ENGINE DECARBONIZING
- Thread starter nickygn23
- Start date
highboostgn
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
like throttle body cleaner??
Yep did it on both cars years ago...LOTS of smoke...make sure to follow directions and not leave the stuff
in the motor too long...I didn't use throttle body cleaner...I used GM Top Engine Cleaner...not sure if that is available anymore...check this out...http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/maintenance/cleaner.html
in the motor too long...I didn't use throttle body cleaner...I used GM Top Engine Cleaner...not sure if that is available anymore...check this out...http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/maintenance/cleaner.html
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
In the hundreds of turbo Buick engines we have disassembled, I have never seen any carbon build up that should have been addressed?
It appears that the "right foot" and the turbo does that job very well!
It appears that the "right foot" and the turbo does that job very well!
There are some good products that will help clean the combustion chambers and prevent carbon buildup as well. Here is a few i've used that work pretty good and are available at the local auto parts stores. Marvel Mystery Oil,Seafoam,Lucas Deep Clean Fuel System Cleaner. Just add to your gas and let it work and they will also help keep your injectors clean. The Marvel Mystery Oil is the least expensive and you only add 4 oz. per 10 gal gas. this is the best one for me to use since i don't drive much and a quart of it lasts quite awhile.
When I did my head gaskets last year, I was amazed at how clean the tops of the pistons, combustion chambers, and intake ports were. Just a very thin layer of carbon on some surfaces - that was it. The engine had about 40k miles on it. In the ten+ years I've owned it, it has spent a lot of time idling in my garage as I was fiddling with things, so I expected to see a lot of carbon, particularly in the intake ports. I was wrong. I think the stock cam (which has very little overlap) combined with the occassional 25 psi WOT blast does a good job of keeping things clean. Using high-octane fuel (94-octane in MI, 93-octane in Chicago, and occasionally 100-octane for drag racing) probably helps, too, since it usually has more detergents and alcohols in it. I should mention that the inside of the intake manifold also had a thin coating of "lacquer" on it which I attribute to some oil getting sucked in via the PCV system.
For reference - during my days working in the auto industry, we often tested our new engines by running them on dyno durabiliy tests. A typical test would be around 600 to 800 hours. Most of that time, the engine would be at WOT. When we tore-down the engines at the end of test, there would be practically no carbon anywhere - the piston tops, intake ports, valves, etc. would all be nice and clean. Of course, when we would tear-down engines that were returned from the field (i.e. a customer's car or a taxi cab test), the story would be completely different - lots of flaky carbon in the intake ports and on the piston tops. Moral of the story - WOT removes carbon. So, if you use your GN as a daily driver and spend a lot of time cruising around in stop-and-go, you might benefit from some cleaning (I stress "might"). If your car spends not too much time driving around and a higher percentage of time at WOT, then you probably won't see much benefit - it's probably pretty clean in there already.
Hope this helps...
For reference - during my days working in the auto industry, we often tested our new engines by running them on dyno durabiliy tests. A typical test would be around 600 to 800 hours. Most of that time, the engine would be at WOT. When we tore-down the engines at the end of test, there would be practically no carbon anywhere - the piston tops, intake ports, valves, etc. would all be nice and clean. Of course, when we would tear-down engines that were returned from the field (i.e. a customer's car or a taxi cab test), the story would be completely different - lots of flaky carbon in the intake ports and on the piston tops. Moral of the story - WOT removes carbon. So, if you use your GN as a daily driver and spend a lot of time cruising around in stop-and-go, you might benefit from some cleaning (I stress "might"). If your car spends not too much time driving around and a higher percentage of time at WOT, then you probably won't see much benefit - it's probably pretty clean in there already.
Hope this helps...
