I once watched an old-time "mechanic"pour tap water into the carburetor of a running Chrysler 413 with bad rings,he proudly claimed it would decarbonize the cylinders.
Indeed,there was a large black circle of carbon around the tailpipe,but I kept thinking of cracked cylinder heads,warped valves and hydrolock.

Some other guys swore by this method as well.

__________________

That does indeed work quite well to remove carbon on the piston tops and combustion chamber. Sure, if you ran a garden hose into the carb, you would hydrolock the engine. However, that's not how it's done.

Once the engine is warm and running at a fast idle, pour the water down the carb at a rate that gives you about a 1/8" thick stream. If the carb has more barrels than one, vary between the primary barrels so as to get all branches of the manifold. If the engine starts to struggle, back off on the flow.

Once you're done (maybe one quart per liter of engine size is good), go for a drive to make sure any moisture that got past the rings is boiled off, and it'd be a good idea to change the oil.

About ten years ago we had a sales rep. at the company that drove a VW Golf with a manual transmission. He took the car to a local quick oil change business and got really screwed. The person who changed the oil saw a cap and decided to remove it and add fluid. The cap happend to be for some sort of visual inspection access for the clutch. The empolyee at the shop poured an unknown amount of brake fluid into the hole. The clutch which by the way was recently new was ruined. As I remember I believe that he had to take the shop to court for the damages. (OH, Look, theres a cap. What shall I pour in there?)

Well, just for the hell of it I did it on a Willys-Knight sedan I drove around,smoky,carbony sleeve-valve engine. Just a little at a time,thru a small hose into the Tillotson updraft at mid-throttle and I must say the car ran much better with less vibration and I could advance the spark with no pinging,so it does have some merit,but I know a guy who did it to his 4 bolt Chevy and cracked 2 exhaust valve seats.

__________________

Took my bike, a ZX11 at the time, in for front brakes. When I left , the brakes didn't seem quite right but I took it home thinking they just needed broken in. When I got home I looked and the installer had put the brake pads in backwards, with the backings against the rotors.

__________________
95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

A female friend of mine spent $23k on a brand new Harley Road-Glide w/all kinds of additional accessories.
The bike came through from the factory w/the brake pads installed backwards like that. She was a little upset, to say the least. The dealer replaced the pads, calipers, and rotors just to make her happy.

That was some digruntled assembly line worker, now I hear the union is on stirke at the York plant.

Knew a guy at my apartment complex years ago that worked on a fleet of school buses. Not the most brilliant, as he had had a few small fires at his place from errant cooking disasters!

Anyway, had a buddy who worked at the same place. He told me of one story where said guy couldn't undo the nut that held one of the brake lines onto the hub. So he proceeds to HEAT the brake line with a blow torch!

Minutes later the effect of the boiling brake fluid creates a resounding BANG! and he blows the line at the other end!

__________________
2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I hope he's no longer allowed to handle matches!

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles