How many of you decarbed before....

Dhadley

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Feb 4, 2001
Messages
16,978
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

I will decarb a motor I buy if it doesnt need rebuilding. Once its set up on one of my boats I never decarb. But my motors are all set up at a minimum of 5900 rpm. They just dont coke up.
 

quantumleap

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Feb 16, 2004
Messages
813
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

I did mine for the first time this spring, and inspected the piston tops before and after using a bore light. There was a small amount of buildup before, although not what I would consider excessive. After, nearly all of the carbon buildup was removed. I hope the same level of cleaning occurred on the piston rings. I did notice the idle was a little smoother afterward and I got a little better top end but had switched to synthetic at the same time so couldn't determine where increase came from.
 
D

DJ

Guest
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

MATTT,<br /><br />Yes you can do the same thing for those engines.
 

mattttt25

Commander
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
2,661
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

read it hear, decarb once or twice a year. not really sure if it helps, i really don't notice anything different. i can say the same for synthetic oil. switched to pennzoil 100% about 9 gallons ago. still no difference.<br /><br />will i continue to use these products? probably. because when i stop and something goes wrong, i'm sure to blame it on that.<br /><br />fyi, my father-in-law just sold his center console with a 1996 johnson 150hp. he ran it very hard in saltwater conditions. no decarbing, minimal freshwater flushing, and 2 water pumps. when sold, survey checked out fine and the engine is still running with no problems.
 

ED21

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 26, 2003
Messages
829
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

The owners manual for a new Echo leaf blower insists that the motor be decarbonized every 90 hours or 3 months. It says to take it back to the dealer for this. They make it sound like the dealer will disassemble the engine, but I think I know what the dealer does. And it probably comes out of a can.<br />I've had good luck decarbonizing old 2 stroke garden tool engines.
 

quantumleap

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Feb 16, 2004
Messages
813
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

All 2 stroke engines build up carbon in the combustion chamber due to oil/fuel mix. Some more than others. Some will run good even with signifcant build up. No 2 stroke motor is designed to run better with carbon deposits, so why risk breaking a ring if there is a simple way to remove the carbon? Once again, it's called "Preventative Maintainence". You could probably drive your car for 50,000 miles without changing the oil and just adding a little at a time but eventually the engine will fail because of it. Keep the engine as clean as possible and it will last longer. My $.02.
 

dajohnson53

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
1,627
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

Originally posted by Sivart:<br /> Never have heard of it before this forum. I purchesed the supplies and plan on decarbing this weekend. My only concern is overheating during the decarb process. We decarbed my dads 150hp Yammy last weekend and it overheated. Never has on the muffs before. We took it to the lake to run on the water. It was just fine on the water.<br />I am a little worried about having an overheating problem on my XP 200. Is there something that happens during the decarb process that causes the engine to run hotter?
Interesting. I noticed my engine overheating on the hose last two times I ran it on the hose. And by coincidence, those were a spray into the carb. decarbing session last summer (which I aborted because of the overheat alarm) and then when I fogged it in the fall (same method). I don't know if it's just because of the defogging and decarbing or if it is always like that since I very rarely run it on the hose. Maybe spraying into the carb causes stress and more heat. I do know my mechanic told me he thinks the big engines don't do as well on the hose because the hose might not supply enough water for the pump to pressurize and adequately supply the cooling system.
 

cajun555

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
483
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

I've been reading this forum for several months now. Really thinking about a decarb. Its a 50 year old Johnson, know its never been done. I've got some neighbors that anoy me. Maybe that will be a good project for the July 4th afternoon.
 

skperez

Cadet
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
19
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

Does anyone know if you can decarb. Direct injection engines. I have an 2001 225 ficht with 85 hours. Motor running a slight hesitiation at mid range RPMs and lost about 400 RPM's at WOT. Anyone with any thought??
 

phatmanmike

Captain
Joined
Oct 24, 2003
Messages
3,869
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

i did my 14hp today, and yes i can tell a diff. its start easier now and idles a bit smoother, but still not perfect.<br /><br />but yes it DID make an improvement<br /><br />m ike
 

skperez

Cadet
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
19
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

Thanks Paul, Kind of a lenghty process. You have to wait an hour between each can (6 cans for a 6 cylinder = 6 hours? Wow?
 

dajohnson53

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
1,627
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

Whay can't you use the "tank" method of decarbing described in the FAQ on a DFI engine? It's a lot easier and less time consuming.
 

skperez

Cadet
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
19
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

D.,<br />Sounds good to me. I'll try that way first and see how it looks.<br /><br />skperez
 

Ronald1

Seaman
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
68
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

Having never decarbed before I'm a little leery to try it, you know it's not broke don't fix it. I have a 1977 Evinrude 35hp, and a 1970 Evinrude 60hp. I'm planning on using the pint of Seafoam with 1 gallon of premix method. What do I look for during this process and what results can I expect. Is this method effective? How do you guys do it? Thanks
 

dajohnson53

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
1,627
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

Captain: I pretty much exactly followed the procedure in the FAQ section entitled B. Decarbing FAQ, AKA the "tank" method,w hich is the one you're considering - and the results were pretty much exactly as described in the FAQ.<br /><br />A couple of years ago I trying the method of spraying into the carbs (but didn't spray into the cylinders). It also smoked a lot - but I dont' think I did a really thorough job because with that method you have to be right at the engine and I got tired of the smoke in my face (the prevailing breeze wasn't helpful). With the "tank" method, you can watch from a distance. I actually did other chores on my trailer while the motor was idling and then while "soaking". <br /><br />Do a search on this forum for decarb and you'll get a million testimonials. I don't recall reading a bad one yet, for what it's worth.
 

BillP

Captain
Joined
Aug 10, 2002
Messages
3,290
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

Originally posted by rickdb1boat:<br /> Just curious, how many of you decarbed your motor before you started reading all the post about it on here? I recently started doing it because of the advice on this forum, but for me and others I dealt with, it really was not the norm a few years years back. Never heard anybody mention they decarbed there motor. I never decarbed for MANY years and never had a problem. But then again, the motors that I had ran very well and they ran clean enough(From cylinder and piston inspection) that there did not appear to be any problems with carbon build-up. I know it's been around a long time now, as I remember JB posting about a few drops of water in the carbs would burn of the deposits. Just curious...
I boated 25+ yrs and 1000s of hrs without decarbing. Then started decarbing regiously in the mid 80s. The reason I got "religious" was a burn't piston from crud build up on the piston crown at 1000+ hrs. The crud retained heat and melted a hole through the crown...compression dropped to about 40 psi. <br /><br />The motor (OMC 140) was run the last 700 hrs without tstate and "cruised" easy. The crud didn't get blown off and the cold running made it worse. Only one piston had major crud and the ring lands were relatively clean on the other three pistons. TCW oil always used on this engine, mostly OMC brand. <br /><br />After that experience I bought OMC Tuner by the case and decarb every season or so...200-400 hrs. One can per carb and let it sit 30-60 mins after the fog. Then to the next carb.
 

Jack Shellac

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
1,661
Re: How many of you decarbed before....

A couple of points that I havn't seen mentioned: On the old motors that were never decarbed and ran fine; decarbing only became necessary after we all had to switch to unleaded gas. This was when carboning up became an serious issue. The other is that TCW3 was formulated to help deal with the carbon problem. This was the industry's admission that it was actually a problem that had to be dealt with, in case anyone still doubts it.
 
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