Blowing Out The Carbon?

Not necessary with the Prius. It's a clean burning engine.

 

But you might need to clean out your computer monitor, so that you can use a smaller font.



Tom

 

I am guessing it was a good idea before about 1975. Since then electronic ignition, fuel injection, variable valve duration timing and lift, etc. make that unnecessary.

 

It sounds like your wife's Solara is running rich or has some other sort of problem. I'd bet that the mpg aren't too good on it lately.

 

Ditto that. Get the Solara fixed. Then use E10 in both cars to keep the valves and injectors clean.

 

I would suggest the same. Have the car looked at. You could have a failing catalytic converter, cracked exhaust manifold, or an O2 sensor going out etc..

 

Could be that your wife drives around real carefully and does have some carbon built up but I googled it and there are alot of discussions about Solara's and Camry's with black smoke issues.
How many miles and does it burn oil?

 

How often do you change the engine oil and oil filter on the Solara? Considering the low odometer reading, if this is not done at least yearly, I am wondering whether the engine has a sludge problem.

 

Agree. After all, black smoke is a direct indication of a fuel/air mixture too rich. And carbon is also the result of a mixture too rich.

Does this answer the question?

 

Agreed. Generally speaking, oil being burnt through an ICE comes out of the exhaust pipes as white in color, not black. Coolant and oil still comes out mostly white. A car running rich usually emits black smoke.

I've melted more than a few pistons and the white smoke pouring out of my exhaust pipes is the first sign I've done something wrong.

 

On alot of american car forums Ford & Chevy a "seafoam" treatment is very common to get rid of heavy carbon buildup.

Its a can of liquid that you install through a vacuum hose usually the brake booster line and attacks the carbon in the cylinders.
Its sold in just about every auto parts store there is.
It can also be put in the gas tank or crankcase.
After the treatment it will blow all the carbon buildup out the exhaust resulting in a smoke fog in your neighborhood the likes of which you will have never seen before.

It works apparently to blow out carbon buildup. Is it bad for your engine? I don't know never tried it personally but seen many many posters swear by it with improved engine performance.
I have never owned a car with heavy carbon buildup.
The resulting smoke bomb after the treatment that comes out your exhaust is quite a sight though.

Your call just putting it out there to you.

There's alot of youtube on it too.

How to Seafoam your engine the right way.|| Complete DIY || : General Chat

 

I've used it on my race vehicles and I even used it on the Prius once. The resulting cloud of white smoke is quite a sight and fairly disturbing.

I do not think the black smoke problem is related to carbon buildup on pistons and such though. The car in question just doesn't have a lot of miles so it should not be choked with carbon or sludge. You never know, weirder things have happened.

 

Note that because of the unusual way the Prius operates, flooring the go pedal probably would not burn out any carbon that had built up, assuming there was any, which there probably is not because, again, the Prius operates differently.

 

Should be pinging on grades or accelerating if carbon is so bad, or maybe she uses premium and it doesn't ping. Carbon does build pretty fast in some cases, so it is possible. My wife had a Taurus that was driven even less than this, pinged like mad on regular with very low miles. I tried to blow it out, but it takes a lot more than a run or two, it takes like a 300 mile road trip. Check air filter?

I have never seen one Camry pouring out black smoke, and there are a lot of them out there. Maybe I don't get out enough.

 

I'm still questioning the carbon relationship to black smoke. When you use Seafoam to remove carbon deposits in your engine the resulting smoke is white and not even remotely black. Is the smoke the result of burning the seafoam and there has never been any carbon buildup in my engines or is that carbon deposits won't result in black smoke?

In my experience:

White smoke = coolant/water being burned
Blue tinted white smoke = oil being burned, usually it has coolant in it too
Black smoke = unburned fuel

 

I would check your oil. Smell it and see if there is a strong odor of gasoline in it. If so then you could have some issues with your injectors or your ECU controlling them.

 

Here in Greece Shell offer unleaded gasoline named Vpower &Vpower plus, which is supposed that contains an additive to clean the built-up carbon from the combustion chamber and valves stems. It is a little bit more expensive than the normal gasoline. I don't know if this type of fuel is sold at any other country in Europe or elsewhere. My dealer instructed me to use this gasoline once or twice a year, especially when in vacation, but I had forgot it and this post brought it back to my mind. Has any of you used this fuel or knows about it?