc
Would something like powerfoam work?


Yes, and probably quite well. I've used it for a piston soak for OPE 2 cycle engines and was able to see an improvement. The piston tops looked better via the spark plug hole. I believe if you fill the cylinder with the foam and gave it ample time it would make its way to the rings it would loosen up the crud.
 
Too late to edit. Slowly cranking the engine and refilling with PF helps too. The longer the soak time the better. When you're ready to start the engine crank it with the plugs out before re-installing them.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Yep which is why I changed my usage pattern about a month ago :p
No more economy mode, and regularly take it out to 4000rpm, Definitely running better since but would still like to give it a soak!
Also tried the steaming technique, I misted distilled water though the intake on a hot engine, seemed to help with hard starting but i think it needs doing again


Can you get injector cleaner that has PEA in it?


A couple are around.
Techron is pretty lame here compared to the States, but can get it.
Nulon make a $25 treatment that has PEA in it at reasonable rates.
 
Before doing anything, take the old girl for a decent drive, and find a nice steep hill. Stop at the bottom, lock it in 1st gear, then hold it flat, wide open throttle, until it hits the rev limiter, let it change up after a couple of seconds. Watch the mirror as the revs climb, a whole lot of [censored] will be coming out the exhaust.

As a Ford tech in the 90's, that's what most of the customer cars got during a road test! Especially on the city-based vehicles, you'd see tons of brown crud coming out. It really clears their throats!

If your car spends its' life putt-putting around, never going over 2000rpm, you'll be doing it a favour to give the redline a kiss occasionally. Beware though, depending on the diff ratio, an AU will pull about 90km/h in 1st, so do it in at least a 100km/h zone...and don't worry about the thrashing sounds coming from under the bonnet, they all sound like that at the top end of the rev range! It'll probably fix your noisy lifters too.
 
Thanks for that! I try take it up to 4,500rpm but not higher because of that exact reason, the engine sounding like it's going to self destruct! Hopefully it will clean it out a bit and yeah I heard driving spiritedly can free up lifters too
Also what oil do you recommend for the AU I6? I use either 10w30 and 10w40 because that's what Ford recommended and it doesn't burn any but I heard different things from everyone, most seem to recommend 15w40-20w50
 
Personally, I prefer 10w30 or 10w40, it seems to prevent lifter rattle on cold starts. Having said that, I've used 20w50 for thousands of kilometres in various Falcons (EB, EF, EL and a couple of AU's) with no ill effects, apart from that second or two of lifter noise during the first start up of the day. So I think what you're using is fine.

Also, don't be scared, take it to the limiter once in a while!
 
Okay thanks, using thicker oil gave me a knock on cold starts too, went straight back to the thinner stuff and stayed there so seems like I did the right thing
And I will be sure to when it's at full temp of course! :p
cheers
 
*confused*

are you experiencing so-called "knock" when cold + using thicker oil?

and thinner oil will lessen that effect when "cold"?

Q.
 
I have seen no good mention of "SeaFoam" here. Overkill mentioned it tangentially but it is my go-to cold soak formulation. I see it is not distributed in Oz, but look at post 10 here and you have a homebrew for it:

http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/showthread.php?23349-can-you-buy-Seafoam-in-Auz

I put 1 to 1.5 oz (30 to 45ml) in each piston when the car is down for some reason annually. I let it soak 2 days, then crank it over to blow out non-compressible fluids before installing plugs and starting. It will remove a (figurative) ton of carbon. I have dramatically reduced oil consumption with this and use of a diesel oil. Why?

I have a '98 Acura SLX (rebadged Isuzu trooper). '98 and '99 Isuzu screwed up really badly and used far too few drain holes in the oil control/scraper rings. Oil could never drain out to the sump, and the few holes over time clogged, exacerbating it. Short of tearing down the engine and installing 2000+ revised oil rings, all you can do to moderate oil loss is Seafoam soaks and using high-detergent diesel oil to keep the inadequate holes very clean. But if you do that, it works well.

SeaFoam is a product I have used 20 years; before this Acura, in all my carburetted motorcycles. It keep carbs on motorycyles clean and is wizard at cleaning combustion chambers with soaking. Get some or use that home-brew recipe. It works.
 
Last edited:
Bought some Nulon total system cleaner that has a fair PEA content among other things. It's supposed to be one of the best fuel add type cleaners and it better be at nearly $25!
I added it to the tank in the car park and have spent most of the time driving trying to take the revs as high as possible. Well as soon as i was driving down my quiet street i could hear the difference, the car now runs silent! The good Italian tune up must have freed the lifters too cause they no longer all rattle now but i can just hear one ticking when i take my foot off the pedal, maybe that ones shot who knows, maybe more pedal bashing will hush that one too but at least it's whisper quiet at idle now.
Should be intersting to see how it starts up in the morning on a cold engine. I normally get a bit of clicking and rattling depending on how cold it gets

I also bought some liqui moly engine detox which is supposed to be a very powerful detergent and some cheap flushing oil. That should hopefully clean out the lifters some more come next OC
 
Originally Posted By: Oro_O
I have seen no good mention of "SeaFoam" here. Overkill mentioned it tangentially but it is my go-to cold soak formulation. I see it is not distributed in Oz, but look at post 10 here and you have a homebrew for it:

http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/showthread.php?23349-can-you-buy-Seafoam-in-Auz

I put 1 to 1.5 oz (30 to 45ml) in each piston when the car is down for some reason annually. I let it soak 2 days, then crank it over to blow out non-compressible fluids before installing plugs and starting. It will remove a (figurative) ton of carbon. I have dramatically reduced oil consumption with this and use of a diesel oil. Why?

I have a '98 Acura SLX (rebadged Isuzu trooper). '98 and '99 Isuzu screwed up really badly and used far too few drain holes in the oil control/scraper rings. Oil could never drain out to the sump, and the few holes over time clogged, exacerbating it. Short of tearing down the engine and installing 2000+ revised oil rings, all you can do to moderate oil loss is Seafoam soaks and using high-detergent diesel oil to keep the inadequate holes very clean. But if you do that, it works well.

SeaFoam is a product I have used 20 years; before this Acura, in all my carburetted motorcycles. It keep carbs on motorycyles clean and is wizard at cleaning combustion chambers with soaking. Get some or use that home-brew recipe. It works.


Intersting and thanks for that link
smile.gif
 
Another few questions, what oil do you use (in your brew) and how well do these engines hold up if they get driven hard? I know ex-taxis have surpassed 1.2 million KMs without any internal work or having the head off but then again they never have cold starts
 
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