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Today's engines do have a tendency to get congested with deposits, and the
source of those deposits is actually in the fuel, not the engine.
Environmental regulations have created a demand for cleaner-burning fuels, which
sounds great and is for the environment, but it's not so great for your engine
because these new fuel formulations tend to be waxy
and like to leave deposits in a couple of critical areas.
And with this video scope,
I can show you some of my cruddiest home videos. Come on, let's take a look.
It's time for Cruddiest Home
Videos with Dr. John.
Here's one area right here at the top of the piston.
There's not a lot of clearance between the top of the piston and the top of the
cylinder
as they cycle up.
If you get a build-up of just twenty thousandths of an inch,
your engine may suffer a loss of power.
This buildup is very typical and can begin at about ten thousand miles.
Now this is the fuel intake.
Get even a small amount of deposits on the valves, forts, and injectors here,
and you can begin to restrict the flow of fuel through the enginem
You'll have the feeling of pumping the accelerator and getting no acceleration.
Of course, fuel and air are inseparably linked together in the operation of your
fuel induction system, particularly in today's engines.
That's because of this valve,
called an EGR, for exhaust gas recirculation.
The EGR actually redirects that portion of the fuel which has been
converted to exhaust gas
back into the air intake system
to mix with the engine's air supply.
But the exhaust gas is obviously not as pure as the air coming in from outside
the engine,
and those impurities can form still more deposits,
this time in this area called the plenum.
The result can be a choking off of some of the system's air and a corresponding
loss of performance.
So with all those opportunities for a buildup to form, what can we do about it?
"It keeps valves like this
from getting like this!"
That's what today's fuel system cleanup is really all about.