Carb's-Eye View into Engine: Can it be Cleaned?

[stetracer]

Hi everyone! My Memorial Day project consists of replacing the o-rings (thanks Cycle O-Rings) at the engine intakes. Upon removing the ports, there is noticeable "gunk" visible. Since the oil is out of the engine already, is there a treatment, flush or spray I should use to get rid of it?

Did you fix the problem? could be a leaking valve seat and/or seals, or bad valve adjustment to tight, or bad cam timing.

[bwringer]

Leave it alone and ride. Carbon like that won't hurt anything. Maybe some Seafoam (or similar) in the next few tanks. Trying to clean it off will just flush some down into the engine where no good will come.

Agreed. This is completely normal buildup on these engines. Don't monkey with it.

Even if you managed to clean it up with an assortment of dental tools, curved q-tips, and advanced laparoscopic surgery techniques, it wouldn't matter -- the carbon would be back in a few thousand miles.

[stetracer]

Agreed. This is completely normal buildup on these engines. Don't monkey with it.

Even if you managed to clean it up with an assortment of dental tools, curved q-tips, and advanced laparoscopic surgery techniques, it wouldn't matter -- the carbon would be back in a few thousand miles.

Am I missing something how is that normal to have carbon build up on the intake valve it should remain clean



.

[chuck hahn]

No...they dont all stay clean because it too is in the combustion chamber...subjected to the same things the exhaust valves are. What good for one is good for the other.

Anyway, I swear to you that the water squirting will instantly knock the crap off all the valves and the tops of the pistons..clean.

[nejeff]

No...they dont all stay clean because it too is in the combustion chamber...subjected to the same things the exhaust valves are. What good for one is good for the other.

Anyway, I swear to you that the water squirting will instantly knock the crap off all the valves and the tops of the pistons..clean.

Could you also use an oral syringe and push, IDK, 10ml's of water through the vacuum port? A friend uses that Seafoam Spray and he just takes the vacuum cap off (one at a time) on his Yammy and gives her a few squirts. I have never tried it. Is there any reason water through the vacuum port would not work?

[chuck hahn]

Opening the vac port makes a massive vacuum leak..and since your introducing water its gonna want to stall and your gonna have to ramp up the throttle so it doesnt stall already. So, your gonna need a 1 hand method to inject the water and 1 hand for the grip. This is why a squirt gun or water bottle works perfectly.

First time i saw this done to an engine was on my 90 S10. Guy was working the bottle and the throttle lin kage and he told me to go watch the exhaust pipe. Solid black stream of crap came out. Guy was a big time engine builder that worked for some racing company. They built engines and tested them till the imploded for some Nascar team. I cant recall what team though.

My friend Rob Fischer knew him andm hooked us up. Truck ran way better after the "flush" as it were.

[posplayr]

Personally I would rather have vapor going through my engine rather than liquid. A spray bottle is going to send a mist and it will be that much easier for the engine to turn it into steam. I recently did this on a 440 dodge mtr home and reved to about 2500 and it would take as much as I wanted spray down the open carb. No issues.

[bwringer]

Am I missing something how is that normal to have carbon build up on the intake valve it should remain clean



.

It's normal as in "they all look like that" after a few thousand miles of street use. The buildup seems to be self-limiting at about the thickness shown in the photo if mixture is in the ballpark.

If a little normal carbon buildup bugs you that much, have fun disassembling your engine every other weekend...

[mrbill5491]

Use the redline now and then.

[tkent02]

Use the redline now and then.

As a lower limit. It's a GS, it's OK.

[chuck hahn]

I remembered the guys name that did it to my truck...John Schell.

[stetracer]

It's normal as in "they all look like that" after a few thousand miles of street use. The buildup seems to be self-limiting at about the thickness shown in the photo if mixture is in the ballpark.

If a little normal carbon buildup bugs you that much, have fun disassembling your engine every other weekend...

I do have fun building motors

That much black slug build up is not right. The valve guild seals have to be leaking and cooking oil on his valves. Anybody that thinks that is normal is not thinking right. Just think about the amount of weight your adding to your valves. This problem should be corrected.

Here is a few thousand miles of use close to 10,000 miles this head was last done in 2000 it is a 85 GS1150E

[stetracer]

No...they dont all stay clean because it too is in the combustion chamber...subjected to the same things the exhaust valves are. What good for one is good for the other.

Anyway, I swear to you that the water squirting will instantly knock the crap off all the valves and the tops of the pistons..clean.

yep water will clean them right up fast.
But I would not do it in this case as there is quite a bit of build up. If he doesn't have the $$ to fix it right now I would use something that will dissolve it slower maybe it would be less likely to come off in big chunks