> "Nabors, Steve" wrote:
>
> I've never tried the water mist trick although I've noticed the
> emulsifying effects on rainy days following the spray from another
> car.
>
> I've always heard the main ingredient in motor medic, wynns and so on
> was automatic transmission fluid which is highly lubricating and an
> excellent detergent. I throw a few ounces of dextron 3 into my fuel
> tank from time to time to work alot like Marvel Mystery oil upper
> cylinder lube job. This, I'm sure, creates some ash when burned and
> may actually create more carbon on the cylinder walls/piston
Honestly, I am not sure of the total ash load of ATF--I would hope that
it's smaller than engine oil, but, at the same time, it could be as
high, or higher, because it operates at lower temperatures, where ash
deposits are not likely to form, as in a combustion chamber.
The water mist does work in removing deposits--why, I'm not entirely
sure, but it does do some scouring in the combustion chamber. Since
gasoline does also have some ash content, that ash usually is deposited
in the combustion chamber, where it can glow on hot running, and produce
pre-ignition. Water seems to clean that out.
When I mentioned that the changes can be seen on an oscilloscope, it has
largely to do with ash deposits on the electrodes of the plugs, which
can act as insulator (metals in ash, of course, are conductors, but the
oxides of those metals are often electrical insulators). Water (or
carburetor cleaner) scours off those deposits, and effectively reduces
the voltage required to jump to ground to produce a spark. Typically, an
engine which, after a tune-up, still seemed a bit punky and not quite
right, showed about 18-20kV before breakdown and the beginning of a
spark, at idle. Spray a little water into the intake, or some carburetor
cleaner, if there was no catalytic converter to interfere with, and the
peak voltage required to fire the plugs at idle dropped to about 11kV.
Cheers, Steve.
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