Decarbonizing with water made easy(ier)

[gr_diver]

I wanted to decarbonize my engine a bit, to fight a dieseling issue I am having. I found a way to make it very easy!

I took a piece of flexible hose (4mm inner diameter) that fits nicely on the "T" at the brake booster's hose fitting on the intake manifold. At first I just immersed the other end in a container with water, but this way too much water was being sucked, I had to disconnect the hose every 2-3 seconds to keep the engine from stalling (or hydrolock!) Not very convenient, and too risky!

Having messed with carbs, I thought "I need a smaller jet to regulate the mixture!" . So I took the box with spare jets, and found a tiny jet from a Solex DIDTA32/36, the one that feeds the power valve (it is installed at the flat surface between the carb's body and the airhorn). It was a number #45 for reference. I screwed it in the immersed end of the hose (fits perfectly in the hose) and re-tried. Bingo, the engine from fast-idling at 2000rpms, with the "water injection" connected dropped to a steady 1200rpms.

I just took a chair and my coffee and sat right next to the car (just in case), and only got up to re-fill the container. It went automatically, within 30 mins about 1,5 lt of water cycled through...

That has to be the easiest decarbonizing I ever did!

[ungermm]

This reminds me of something I came across a couple years ago and always wanted to see if the claims actually worked.

Claims were that the fuel economy was dramatically increased in an 73 Opel GT. By adding damp/denser air (water) to the intake, I would guess that you can increase your compression, HP, and fuel economy. Also, claims to clean out carbon build up and extend engine life for just a couple dollars.


Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel: Ron Novak's Do-It-Yourself Water Injection System

[timemachine]

Pretty cool if it works. Any potential downside to this? I remember my dad hooking up some kind of water injection kit to our old Chevy in the 1960s. Don't remember how it worked out. You'd think if this was an easy maintenance/performance fix it would be a lot more commonly used.

Clever solution though.

Jim

[gr_diver]

I had tried the old trick of pouring water down the carb's throat, but I didn't like it at all. It only took one careless moment of tilting the container just a bit more to stall the engine (and maybecause a hydrolock). In addition, it was a continuous process of loading the engine with steam, then stop pouring until it started to revive, then pour again etc.

The minimal but continuous flow of water that a jet provided is much more safe, controllable and more predictable . And if at some point you feel that something is not going well, you just pull the hose form the intake, and the "steam load" that makes the engine rev slower is gone in about 2-3 seconds... Far faster than having a big pour of water get out in the traditional way...

[soybean]

Now I've never tried the above, it certainly sounds intresting, but I have used ATF to unstick valves. I replaced an engine that was running well 2 days before and thought the rods were going to come through the block when I cranked it. Knocked like crazy. Called the old mechanic that taught me to wrench on Opels and he said run it up to 3000 RPM and slowly pour a quart of ATF through the carb. Do it outside because of the smoke. By golly it worked. The engine ran for another 55,000 miles until a bozo pegged me in the left rear quarter panel. I still have the engine, but not the car.
Jarrell

[CoriolisSTORM]

My grandfather ran water injection (he might still do it, I'll ask) with his 89 Ford Ranger. Not sure what his thoughts were behind it...
haha, he always had a gallon of water with a hose and regulator setting in the floor and the hose went through a hole in the firewall.