Before I get started, I just wanted to state what I do. Every other time I change my oil, I do a Steam Clean FIRST before changing the oil. The steam clean in theory is supposed to remove carbon build up inside of the rotor housings and also Catalytic Converters. I've had absolutely Great success doing this and initially my Compression read 95 PSI Front rotor, and 99/100 Rear rotor. After a few months of very spirited driving on the weekends and also being used as a Daily Driver, my compression started to go down. My last compression check before I had performed a steam clean was 93 front rotor and 97 Rear. After I performed my First Steam Clean my compression read over 115 on both Front and rear Rotor housings. Now i'm not saying that doing a steam clean will yeild you the same results, because there are a lot of different aspects to factor in when it comes to results, such as the build of the motor, tune, etc. So for me It worked and i'll continue to do what works until I'm proven wrong. Therefore, here is my HOW TO STEAM CLEAN YOUR MOTOR!!


Materials needed:

- 1 or 2 Gallon Jug of DISTILLED water
- 3 Vacum lines, all preferably around 2 feet long
- A 3 way Plastic Vacum T to connect Vac lines
- A good thick glove, or a thick rag (to hold throttle cable [keep rpm's up])

This is the only real tool you will need, Insert all three lines on all 3 sides of the vacum to and your end product should look like this.

Distilled water...poke hole inthe top of the jug big enough to fit the Vac line


First thing you will do is Let your car warm up to normal operating temperature.

Second, open hood and find the two nippls pictured below on the Upper Intake Manifold (UIM)


Then pull off those two Vac Lines (all the while the motor is still running)


Connect your Vac tool on the two nipples and leave the one side open, do not connect it yet!!


The jug of water should be able to rest on the top side of your strut or anywhere it won't get to hot, just make sure it's close enough that the vac line will reach to the bottom of the jug.

So not that the line is hooked up.... USING THE RAG that is thick enough to keep your hand protected from heat while holding the throttle cable, rev up your motor to around 2700-3500 RPM's. Now using your other hand... insert the open end of the Vacum tool you made to the bottom of the water Jug. The car will sound like it's going to die, but if you keep it reved and stead it won't. Hold the rev till the full 2 gallons or gallon is gone.


rag holding throttle cable

There could be a lot of steam or absolutely no steam depending on wheather, humidity, etc, but either way you should have water coming out of your exhaust. If your Cat started glowing Red.....i'd suggest stopping just because I don't know what will happen haha. My car doesn't have a Cat so i really didn't have to worry about it.


When you are done, let your car idle for about ten min just to burn off any access water still in the exhaust system. AND CHANGE YOUR OIL,

This is my first how-to so if I missed anything i'm sorry, i'll be happy to add anything I can or answer any questions regarding the matter. Thanks much!

 

Very good write up brother!

 

Thanks man!

 

How did you determine that 2 gallons was best? I'm just wondering if a lesser amount would suffice. How long does it take to use 2 gallons?

 

Most people do a gallon to each rotor. This way he is doing both the front and rear runners equaling it for both housings. But 1 gallon should be enough to start off.

 

Exactly... and the reason I choose to do both rotors at he same time is that it just seems like the right thing to do... I feel like doing one rotor at a time may put a weird load on the motor,....if that makes sense..

 

Interesting, Have you done it yet Alex? LMK, I'm thinking about trying it.

 

approx how long does it take to go through a gallon?

how does this differ from seafoam? i used seafoam before but i didnt change my oil right after... is that necessary or just preferred?

 

Video for viewing Pleasure!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQBZ4tsHIrM

 

About 5 minutes if that.. I then drove my car & did a couple w.o.t runs to get any excess water out. your car is gonna look like an old steam locomotive while your doing this so don't be alarmed. I did a compression test before & after & my old motor went up exactly 10 psi per rotor face, & that compression held 3 months later when I sold the car..

 

In for later

 

nice write up. will put that on my to-do list when it's time to change the oil.

 

maybe 2-3 min on my watch... but just be safe and change your oil... nothing good could come from having our already diluted oil (gas) with water...

 

how does this effect egt probes or afr sensors? any harm doing this with these installed?

 

The probes are on your exhaust mani? or exhaust? .....they'll get a nice steam clean as well should be just fine.

 

pretty sweet...

First few runs i did on my car after installing AI (50/50 water/meth) had the same effect.

 

I have a 50/50 water meth kit as well.. but this is just another level really..

 

I'm sure this way is better initially. But the AI will keep it clean over time. Not needing to do this again.


I'm going to do this to my other FC, which does not have AI.

 

That is a cool idea. Sure having full time water / meth injection would be better but this is far cheaper.

 

I'll completely agree with that

 

If you have a stock cat, it will likely get very very hot. Mine was red-orange. Be careful where you park. I had a fan blowing under the car to move some of the heat away. I used the same process as this thread and only "burned" 1/2 gallon in 3 minutes time. Maybe the tube was suctioned to the bottom of my jug. Don't drive without changing your oil first. I have an AEM water injection setup so I'm never going to do this again.

I do think this method is much more effective as the injection kits put very little water in the system in comparison and it's a fine mist that is evaporating quickly, not water dribbling directly into combustion. Depending on your nozzle you will be injecting between 3-5 gallons per hour versus 2 gallons in about 5 minutes.

 

Ok so I tried your method of running water to both rotors at once for about a gallon. The engine doesn't rev high enough or flow enough air to create the heat you're looking for. I had much better success doing one rotor at a time, there is no "weird load" on the engine by doing it this way.

When I did one rotor at a time I was able to rev the engine higher to flow more air and create more heat. On a side note, while running the water through my engine I noticed water was bubbling out between the turbo and turbo manifold, guess it's time for a new gasket and star washers.

 

Hmmm thats odd.... Had no prob reving for me... Did you warm the motor up to running temp before? Notice any difference in idle rev or anything after the fact? change the oil as well?

 

I guess that makes sense though about heat.... either way I've noticed gains.. But the reason I say "weird load" is because essentially one rotor is doing more work than the other. While one is per say doing a 60% work load the other is being stressed abnormally by having to push fuel, and, and Water out of the chamber... Does that make sense? I guess it wouldn't really be a huge prob if you kept revs down.... but thats my reason not to do it the one rotor way. Whatever works and gets the job done though.

 

One rotor at a time works well with no problems, I've been doing it that way for over 7 years now