Well, it's pretty hard to spray any sort of carb cleaner or anything into the engine, since the AFM is so far away... and a PITA...
So I thought about the water trick with the vacuum line, and tried it.. whatever, no difference.
Anyways, I decided to try running carb cleaner through a vaccuum line.
I popped a vacuum line off the intake manifold, and stuck the little red spray tube (you know the ones, comes with all spray lubes) into the vac line, stuck the throttle at about 2000 rpms, and pressed the valve on the carb cleaner- letting it all get sucked in
I emptied the entire can into the vacuum line!!! (Took a few minutes) and of course the car ran like crap while it was going through....
The car runs much smoother... and TO MY AMAZEMENT... I looked at my exhaust tips, and the insides were clean!!!!! A lot of the carbon in the exhaust was actually cleaned out!!!.
I am guessing by this evidence that the inside of the engine probably looks like a mirror.
I'll do this probably a couple time a year.... anyone think of any drawbacks??? It can probably clean up cats too!! (not the 4 legged kind)
Geez, it's common sense that a chemical like this, which dissolves carbon on contact, and lubricates too would work better than water!

Dan.

 

Thats kinda the same thing that a lot of garages use to clean fuel systems. At my old work place our fuel system cleaner had one bottle of stuff that was put into the tank and another that was fed through a vacuum line (of course this was w/ piston engines and the cleaner would go through the intake runners and valves and whatnot). It works pretty well.
Those systems are not really advertised as a cleaner for the inside of the engine, but w/ rotary it might help some like you said.

 

Sounds good. I think Ill try that tomorrow, see how it turns out.

 

Very interesting. I'll be curious what the long term results will be. So which line did you remove on the intake?

-JB

 

Try to get it to go through as much of the intake as possible. I'd say pull intake elbow off and spray it in throttle body first then pick a line right after TB to run the rest of the cleaner through.

 

It might make a small difference. You have to scrub like **** with carb cleaner to remove carbon when the engine's apart. Maybe with it running it would help a little...

 

Hmmmm, interesting. Might give it a try next weekend. I already have a bottle of CC laying around...

 

maybe the 100+psi pressure and a few hundred degrees combustion temp plays a small part in it???

bit of a catalyst in the reaction possibly :P

 

which vac line do u put it through?

 

what about TII guys ? can u spray it before turbo to clean turbo and IC as well ???

 

Well, the most obvious and easy solution would be the line which goes to the boost sensor (if you want to get to the turbo as well). Any other ideas ?

 

I unplugged the pressure sensor (i think it is in the same location as the boost sensor) on a 90 NA. Put some water in after, now the thing runs like crap at idle. At top end it is much better...

 

tmak26b- Reset your ECU.
The idle is crap because the computer compensated (via the pressure sensor reading 0hg, because that's the line you pulled off) for the vacuum line being off, now its running too rich at idle.....
I tried the h2o trick, and I noticed the same thing.... the idle was GARBAGE.
I drove it for a day, then I tried resetting the ECU- and it was fine.
I didn't notice any improvement thought- it's WATER for Christ's sakes!

I'm definately running cleaner through it once every few months!!
You've gotta really saturate it though... my engine was almost stalling.
I let it stall right near the end, and let it sit for about 1/2 hour.... then started it up and sprayed the last bit through.

 

The boost sensor connects to the inlet manifold, way after the turbo.
There shouldn't be any need to do this pre-turbo, as carbon build-up is from combustion inside the engine.
If you want to clean an IC, remove it and soak it in petrol overnight.

 

So is anyone concerned about loosening the carbon by doing this and it flaking after you have done this treatment which might carbon lock the motor?

 

It is no different than doing the ATF trick. The carbon just goes out w/ the exhaust. There is not any massive hockey pucks of carbon, or anything, so I doubt that the carbon itself will do any damage on its merry way out!

 

Guys, I try to only run Chevron with Techron gas thru my rocket. I read somewhere on an RX performance page that doing so was the best thing to do.

Do you think this will eliminate the need to water/ATF/Carb Cleaner the system down?

If so, certainly much easier and the benefits would be continuous as opposed to cleaning out the arteries periodically.

 

Guys, I try to only run Chevron with Techron gas thru my rocket. I read somewhere on an RX performance page that doing so was the best thing to do.

Do you think this will eliminate the need to water/ATF/Carb Cleaner the system down?

If so, certainly much easier and the benefits would be continuous as opposed to cleaning out the arteries periodically.

 

Dude! One last time - which line you spray into??? I'd guess the uppermost one (where we've got three stacked one above the next on the front of the plenum - easiest to get at and unplug/plug.) I want to try this as well but I don't want to choose the wrong line...

And how do we reset the ECU in an FC?

ttyl,
Amur_

 

I used the short line that goes into the upper intake manifold- right above the solonoid bank- it's a short line- about 4 inches long- it's the highest one I could find. (with the most intake tract after it- most intake exposure to the cleaner)
I ran it through that one for a while, but I was worried it would only get the fornt rotor, so about halfway through I pulled off the pressure sensor line, which is above the back rotor, and ran it through that for a while.
It doesn't really matter what lines you use, as long as you get cleaner to both rotors.


To reset the ECU- just pull the batt neg terminal, and hit the brake pedal a few times- let it sit for 10 minutes, then hook it back up. Start it up, it'll run funny for a few minutes- the first idle, the first accell, etc. as it adjusts.

 

obviously, no one knows the effect this has on the engine....but...

as you know, oil is sprayed onto the apex seal to lube and seal it during operation. CC is a degreaser, so...

anyway, nice thought, but at least not for me!

 

Yeah, whats next, the Clorox treatment?

 

I used carb cleaner SPECIFICALLY becuase it contains lubricants. (intended for carb linkages, and upper cylinder, but lubricant nontheless)
Brake cleaner is more powerfull, but would strip the inside of the engine temporarily.
While I'm sure the limited amount of time running w/o lube wouldn't hurt, i'd rather use the carb cleaner w/lube.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to change the oil after an intense run of this!!

 

Would it be better to plug it into the plastic elbow(like screezing nos) that way it cleanses the throttle body plates along the way. And this stuff is all o2 safe right?

 

Doesnt the fact that water, when heated expands greater than air. Couldnt putting water in the engine essentially raise the compression? just a thought.