Tom M'Guinn

I have my head off. What should I use to get the carbon build-up off the top of my pistons?

Waterguy

I used a soft brass wire wheel on my drill. It got the carbon off no problem and did not scratch anything.

Eyal 951

I realized, after i had worked at cleaning some carbon off, that all i did was get particles in the piston rings. I did my bets to clean em out, but that probably wasn't great at all. I think if you want to clean it, oull em out of the engine!
~Eyal

Tom M'Guinn

Seems like a shame to put the head back on with all that caked on carbon in there. Piston 3 has a whole topographical relief map made of carbon on it. I am making slow progress with simple green and paper towels, but think something must be faster.

Jfrahm

If you have a working time machine, go back in time to before you tore the motor down and inject a stream of water into it while it's running and nice and hot.

I suppose it's unlikely you have a time machine, so there are a couple other things you can try. A small spot steam cleaner or a product like OMC Engine Tuner or Marine Motor De-Carb. You can get those products at a marine repair shop, they are used to decoke 2-stroke outboard motors. They work better on a running, hot motor but do work in a situation like yours.

-Joel.

Eyal 951

screw simple green. if your doing this, then get something that will take it off better. Sea foam is made for carbon removal.
~Eyal

Tom M'Guinn

Sea Foam? Anything I can buy at Orchard or Home Depot?

Jfrahm

Most auto parts stores carry sea foam.

-Joel.

Eyal 951

sea foam is available at places like autozone, pepboys etc. you can also run it in a crank case, put it in your gas tank, and run it through your intake system... Look on the can for instructions. I wouldn't run it through the intake on a turbo car, you could mess up the impeller. But on an na car, its fun to see the huge cloud of smoke out the exhaust.
~Eyal

ian kam

i just used spray carb cleaner worked perfectly no work at all.

jimbo1111

If you go to home depot in the fire place department there is a cleaner that is used to remove carbon off of the glass of wood burning stoves. I forget the name but it its amazing.

jns

I'll be looking to clean up my pistons soon as well. Good tip on the seafoam causing a problem with the impeller. I never thought of that. I heard about putting ATF on pistons or through a spark plug hole and it's supposed to work well but I'd get a second opinion on that. Let us know what you find that works well.

Tom M'Guinn

My head is off and the pistons are exposed, so I suppose I am in a different boat than those who want to clean off the carbon in a running motor.

jasoncoker

Dear Tom,

I just went through this on all 4 pistons. Carb cleaner did not work all that well. In fact, a dry red Scotch Brite pad (the kind for metal) worked the best. If it is really thick, take a DULL screwdriver and carefully scrape the piston. I would avoid using a wheel on a drill, b/c you have to rotate each piston to the top to clean it (I did this anyway, but I am ****) or risk damaging the cylinder coating. Plus, you will have to use too aggressive of a wheel, b/c the standard steel wheels will get some carbon off and then polish the rest on the piston!

If I had to do it again, I might try some lacquer thinner or Redline SI-1 with the Scotch Brite. Do not forget to change the pad frequently b/c it does dull or fill up or whatever.

Cleaning the pistons well will require a lot of time and elbow grease.

Eyal 951

I would recomend against the screwdriver... I tried it and it left scrapes on my piston.
~Eyal