Bill Forintos wrote:

> "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?
>


In the old days of carbureted vehicles, you could use water injection
which literally "steam cleans" the combustion chamber. I have no idea
whether you could do so in a modern fuel injected computerized engine
though.

JT