Oil Soot, Carbon, & Blow-by Issues

Sooty engine oil, carbon deposits, & blow-by issues

Regular diesel engine operation, including starting, becomes increasingly problematic as combustion-related deposits build up on critical engine components over time. Cold weather only compounds the situation. Types of operation, such as excessive idling, short run time, light work, and city type driving, all contribute to carbon and soot deposit formation which causes less than satisfactory starting and overall efficient operation. All these less-than-ideal operating conditions inhibit efficient combustion of the diesel (or gasoline for that matter). In addition, poor maintenance and general age will also contribute to harmful deposit build up.

What causes engine power & efficiency to deteriorate?

Typically, deposits build up in several critical areas of the engine…

  • Injector tips. This prevents optimum fuel spray atomization, as well as distorting the fuel spray pattern. Both of these conditions severely affect the combustability of the fuel.
  • Cylinder glaze. This is a build up of very fine carbon particles compounded into the cylinder cross hatch micro-grooves. This ‘glaze’ makes the bores glassy smooth, reducing cylinder compression and increasing blow-by and oil use. Adequate compression is essential for diesel engine starting, especially when the ambient temperature is low.
  • Piston ring deposits. These deposits on the rings and in the ring grooves cause the rings to stick in place. This stops the rings from correctly sealing against the cylinders, reducing crucial cylinder compression and oil control.
  • Combustion and exhaust deposits. Carbon build up in combustion spaces, especially on piston crowns, interferes with efficient mixing of the fuel spray with the intake air, decreasing the effectiveness of the ignition point of the fuel. Exhaust deposits, particularly on the exhaust valve heads, reduce the engine’s ability to breathe efficiently. Turbochargers especially, are badly affected by carbon build up.
  • Sludge and gummy oil-control rings. This is caused by accumulated soot in the engine oil. Apart from increasing internal drag, which adversely affects engine cranking and efficient lubrication, sludged/blocked oil-control rings cause a significant increase in engine oil consumption, as effective oil-control is compromised.

Rather than carrying out expensive mechanical work to physically remove, clean and replace affected parts of engines and fuel systems (an effective overhaul), all of the above mentioned deposit types can be removed by safe chemical means, and with minimal downtime. In fact, much of the clean up occurs during actual, normal engine operation.

How to restore & maintain engine power & efficiency

These products have been proven over decades, and can be relied on to restore maximum engine operational efficiency.

  • Cleanpower Fuel Treatment. Comprising highly concentrated fuel system detergents (not abrasive and corrosive solvents), Cleanpower safely and effectively restores full cleanliness to fuel pumps, lines, and injectors to correct distorted fuel spray patterns, and provide optimal fuel misting, restoring correct fuel combustion and power delivery.
  • FTC Decarbonizer. This product is truly unique! When added to the fuel, it acts as a combustion catalyst to ignite and combust fuel much more easily during starting and engine operation. It also literally burns off carbon deposits from combustion and exhaust spaces at much lower temperatures than otherwise possible. So, even during adverse engine operating conditions, it burns off deposits such as cylinder glaze, ring and ring groove build up, combustion and exhaust component deposits, even turbocharger deposits.
  • Flushing Oil Concentrate. Based on specially defined detergents designed to dissolve and disperse heavy, often baked-on deposits, pristine cleanliness can be safely restored to the whole oil-wetted side of the engine at the time of oil change. It removes stubborn sludge and hard, damaging carbon-type deposits to recover full available compression and clean, efficient lubrication to the engine. Particularly, it de-sludges oil-control rings, allowing correct oil control on the cylinders.
  • AW10 Antiwear. This is recommended to add to the engine oil once the oil is restored to clean condition (after using Flushing Oil Concentrate). It significantly reduces frictional drag throughout all lubricated mating parts of the engine, and consequently reduces the battery’s cranking demand.

All of these products are available individually, or collectively in cost-saving Value Packs – Ultimate Gasoline Pack, or especially for modern High Pressure Injection diesel engines, the Ultimate Diesel Pack.

Recommended Products for carbon and blowby issues…

Click here for examples of controlled, long term field test results of using FTC Decarbonizer

*Information on this page is used by kind permission of Cost Effective Maintenance. ©