Has anyone bought and/or used one of these to inspect the inside of engine cylinder heads to look for carbon buildup? Can you really "tell" anything? I would like to avoid removing the heads of a 383 if possible. The engine sometimes "diesels" for a few seconds when shut off.
Harbor Freight Digital Inspection Camera
- Thread starter scorpio
- Start date
mcmopar
Well-Known Member
How much timing advance are you running? Might just be a tuning issue...
I don't know. The car is not roadworthy right now. It's been in storage (indoor) for about five years . It sometimes did the "dieseling" thing when I was driving it (before storage). Just thought I would check "everything" while I'm doing body work. Seems like it would be cool to see how the cylinders look (if I can without removing heads). I don't know how many miles the engine has on it. Fairly decent compression.
P.S. I really like your RR!
69hemibeep
Sponge Bob Square Wheels
If you get it running decently its pretty easy to de-carbon an engine.
"dieseling" is sometimes the result of a high idle (it is on a 6-barrel setup) one reason they use a high idle solenoid on some setups. Maybe richening up the idle and leaning out the mid and top of your carburetion would help? Turning the hot running idle speed down may also help to get rid of the dieseling. My 383 road runner with a 670 Holley Street Avenger and '69 GTX with a 770 version did that (dieseled) and turning the idle down fixed both situations. Now as far as carbon in the combustion chamber I would think the spark plugs would show some of what is going on in there, then maybe check the intake valve condition by just pulling the carb and intake manifold off to get a idea if you should consider pulling the head or heads off. A leak down test might let you know if you have a valve/valve seat issue. I would just start at the idle speed hot to see if there is any positive result from just that for a start.
Speaking of diesel I have a friend that has been in the petroleum consulting business for nearly 40-years and when I told him that I was headed to Texas (from Ohio) to pick up and drive home a 383 road runner (coincidence ?) and that I was worried about that I might have some sticky piston rings and lots of carbon in there he suggest that I pull the spark plugs and mix up a 2-to-1 ratio of (2-parts) Chevron Textron with (1-part) diesel fuel and pour it into each cylinder and let them soak for several days to free and clean them up. I never did it but I just did of all things a 1964 Honda step-through C100 50cc that had been sitting for 20+years........runs like a champ. I let it sit with the Textron/diesel mix in it for a week, when I hand turned the engine over you should have seen the black goop that poured out of the spark plug hole :eek-new:
The spark plugs look normal. Does that "dribbling water in the carb of a warm, running, engine work for removing carbon? The dieseling may be a tuning or fuel adjustment issue. I'll get to "de-dieseling" the engine when cold weather gets here. Thanks for the replies so far. Keep em' comin' and I'll follow up.
69hemibeep
Sponge Bob Square Wheels
Most times its high idle but yes I was going to suggest dribbling distilled water while reving the engine, it only takes about 6 oz on a completely warmed up engine and I mean completely warmed up or you can do damage
quikbird
Well-Known Member
Back to original question, the camera works very well. Haven't used it to check inside cylinders but have used it on other things. I'd recommend it
jays69bird
Well-Known Member
I would look into timing as well,383 dampers are known to spin so your timing may be off if someone checked it and set it with a light.