Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-09-25
Barney 0ldfled says:
CARBON-iTS CAUSES AND
REMOVAL.

4 Automobile engines. without excep-
\ ton, carbonize, and they did from the
\ very first day q car was produced.
The problem has been studied by hun
dreds in an effort to get engines that
h would not carbonize rapidly, but in the
Il 20 odd years we have been running
VI automobiles we have not succeeded 10
doing anything toward the solution OF
y this problem. We are today using the
a same methods of removing carbon that
9 we used 10 years ago and if anything
we have to resort to carbon removal
-. more often than formerly. This is per-
haps due to the fact that our gasoltnes
d. are poorer SO that the cylinders ac-
cept a great deal Of liquid fuel. This
is but one source of carbon in engines.
There is the lubricating oil and road
dust.
While cylinder wall fabrication is,
ia many engines, much more scientific
ally accomplished, the average owner
mt some time or other does nave
troubles caused by oil getting into the
combustion chambers. This may be
due, of course, to worn cylinders and
rings, but these troubles in turn are
due to combination of poor iuorlca-
ton and badly fitted parts.
Inc mere pEeeCuCS VI Aoi 49,
cylinder heads and pistons virtually IN
s,,lates tho combustion chambers, 50
that the heat present is much higher
than would be the case ordinarily. ~
addition to the higher heat, the carbon
takes up a certain amount OF room i nliu
SO increases the pressure in the GYM
der. The combination Of the higher
heat and pressure, together. with me
insulating qualities of the carbon brmgs
about knocking and overheatlng. Inc
knocking. we are told by lnvestisa'ors;;
is caused by the cracking OF the 1uei
causing detonations in the cyhnaefs.
It would be similar to exploding. a
small amount Of dynamite so terrific
is the force Of the explosion when
knocking takes place. There IS no
particular harm done by the knocking
any more than a steam pipe knock
does any material damage, but accom-
panying the knock is a serious loss or
mower because the decorations occur
at the wrong time. !.
But why explain what happens wnen
we have no means OF curing tne
trouble? The best we are able. to 90
ia to avoid using too much lubrlcatmg
oil or too heavy or light grade Keep
the mixture as lean as possipie ana
take our chances. Then when inc
engine does cArDOnlIe excessively nav
the carbon removed by the various
methods later described.
Most Of our engines are fitted win
detachable cylinder heads so that car
bon removal is simple matter. me
head must be removed and the carbon
scraped by means of any tool with
sharp edge. in order TO remove the
head. you simply drain the water, DIS
connect the hose pieces. remove any
attachments to the head and then the
cylinder head bolts. Then the head
ca, be lifted off and the cylinders
exposed. You should be careful to
cover up all engine parts so that when
you scrape the carbon particles Will
not fly over such parts as the ignition
unit If the carbon is fairly hard you
NAV have to use a chisel to remove it,
but few owners run their engines so
long these days that the carbon is
flintlike in hardness. In scraping, the
piston is naturally brought to the top
Of the cylinder. In this position you
are likely to get some carbon particles
between the piston and the cylinder
wall. Crank the engine to force the
piston down and wipe the wall clean.
After scraping the piston tops see
that all carbon particles are wiped
away from around the cylinder head