Carbon under the head

[Chris Lastinger]

Built my 45 using copper head gaskets and decided(after reading Steve's thread about his) to change them to asbestos. Had no problems but figured that better do it now before they blew or electrolisis ate things up. Really radical carbon(?) build up to me(check out the little mountain if the pic goes thru) but just don't know if this is common. Have 5K miles on it,use champion D16 plugs 12 volt,run mid grade fuel and Marvel mystery oil.

Let me hear from you guys, because I have a friend had a very bad knock and after he pulled the heads had a mountain range of build up similar to mine. Thought his knock was from that but turned out it was his crank pin. Figured a few of you do the WLA forum and have pics og his carbon also. Chris

[Paps]

Slightly rich mixture or need a hotter set of plugs.

[Ohio-Rider]

Looks pretty close to what I found when I pulled my heads last year Chris. What a pain in the butt to clean it up. I found that a single edge razor blade and a lot of patience worked well for removing that crap. Before I started scrapping I brought the piston to the top of its stoke and filled in around the piston with grease to keep the mess from getting down inside the rings. I also avoided the use of compressed air.

Once you get it back together, ride it like you stole it, and you won’t have that problem again. LOL

[Chris Lastinger]

Carbon

Thanks guys, So this is fairly common with the 45 's? Definitely run it rich because most of what I've heard says lean is bad. Believe me I run it hard, 33T sprocket and usually tell the new bikes I don't mind cruising at 60-65 and can run 70 but don't ike to do it long periods. Funny my buddy with the WLA is just the opposite and usually runs easy, refuses to add MMO,and uses regular gas only, but his bike had the same sort of build up. The only thing common between us are the plugs. I also use synthetic oil(Klotz 50) instead of fossil 50. Could it be that some of the residue is caused by what little oil gets past the rings and the synthetic leaves extra residue?

Cleaning it up wasn't that hard, razor knife as Steve said and for the heads I used good old Evinrude engine tuner. Just filled the cavity, let it soak a bit and the soot scrubbed off with the help of some brass wool.

[Ohio-Rider]

I really don’t believe its oil getting up there. I believe it’s the lousy fuel we are burning. Or should I say the lousy fuel that’s not burning. I’ve got a low compression tractor which I use to plow snow from the driveway. A few week ago this very dependable machine wouldn’t start for me. I pulled the plugs and they where literally dripping with gas. I pulled out my Bic lighter and I couldn’t even get that wet plug to even try to burn while holding a lighter to it. I went and got the gas can that I had filled the tractor with and removed the cap and took a sniff. It didn’t smell like gas at all, but rather it smelled like fresh paint.

We are at the mercy of the oil companies . They are putting additives in our gas these days that our old machines where never intended to digest.

[Paps]

You nailed it Steve. I read an article on how these additives were actually solvents and other chemicals that the oil companies were getting rid of for industry. WE burn it...they save bucks ! Thus the need for catalists.

[Chris Lastinger]

Carbon

I seem to remember some pics Cotton put up showing some of the crystals left over after the stuff evaporated. Maybe instead of Marvel I'll start putting a pinch of 2 cycle oil in,at least the stuff in my outboard is soft and sooty. Heck, I check plugs every few hundred miles anyway.

Are the Autolite 386 plugs hotter than the Champion D16, got some of those but have never used them and still can't find the NGK equal. Chris

[yhprum]

In my Dykes 1914 or 1917 encyclopedia of automobilia they tel lyou you can decarbonize an engine by removiing a spark plug, filling the cylinder with oxygen from your torch and to drop a small piece of burning cigarette paper down the spark plug hole. All carbon will be consumed they say. Blow out the dust afterwards.
Anyone heard of this?
Steve

[Chris Lastinger]

Whoa! That's called head in the ceiling. No way I'm thinking of that! Pure Oxygen and left over oil in my cylinder sounds like a mighty exciting experience. Makes me think of the time I tried to light a bon fire with diesel(BUT it was Gas). Still ain't got any eye browes> Chris

[LouieMCman]

Looks like my '35 VL after a few years of hard running with a bit of Marvel's in the gas. Hell I thought it was fairly normal, just clean it out and keep going. It is tough to get off. You know the manuals on the old bikes (teens & twenties) said to scrape that stuff out every year!

[ihrescue]

I know this thread is a little old but the bad fuel subject is still an issue and you never know what you are getting. I had a friend who made a living off old fuel tanks. He did testing and installed new tanks where the old ones were leaking. He also did the remediation of the the soil and installed all the environmental ground water testing. One thing that he came away with as positive money was the old fuel in the tanks and he collected many thousands of gallons. He had purchased a special large centrifuge to separate the petroleum from the water and other sludge and he resold the fuel. Now a lot of the fuel he collected was fine but it sure had some that would be considered up to spec. A couple of years ago I had trouble starting a trusty Husqvarna chain saw and realized that every lawn tool I had from 2 cycle to four cycle wouldn't start on that batch of gasoline. From that point on I started buying the canned gasoline with no ethanol from a local hardware. I only use it for the chainsaw and the few 2 cycle tools I have. The last thing I want is to have a chain saw that won't start when I need it most. We just never know what we are getting out of a fuel pump.

[Green Indian]

I like to use Sea Foam gas additive in my gas as often as I can to cut down on carbon build up and other ethanol related issues. The bonus is that it helps to stabilize it too and preserve it for storage.

[Shaky Jake]

I like to use Sea Foam gas additive in my gas as often as I can to cut down on carbon build up and other ethanol related issues. The bonus is that it helps to stabilize it too and preserve it for storage.

I have also found that Sea Foam reduces carbon build up.



Kevin

[T. Cotten]

The thing I can't figure out about Seafoam, Folks,...

...Is why it does nothing to carbon on parts in a jar on the bench.

Marvel Mystery oil does, but still requires 'elbow grease'.

Seafoam ranks as "snake oil" by my observations.

....Cotten

[Green Indian]

Perhaps it's in the combustion of the fuel that the benefit of Seafoam (if any) occurs. It does help to mitigate the nasty effects of ethanol in my vehicles, thus I use it. I guess it would help if over time there was documented evidence of a flathead motor, fresh off a rebuild, and then after 20K miles what the heads looked like having always used Seafoam in the mix, would reveal upon tear down.