The V8 Owners Forum -

Just a little enigma to exercise the grey cells over Chrimbo?

Steam Clean Inside the Engine - Whilst its Running

Introduce small amounts of water continuously into the engine intake/plenum via a 1/8" dia pipe, under the influence of inlet vacuum whilst the engine is running at 1500 rpm?

The water turns to steam inside the combustion chamber and under normal compression pressures of about 120 to 160 psi the superheated steam cleans off carbon crud from everything thereabouts.

Including - Rings and Ring Grooves - Piston Crown - Combustion Chamber - Valve Heads - Exhaust Valve Seat Area - Exhaust Channels in Header/Manifold - Downpipes - Catalytic Convertors.

The expelled carbon residue floods out of the tailpipe into a very large black puddle.

Keep allowing in water under the influence of vacuum until the tailpipe expels clean water. It can take as much as 20 litres.

On my life - I never heard of this and would love to know more. The originator, in an RV8 parallel universe, is serious, claims to have used it, assures hydrolock is not a problem and has only beneficial effects.

One might ask if there are any downsides such as: Risk of Nuclear Explosion as the water cracks into Hydrogen and Oxygen? - Engine Oil Contamination? - Mayonnaise Everywhere? - Water collecting around the intake trumpets? - Water collecting in the Exhaust System? - Back-firing into the intake components?

"Never heard of it?" Me neither! No matter! Can it work?

An RV8 churns out loadsa water from the combustion process during its life. Can it handle another twenty litres in a shorter order, steam cleaning as it goes?

Enquiring minds need to know! There is even a video:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tt7IY0keOD0 - Any volunteers?

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Ear.

Ramon

I guess water injection works, so perhaps the basic water principle is not completely daft. Too much water would seem to be a recipe for disaster, wonder how easy it is to go over that line...
Hot/just-boiled water might be better than cold?

Soaking glasspack silencers in the black glop isn't appealing.

Is it better than Redex or similar? Does it do a better job? Anyone got a scrap car to try it on? Intriguing...

Ramon,

This is quite an old remedy and can be used quite effectively if carefully done.

Best way is to spray the water through a jet so you get a fine mist as in water injection used to avoid detonation.

The process will work and clean off all the crud in the combustion chamber area as is evident from Rover engines with cracked bores and slipped liners which have coolant leaking into the combustion area where the affected cylinders are always a lot cleaner.

Have never had the need to do it, but don't see why it cant done providing oil and filter are changed immediately after.

There also used to be a similar process where you poured Redex into the induction system in the same way(secondhand car dealers decoke), but this generated a fog of burnt oil wheras the water system just generates steam.

Kevin.

Kevin

Yep, poor mans Redex, Ive seen it done a couple of times, I dont know how effective it is, Same as Taxi drivers putting 1/2 a gallon of petrol in a diesel tank to clean the engine out

Hell you already even have the 1/8 diameter pipe


AKA vacuum for advance / retard

Ian

I've seen some very clean cylinders as a result of head gaskets seeping water into the bores. So this principle could work. But I'd be removing my silencers first so they dont catch the crud...

ethylene glycol is also good. early RX7s used to inject that for cold starting and was a well known cure for sticking seals.