Decarb with water

[Saboat]

I have read elsewhere on the forums mention of using water to decarb a motor.I have tried with the only decarb product available in our parts (Quiksilver Power-Tune) with some success (a lot of smoke),but the cylinders and piston tops are still not squeeky clean.<br />To use water to decarb would you run the motor at say 3/4 throttle and just spray a mist of water into the throats for a while ? Or is this just asking for problems in other areas like water in the bowl ?<br />(Motor is a 1989 40hp Evi)

 

[wayne h]

Re: Decarb with water

water will not go into the bowl is u spray it down the carb throat but i would no use water to decarb an engine stick with the stuff u buy in the stores u might wanna try some seafoam and keep mixing it with your gas at the end of the season u will see the diffrenc in your pistons.. carbon does not build up over night and can take sometime to get ride of. u dont wanna knock it all lose in 1 session anyway.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Re: Decarb with water

Wayne said:u dont wanna knock it all lose in 1 session anyway.

Why not? That's what the best decarb stuff claims to do! And that's what I've always done without any seeming ill effects.<br /><br />Must be a high-tech reason I've missed.

 

[rwise]

Re: Decarb with water

the bad part of using water to decarb a 2 stroke is water in the crank case.

 

[Saboat]

Re: Decarb with water

Unfortunately we don't have products like Seafoam available to us.I guess from the replies is stay away from the water and keep trying the canned stuff until clean.(Might take a couple of cans)

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Decarb with water

the very worst part is the fact that water ,when it rapidly expands, tends to steam clean the lubrication from the pistons and bearingsleaving them going up and down with no lubrication and an incredibly abrasive,corrosive substance in its place.. then if you dont run it long enough to clear the water from the crankcase it will cause major bearing/crank failure. so its not really high tech its more of a common sense issue. dont use water, and it will never be squeky clean. in fact squeky clean piston crowns are not what we want. mostly decarbing is to try to keep carbon from the ring grooves. a properley operating engine will mostly self clean the plugs and combustion chamber.

 

[JB]

Re: Decarb with water

We used to use water exclusively to decarb, Saboat. It was our only option to tear down.<br /><br />With engine at operating temp and about 1500-2000rpm:<br /><br />Spray water into the carb intake in amounts small enough that the engine does not start to drown.<br /><br />Continue for 5-10 minutes or until "smoke" turns from gray to white..<br /><br />Run engine at least 10 minutes after you stop the water. Pistons and heads should be squeaky clean. The water does not steam in the crankcase, it steams in the combustion chamber. Oil in the fuel will keep it off bearing surfaces as it passes through the crankcase.<br /><br />Because this is a topic generic to all non-DFI 2 stroke engines I am going to move it to Outboard Non-repair.<br /><br />Good luck.