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View Poll Results: Most effective method of reducing carbon buildup
Steam it out via water through the intake
12
23.53%
ATF treatment
2
3.92%
Add MMO in the gas
9
17.65%
Run it really hard every time you drive it
28
54.90%
Voters: 51. You may not vote on this poll

Reducing carbon buildup poll

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Old Jul 2, 2004 | 10:20 AM
  #1  
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Reducing carbon buildup poll

OK guys I'm looking for the best method to reduce the carbon buildup in my FD (going on 103k miles with original engine/turbos). What do you all think would be the most effective and why?
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Old Jul 2, 2004 | 01:00 PM
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Ive heard top builders say that they rarely get an engine that died because of carbon build up. Rarely like once every 6 months or something.
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Old Jul 2, 2004 | 03:41 PM
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Carbon buildup will do more damage to high mileage engines that sit up for lengthy periods of time. Dailey driving shouldn't cause you too many problems. Driving hard really helps. Personally I like to run water through my intake with a vac line every six months because I don't always drive the **** out of my engine. It really helps.
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Old Jul 2, 2004 | 03:56 PM
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Originally posted by t-von
Carbon buildup will do more damage to high mileage engines that sit up for lengthy periods of time. Dailey driving shouldn't cause you too many problems. Driving hard really helps. Personally I like to run water through my intake with a vac line every six months because I don't always drive the **** out of my engine. It really helps.
I heard this is alot better than the ATF stuff. Also MMO should be good too, yet I have no experience with this.
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Old Jul 2, 2004 | 05:16 PM
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Originally posted by t-von
Personally I like to run water through my intake with a vac line every six months because I don't always drive the **** out of my engine. It really helps.
t-von, how much water do you use? Do you just hook up the boost gauge hose into a jug and let the vacuum do it's thing? What rpm should you run the engine at while you do this? And how long should you run the car for after the "treatment"?

Thanks!
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Old Jul 2, 2004 | 05:21 PM
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Exclamation Water injection

ive heard that water injection should keep things new like so

1 no carbon build up means.......
2 no sudden detonation or knock
3 no stuck apex seals
4 less heat more life to seals

like i said im saying this from information i read through forums and internet could be true or not

plus with water injection you can solve another problem we incounter detonation, high tempretures, life span of engine, poor fuels etc...............
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Old Jul 3, 2004 | 05:36 AM
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From: Where there's only two seasons, hot and wet! I love Okinawa
run water injection...
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Old Jul 3, 2004 | 10:00 AM
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I recently read someone took apart 2 similar mileage motors, one running the stock omp and the other running premix and the internals looks night and day with the premix'd one with less build up
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Old Jul 3, 2004 | 10:05 AM
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Actually. I will bump my post on water treatment so you can see what has been said. As far as using ATF, it works well but has hella smoke.
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Old Jul 4, 2004 | 08:40 AM
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SBi_Owner, thanks for bumping your post up. I'm probably going to try the "steam clean" route in the next day or so. I'll report back with the results.
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Old Jul 4, 2004 | 11:52 AM
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By a PFC and run leaner idle and cruise AFRs.
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Old Jul 4, 2004 | 06:31 PM
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Exactly how much water is drawn if you simply stick the boost gauge vacuum line into a cup of water? I tried this today and got maybe 1 cup of water drawn into the intake over about 5 minutes or so of running at about 3.5k rpm. Does this sound right?

Thanks!
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Old Jul 4, 2004 | 10:34 PM
  #13  
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I heard from lot's of rotorheads to take your car to the high rpms/redline at least a few times a day to keep the carbon from building up.Correct me if im wrong im no expert.
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Old Jul 5, 2004 | 10:53 AM
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1 cup in about 5 minutes sounds about right, little slow, but it is ok. I have to say, you need to watch the exhaust temps when you do this, it will get hot. You need to run about 3 cups through the engine to even be effective.
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Old Feb 7, 2007 | 11:20 PM
  #15  
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FWIW, I've done it to my Mopar 360ci V8 per my mechanic about 10-years ago, but I'm reluctant to do it on a rotary . . .

Also, I would think running a pre-mix about 5-miles prior would be best.

:-) neil

taken from:
http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/3r...injection.html

When talking about rotary engines, carbon buildup is a common problem brought up. I have a writeup elsewhere in the tech section of internal engine damage pics, showing the effects of carbon buildup. A good way to combat this harmful effect is to inject water into a running engine as a matter of maintenance (note that I am not referring to water injection as a method to assist tuning and combat detonation, but rather as a maintenance procedure). By allowing an idling engine to injest a small amount of water, it hits the rotor faces and turns to steam, cleaning off carbon as it does. The more regularly you perform the maintenance, the cleaner your engine will remain. The procedure (I believe) was originally brought to light by Rob @ Pineapple racing, so please note that I’m not trying to take credit for this, only spreading the information for use by individuals.

Note that this should in no way harm an engine in good health. Water doesn’t combust, but it doesn’t harm any internals or sensors such as plugs or 02 sensors either. The engine will misfire and stumble during the time water is injected, this is normal. You will have to apply throttle to keep the engine above 3000rpm during the injection.

To perform this, I use a gallon jug of water and a long vacuum hose, say 3 feet. Though this is different for nearly every year and model, the underlying goal is to find 1 or 2 vacuum nipples on the intake manifolds after throttle body, preferably on the lower intake manifold so that the water can run straight down into the block. You want to feed both front and rear rotors evenly…generally you have 4 intake runners, 2 for the front, 2 for the back. Some engines have one nipple that can feed both (s4 turbos, for example, have one above the BAC valve that is evenly split between F and R primary runners). Some engines (fd’s and s5 na’s for example) have 2 separate nipples that can be teed together externally (vacuum hose and tee) to evenly feed both rotors.

With the engine running, remove the vacuum cap or lines that used to cover the nipple you’re using. You might have to apply throttle, so the engine doesn’t die due to a vacuum leak. Insert your hose(s) onto the nipples, and bend the hose somewhere in the middle by hand so that it seals off the air intake. Now, dip the end of the hose into the water at the bottom of the jug. Either grab the throttle linkage and rev the engine up, or have an assistant hold the throttle for you, above 3500 or so. Release your crimp on the hose, letting the engine vacuum suck water in. The engine will begin to shake and misfire, apply throttle as necessary to hold 3-4krpm and keep the engine from dying.

Expect a lot of steam from the exhaust. This is normal. I let the engine drink the whole gallon at once. When it’s done, it’ll begin to clear up slowly, and you can gradually let off the throttle and replace the original vacuum hoses/caps.
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Old Feb 8, 2007 | 01:19 AM
  #16  
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From: glen burnie, md
I use the same method except i use Seafoam. One can every couple months works great for my fd
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Old Feb 8, 2007 | 01:33 AM
  #17  
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Jeesh, all you have to do is drive the car like it was meant to be driven every now and then. If you honestly have a problem taking the car to redline and getting on it, why do you even own it?

My motor was cleaner than most when it was torn down at 85k miles -- synthetic oil, no pre-mix, and plenty of above 5k rpm time.
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Old Feb 8, 2007 | 08:33 AM
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Indeed. Take 'em to the track.
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Old Feb 8, 2007 | 10:01 AM
  #19  
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I want to know how you "KNOW" it works at all ?? Or better than another idea.... do you remove the turbo and look through the exhaust ports @ shiny rotors ???
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