flash_xx

Ok, so I'm guessing everyone has seen those youtube videos where they show an endoscope being inserted into the cylinders to check for carbon. Well, I decided to do that yesterday and now have a depression. You literally can't see the pistons in my car, they are totally covered in carbon, complete black corrugated and flaked carbon, I could not find a single piston where I could actually see the metal underneath.

My car does not use oil, compression is good and even. Besides adding a catch can, is there any way to clean them up a bit? I don't believe in miracle cures like seafoam, but there must be products out there that actually help. Gas here is horrible but I try to get the best one and mix it with 100 octane gas to reach the 93 octane my tune requires. I've never put techron or any of those additives, so I don't know if they do anything.

Derf00

If you use a high quality gas like chevron or shell, they already have cleaning agents in them. Unless you do a direct intake service using a concentrated form of the cleaning agent (not going into the gas tank) you are wasting your money.

The carbon buildup is from the oil that is being sucked into the intake from the PCV system. You'll want a good catch can to get rid of most of the oil that is otherwise getting sucked in.

flash_xx

Yes, buying a catch can right now.Also, I'm in the third world here, ALL our gas sucks. Short of buying VP race fuel I'm pretty much screwed. They sell 100 octane fuel (supposedly) but considering how expensive it is I usually just add toluene to the normal gas which is aprox. 88 octane to raise it to 93. That or mix 100 octane with 88 octane to try to get 93.

I posted a picture a while ago of the fuel that came out of my filter with less than 10,000 miles in the car, here it is again so you can see what I have to deal with:

Coosawjack

Tune for 87 octane.....add a catch can if you wish and stop playing with poor quality fuel and adding "octane boosting" additives!!

Do you ever run it hard enough to burn built-up carbon off the pistons??

flash_xx

Look at my sig and tell me what you think

Coosawjack

Does that photo mean you run it at a track??

If you run it hard and still have a lot of carbon built up then I'm not sure why except for very poor fuel??

Seafoam run through the intake will remove most of it....give it a whirl!!

flash_xx

I ran the Seafoam through it, I ordered some new plugs so I'll look again when I replace them.

I do track the car at least 5 times a year, also do drag racing and it's my daily driver (and trust me, I do not drive like a granny).

One question though, could aging coils cause carbon build-up? The car is not throwing any codes, but then again it wasn't throwing any codes with the oxygen sensors and it improved considerably when I had them replaced.

Coosawjack

In my experience coils either work or not.......but weak spark would cause incomplete combustion and could give you significant carbon buildup!!

Not sure if any aftermarket coils are better than OEM??

BTW, do you have an aftermarket tune??

Derf00

Don't waste money on aftermarket coils. None seem to be as good as the OEM Ford ones. This seems to be true for the Mustang and several other models.

If you drive the car hard (on a track) i would definitely get a Catch can. At the constant high RPM you're running at it's sucking that much more oil into your intake from high velocity air.

flash_xx

I'm running a Brenspeed 93 tune at the track and an 89 tune on the street. Catch cans have already been ordered as well as a new set of oem sparkplugs. Thanks for all the suggestions.