Carbon buildup in engine

[DeeCee]

My neighbours car is blowing smoke and the guys down the local garage said it wasn't worth fixing.

As such, the neighbour has offered me the car to add to the rest of the parking lot, but personally I just want to fix it up for them.

I'm thinking that the smoke could be a result of a carbon build up in the engine over the years of operation. Its a 1995 1.3 Holden Barina I believe.

Anyway, doing a little research and there is a product called seafoam that cleans out the carbon deposits inside the engine, at least that is what it claims to do.

Does anyone know of a product available in NZ that does a similiar job or potentially knows what the cause could be or where to look?

Cheers
Dave

[escortman]

what colour smoke?

[gepsk8]

sounds like egr system carbon whole engine up, u could try a carbon clean, i know lake auto(shell petone) does that, something they put on inlet to try and push the crap out the exhaust, carbon clean doesnt work to well unless its not bad or put head of clean it and inlet, put i back together, and ur away.

[RS13]

I would give it a compression test, if its' still nice and tight replace the valve stem seals, run some synthetic oil and see if that improves it.

Or maybe get a quote for a new motor, if it were me, and the car was reasonably tidy, I'd just chuck another motor in it.

[Dell'Orto]

Subaru do a very good aerosol cylinder cleaner, that you spray into the intake. Forget what it costs per can, but you should be able to buy it from any Subaru franchise.

[Leon]

Italian tune up time.

[KE25-KP30]

Yeah Dell'Orto, was thinking the same thing, Subaru Upper Engine Cleaner. My Subaru-mad flat mate swears by the stuff.

[strx7]

if its a 1995 barina, it'll be a 1.4 engine, they are a european based/designed/built vehicle, horrible compared to the usual run of the mill japanese stuff. If its a veary early 94, it could be the last of the Swift shape ones which does have a 1.3 in it. fairly robust little motors.

[Flannelman]

Give it an oil change and use thicker oil, like 25-50 or 30-50. Worked on an old corrolla.
cheating alot as its not as thin to get past the worn parts, so less is burned making less smoke.
Might cure it...

[Adamal]

If its been nana'ed its whole life, give it a thrashing to make sure those rings are nicely pressed up against the cylinder walls.

Other than that, it'll be the rings are worn, or the valve stem seals are worn, or maybe both.

Could try some manual water injection using a water bottle with a squirter attached. Just don't go nuts, rev the engine so that it gets the water out.

[DeeCee]

I'll bounce over tomorrow and have a proper nosy and report back.