Clean up hard carbon off pistons and valves, need suggestions / product insight
So i've got the pistons out of my spare motor and i want to clean off the hard carbon on the top and skirts of the pistons and the valves. Taking it through the parts cleaner is not going to work b/c hard carbon does not come off easily. So far i've googled the topic and it's all over the board. For the pistons it's on the skirts and top. Sure i could wire brush it but i don't want to scuff up the parts. So wirebrushing is out.
On the valves i want to clean off the hard carbon also but retain the factory finish on them. Any off the shelf products i can try or suggestions for both the piston and valves.
Here is what i found googling below - (so many scenarios, just want to find out what really works, lol)
1. permatex gasket remover
2. You’re probably asking yourself what can be done to remove these carbon deposits and how can such deposits be prevented from forming in the future. The answer is not an engine teardown to clean the valves, pistons and injectors. You don’t have to take such drastic measures. The answer is in a can: MoparŪ Combustion Chamber Cleaner, P/N 04318001AB. Let’s review how to use this product. If the engine is equipped with an air pump, disconnect it. Next, remove the throttle body air intake hose. Start the engine and run it at 750 rpm. Begin spraying the contents of the can directly into the throttle body. If the engine begins to stall, increase the engine speed, but run it just fast enough to prevent stalling. Spray the entire contents of the can into the engine. When the can is empty, turn the engine off. Let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes as the cleaner does its magic. Restart the engine and run it at a low speed for about 5 minutes. This will completely expel the cleaner from the engine. Turn off the engine and reinstall the air intake hose and reconnect the air pump, if required. That’s it. It’s that simple to remove those harmful carbon deposits. The next question is how does your customer prevent this carbon from building up again in the engine and causing the same problems. First of all, it’s important to keep the vehicle properly maintained. This includes replacing spark plugs at the recommended interval and being sure that the air filter is clean. These are tasks that optimize performance and minimize poor combustion.
3. crushed walnut shell sand blaster, what????
What??? You never seen one of those???
It looks just like a mini sand blaster, but instead of using sand as the blast media(for obvious reasons) you use crushed walnut shells.First time I saw it used, to clean the back of valves, was at the Toyota dealer many years ago. Toyota had a TSB fix for shitty drivabilty and high oil comsumption. The cause, i think, was a crap PCV design. Part of the fix was to take the intake off and blast all the baked on carbon off the valves, clean it up and put the intake back on. This was all done WITHOUT taking the heads OFF!! Worked pretty good. The walnut shells were tough enough to get the rock hard carbon off but benign as to not the hurt the engine.
4. I just put some rings in my 91 prelude.It was an oil burner so the tops of the pistons had a lot of carbon on them(in the center of the piston).I soaked them in my parts washer and it didn,t seem to help much.
5. I had some BG intake cleaner that I had not used.I soaked them in it and the carbon came right off.
I don,t build engines that often.I would kinda of like to see what others use also.
Or buy a bottle of cleans at GM and spray it, it will liquify the carbon. This stuff is amazing. Only thing is this will get past the rings and into the bottom end so it is reccomended you change your oil after.
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Originally Posted by Red_EJ1
