"jim beam" <spamvortex@bad.example.net> wrote:
> and still do the italian tune-up. it clears carbon deposits marvelously.
> full throttle, steepest fastest longest uphill you can find. several
> times. hondas love that.
>
> i did some head work on my civic a couple of years ago. i'd been flogging
> the poor thing to los angeles and las vegas from san francisco at high
> speed for a year. it was so clean inside, you could see the metal of the
> piston tops!

Thanks guys for the tip but here is my problem with your suggestions:
The main reason I want to get rid off the carbon build-up is the pinging in
the pistons when the engine runs hot and hard. What you are suggesting would
make the pinging probably intolerable during the "Italian tune-up".
Besides, wouldn't that also damage the catalytic converter (CC)? How about
any dark exhaust coming out of the muffler during the process? That might
almost invite the cops to pull me over, no? Back in '80s I once tried one
of those cleaning additives by pouring it in a 4-barrel carburator and boy,
what a smoke that created for a while behind my Cutlass! (That was before
CC.) I would not want to go through that experience again.

By the way, I usually fill up with Chevron gas that does contain the Techron
additive but I don't see any noticeable reduction in pinging. So what gives?

BF