I tried steam cleaning my engine today and totally failed

first I had my brother hold the throttle, and he didn't press enough, he let the engine die. I took about 15 minutes to get the car starting again (didnt need to remove the spark plugs and everything, yay.)

then I started steam cleaning again, and after the car drank about 1/3 of a gallon, I noticed the muffler was getting orange. I immediately stopped, looked under the car and the cat was GLOWING RED

also there was no white smoke what so ever getting out of the exaust for the whole time. I would of expected a lot of smoke and steam or something

at least the car still runs well lol.

 

interesting....waiting for the experts to chime in.

 

how did you try it, like where did you use to introduce the water to the engine? Was the car completely warmed up?

 

Are you saying you fed your car...water?

 

yes he is. However, there has been a general consensus that running a little bit of water through the engine works to steam clean carbon and deposits in the engine. Search and you'll get a lot of info.

 

yes, thats exactly what he is describing. It is a common method of cleaning the carbon out of rotaries, and is well documented. it basically is no different than having a water, or AI system bolted on

kenn

 

BTW,

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ht=steam+clean

and

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...injection.html

 

Sometimes steam cleaning can trick the car in to running rich. I don't remember what actually does it. That would be my guess.

 

Thats weird there was no smoke out the exhaust. I did this a few months back on my car and it worked like a champ. Had to keep it revved to about 2.5-3k and it was smokin like a bitch out the back, but after it sucked down about a gallon I replaced all the vac lines and and the car was totally back to normal. Idled fine, boosted fine, etc. I did however notice a slight increase in my vac.

I did not have a cat of any kind on my car when I did this, I wonder if having a cat retains some of the water/moisture?

Has anybody else done this with a cat installed?

 

The way I did is I used the 2 nipples on the UIM. disconnected my boost gauge and ABV to connect 2 vaccum lines teed together.

ran the car at around 4000rpm the whole time and had it suck in the water. I stopped when I noticed the exaust was glowing, and I sprayed some fogging oil in the intake to relubricate the internals and keep the carbon residues from sticking on the housings / rotors

 

That would be mine as well. If you introduce the water before IAT sensor in the throttle body, it condenses on the sensor, tricking the ECU into believing that it needs to richen the mixture to compensate for the lower IATs.

 

^Except that using the nipples on the UIM is after the IAT so doubtful that this would affect A/F ratios.

 

Good point, didn't notice his previous post...

 

i would think that steam cleaning would cause higher exhaust temps (hence your glowing cat)

when the water hits the combustion part of the engine, it's absorbing heat (that's why it turns into steam). it then carries the heat out though the exhaust. i would assume that's why your cat is glowing.

am i wrong in my thinking?

 

^ I'm with that guy.

Rich AFRs is not going to make your exhaust glow red, is actually backwards. Leaner conditions will heat up your EGTs.

 

The steam won't transfer enough heat back to the surfaces of the cat to cause it to gain enough heat to glow.

 

Yes, I hear what you're saying, but I was thinking that the heated steam particles would be attracted to the surface of the (cooler) cat, transferring the heat to the cat, and causing it to heat & glo.



or perhaps my thinking is backwards and it lower's (measured) EGT.

either way, the heat has to go somewhere, and i'm guessing the steam is carrying the heat where it is getting trapped in the cat.

 

btw - my oil looked like total crap after doing a "steam clean" / de-carbonization treatment of this nature. Might want to check yours and change it soon.

 

That's basically what I was stating in my post. Ever heard of a metal getting hot enough to glow from just steam? Moisture returns from a gaseous state (vapor) to liquid (water)-- and thus transfers its heat energy-- by condensing. The boiling point of water is far below anything that would cause the cat to glow red; moisture can't condense on something that's going to boil it off.

 

Yes, leaner AFRs will increase your EGTs, but overly rich AFRs will make your exhaust glow as well. Excess fuel continues burning as it exits the exhaust port, transferring its combustion heat to the exhaust surfaces.

 

...Plugged cat maybe?? Why wasn't this the 1st possible diagnosis?

Revving the engine @3-4k rpm for long periods of time... Could very well be a plugged cat glowing.

 

I just steamed cleaned my engine like three weeks ago and mine also smoked like a bitch and I have a high flow cat on mine. Also like gracer7-rx7 suggested you better change your oil soon because a lot of the water also finds its way in to your oil and mine had a bunch. Do you have the stock cat on your FD or is it an after market cat?

 

my fd is completly stock exept for the air filters. it's a JDM (no precat)

I never had issues with exaust overheat before, even during drag races or circuit. I wouldn't think my cat is plugged.

I changed my oil the day after the steam clean too, it didnt look to bad but I did figure water in the oil isn't a good thing :P

I still wonder why I had absolutely no steam coming out of the exaust after 1/3 of a gallon. weird.

 

I had done this 3 months ago.
It steamed like a steam engine, but only for the first 30 seconds. I wondered why there is no more steam.
But as it was sucking (the water in) like a bitch, I decided to go on. I Checked my exhaust temps the whole time. They where never above 650°C!!
Then we noticed white smoke coming from under the car. We stopped the water and I looked under my car. My exhaust after the high flow cat was glowing bright!!

I think it will run too rich during the steam clean. And with the airpump running, it will be burned in the cat...

 

You're physically replacing air molecules for water molecules so yes, you do run rich when you 'steam clean'. You're also most likely not getting full burn as the FD ignition is not the be all end all. That excess fuel is being ignited most likely in the cat where fresh air is being introduced into the exhaust stream.