Additional Tech Tips

This page contains some helpful hints that I've run across over the years

Whenever you change the oil on your front wheel drive car, it's a good idea to check the CV boots for any cracks or tears. (These are the protective rubber covers that protect the constant velocity joints in your axles from dirt and debris). Your CV boots should be changed whenever they get damaged. This will save you from a much more costly CV joint replacement later.

Speaking of oil changes. If you purchase a used car with a 'questionable' maintenance record, it's a good idea to add automatic transmission fluid to the crankcase and run the engine for a few minutes before changing the oil. This will clean out a good portion of the sludge and build-up from the inside of the engine.

The best way to clean carbon build-up out of your engine is NOT to take the car out and run it as hard as you can. This only results in meetings with local law enforcement personnel, and doesn't do much for cleaning out carbon.
If you really want to clean the carbon out of your engine follow these simple steps. Fill an empty soda bottle with water. Remove your air cleaner. Start your engine. While using one hand to control the throttle, trickle the water into the carb or throttle body with the other while holding your thumb over the bottle opening. Keep the engine rpm's up so that the engine doesn't die. Make sure that you don't pour the water in too fast! Water doesn't compress and if you pour too much water in, severe engine damage can result! White smoke from the exhaust is normal. If you have a port fuel injected car, you obviously won't be able to use this method, but I have had success with connecting a vacuum hose to a port at the base of the throttle body and sticking the other end of the hose into the bottle of water. The vacuum of the engine will suck the water in, creating the same effect. This will clean out even the most stubborn carbon, by 'steam cleaning' your cylinders.

Pinging, knocking and detonation are all terms for a condition known as "pre-ignition". That means some of the gas and air mixture is igniting in the cylinder before it's supposed to. And when that extra flame front crashes into the normal flame front (created by the spark plug), you hear a noise, and that noise is pinging.

There are four major causes of pinging. The first three are related to excessive heat.

The first is severe engine overheating. If the engine is running too hot for any reason, the temperature in the cylinders can simply be too high. In that case, some of the mixture can ignite before the spark plug fires just from the intense heat.

The second major cause of pinging is carbon buildup inside the cylinders and on the pistons. When too much carbon collects, it can reduce the size of the cylinders (increasing the compression and temperature of the cylinder contents) and retain excessive heat itself.

The third cause of pinging is a malfunctioning exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system. The EGR is supposed to send non-combustible exhaust gas into the cylinders to lower the temperature of the mixture.

How does 800-degree exhaust gas LOWER the temperature in the cylinders? Because it doesn't burn, and it crowds out some of the oxygen that would have burned and made an even hotter flame. And if that EGR is not working properly, the cylinder temperature can be too hot and the engine can ping.

And finally, incorrect ignition timing can cause pinging. The ignition timing determines when the spark plugs fire. And if they're set to fire too early, the stuff will begin to burn too early.

The use of higher-octane gas often makes the pinging stop because it has a higher ignition point. By requiring a higher temperature to make the gasoline burn, you reduce the likelihood of it "pre-igniting" somewhere else in the cylinder.

But premium gas doesn't address the underlying problem. So start by checking the EGR system, the cooling system and the ignition timing. And if none of those things fix it, then you can consider using a higher-octane fuel.

I hope that these tips have been some help. Remember that a well tuned engine can gain as much as 10 percent in gas mileage and horsepower over an out of tune engine.

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