Z22SE carb cleaning piston rings

[richard165]

hi!

its been covered on a previous thread but I'm going to put carb cleaner down the spark plug holes.

I'm a bit dubious about doing this so if anyone's done it before a but of guidance would be much appreciated. so ill take the spark plugs out, spray half a can of cleaner down each hole but...

• how will this affect the car once I change the oil, Will it run badly due to carb cleaner removing film of oil over rods etc?
• does the engine need to be warm?
• how long do I leave it?
• do I need to flush it with fresh oil and change it out after cleaning?
• is there anything ive missed

im hoping this means that I can take the car to london without running dry on oil and causing serious damage

Thanks for the help

 

[patricks]

Yes ive done this.

1. Leave carb cleaner in overnight
2. Drain oil following day
3. Make sure all the carb cleaner has drained and none rests on top of the piston - i vacuumed any resisidial carb cleaner out thru sprark plug hole with a thin long tube connected to a vacuum source
4. Add oil about 30ml in each cylinder
5. Do oil change as normal - fresh filter too

 

[Berto]

Just to add to Patricks' advice: For peace of mind before attempting a real start up, with spark plugs out (no pressure), coil pack unplugged (no spark), and fuel relay removed (no fuel), crank the engine for ~30 seconds or so to make sure all carb clener/oil has been spit out, and that the cylinders are lubed.

Then replace spark plugs and fuel relay, plug in coil pack and start up for real.

 

[richard165]

thanks guys!

I'm hoping it'll make a dramatic difference as my oil consumption has increased to 0.75l over 410 miles!

its particularly bad on motorway journeys. it used a massive amount on a journey into leeds on the mway.

 

[Berto]

^ Captain Obvious once said: with defective oil control rings, the higher the rpm and engine load, the more the oil that will be burnt in the combustion chambers. Lower rpm and less throttle pedal will reduce oil consumption. ( [SARCASM] Surely that's why we all got a Z22SE engined car, isn't it? To drive it like the granny [/SARCASM] ).


Another thing you may try to rein the oil guzzling is the "PCV bypass mod".

 

[FishHo]

Subaru make, and recommend, and upper cylinder cleaner. Recommended usage is every other service. I've used it before with old plugs and they come out sparklingly clean. Just unload the can into a running engine. Be aware if you use it during the day the neighbours will think your house is on fire because it does smoke.

 

[richard165]

okay after looking around, and as a less invasive procedure, what about seafoam added to the oil?

there's conflicting reports that it's either improved the oil consumption or smashed they engine you pieces.

does anyone have experience of this stuff?

 

[FishHo]

Not sure about putting it in the oil , but go and google outboard carbon cleaner. There's whole bunch of products used by outboard engines to specifically tackle carbon build ups. I've used the yamaha products with great success.

 

[patricks]

Dunno if something similar is available in the UK but ill be doing this to my next set of wheels

http://www.carbon-clean.com.au/

 

[Berto]

... what about seafoam added to the oil? ...

No experience with that stuff, but its composition (pale oil, naphta, isopropyl alcohol) isn't precisely Peenemünde rocket fuel. You could homebrew a similar concoction easily.

 

[richard165]

I've got the seafoam on order to arrive tomorrow, there is oil on 2 of my plugs.

what I plan to do is put it in directly the cylinders whilst the engine is warm to give it a decent start, soak the pistons whilst every couple of hours rotating the engine by hand. remove and replace with fresh if the stuff is still in the bore and keep rotating the engine by hand you free and clean the rings.

im going to do this over 2 days and then tip the remaining stuff in the oil, run for 15 to 20 minutes as a flush, then drain oil and replace with shell 10w40 oil and a fresh filter and spark plugs.

it's worth a shot instead of stripping it all down. im not confident in taking the pistons out. I've read lots about this with lots of success stories. they recommend putting it in the oil and driving 300 miles but im not confident in that.

I also plan not to hydrolock my engine before anyone warns me lol the spark plugs will not be present through this operation.

I'll post again with my results. hope it helps someone as fixated on this subject as some of us.

 

[Berto]

Best of luck to you Richard , please keep us updated.

 

[richard165]

hi there!

bad news I think, jacked up the back,put half the can of seafoam in shared between all 4 bores.

after a couple of hours in which I cycled the engine twice by hand, there was no liquid in the cylinders at all. repeated with the other half the can again shared, cycled engine a couple of times and left over night.

in the morning, checked and the cylinders were damp but no liquid.

due to there being a couple of oil changes this year and me being paranoid about the pint of liquid addition to the oil which may or may not change the viscosity/ cause damage due to solvent in there,I decided just to drain the oil out and not to run it as a flush. as an extra precaution I left the drain plug out and used some budget oil to flush it out when it was empty. cleaned plastic half of oil filter housing out with carb cleaner.

changed oil filter and installed new spark plugs after cranking engine without plugs to make certain there was no liquid in cylinders, and out in brand new shell helix hx7 10w40 oil.

started up and it sounded rough and smoked like a good un but settled very quick to be much smoother and absolutely smoke free after 5 minutes. took it for a run you warm up proper and it felt much smoother.

ill see how much oil it may or may not burn within 400 miles and update.

the only question I have for more experienced folk is this, should I be concerned about the leak down of the seafoam over a couple of hours? I put about 60ml in each time.

 

[patricks]

[QUOTE="richard165, post: 1257647, member: 7104"
the only question I have for more experienced folk is this, should I be concerned about the leak down of the seafoam over a couple of hours? I put about 60ml in each time.[/QUOTE]

Not that im the most experienced here but i wouldnt be worried that just means the rings are not so clogged that the carb cleaner or seafoam was able to pass thru nicely remember it doesnt have the viscosity of oil so its going to drain thats normal. I didnt get any smoke but like you also experienced very rough idling for the first minute or so which freaked me out too but like u it ended up being smoother than before the treatment. I understand seafoam does cause lots of smoke.

My procedure was similar i did carb cleaner down the bores and drained it, followed by cheap oil just to do a flush followed by good quality oil and fresh filter. Engine was noticebly smoother, The shell oil that u quote i think is a semi synthetic go full synthetic EVERY time, I have seen pictures of some members internals posted on here when they have used semi syn and i wouldnt touch it. My engine internals with triple the mileage looked cleaner than theirs

Yes keep us posted with ur results

 

[richard165]

stupid me. the bottle said synthetic technology on it lol. its going to be changed as soon as I can see if it's fixed the oil burn.

If it still burns oil I replace it quicker than it takes it to get dirty!

did you notice the pistons were empty after soak too?

 

[Berto]

... should I be concerned about the leak down of the seafoam over a couple of hours?....

^ Not at all, even less so if you did it on a cold engine and cycled by hand. The stuff just leaks down past the rings.

... started up and it sounded rough and smoked like a good un but settled very quick to be much smoother and absolutely smoke free after 5 minutes. took it for a run you warm up proper and it felt much smoother ...

^ Completely normal, a well done job .

 

[richard165]

Thank-you berto! im hoping to be able to help other people or as much as they've helped me.

 

[Berto]

... go full synthetic EVERY time, I have seen pictures of some members internals posted on here when they have used semi syn and i wouldnt touch it. My engine internals with triple the mileage looked cleaner than theirs ...

^ This man speaks the truth!

~200K km / ~125K miles and I can eat off the internals:

​

 

[richard165]

that's beautiful has it always been on full synth?

 

[patricks]

Berto WOW thats celaner than mine was looks soooo nice. Ive just picked up this as my daily driver and all i can think aboiut is my next z22se - throttle response is shot compared to my astra sri - the alfa multiair engine feels like a diesel yiuk. But like many italians - think ferrari and lambo - she looks very cool