The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Pour ATF in carburetor?

I was just at a cruise night with my Pontiac and a guy told me he poured a small amount of auto trans fluid in his carburetor while engine was running. This was to help things seal/reseal. Anybody heard of this?

Obviously due to his second "job" as a mosquito eradicator.

I fail to see a benefit to either the carb or the engine.

Jon.

I was told that ATF can sometimes loosen sticking rings. I guess the shock!

I've known people to pour water in the carb of a warm, running motor to get rid of carbon. I will say that a boosted motor running W/I will have clean combustion chambers when it is torn down.

People will pour ATF in everything except a tranny to cure problems, but I myself have never seen it cure anything.

Larry

Remember when I was a young pup back in the 60's some of the old time mechanics used to say this would help seat rings and valves after a rebuild. Would smoke like the devil and would definitely clear the area.

I've done it!! I works! It frees sticky valves, and, removes carbon build up in the combustion chamber & intake valves. It works better if you pour it in while running, Then shut the engine down & let it sit overnight. Go for a good blast the next day. It's cured pinging problems for different applications for me in the past.

You can also follow this up with trickling water down the carb when at around 2k rpm. The water creates "steam", and, cleans the combustion chamber up nice. Ever pull a head with a bad gasket?? The suspect cylinder is always spotless.

Yeah, this guy said it'll smoke like crazy but he swore his engine ran much better afterwards. So, it seems like mixed opinions here. I thought for sure Hotrod Lincoln would be the first to chime in here. Jerry, you out there?

How much water and atf would you put in?
Jess

It,s also good to pour some in the carb with
engine running before shutting it down for a
long period. Coats every thing.
Where is hot-rod? He hasn,t jumped in lately.

Dont know how much ATF content is in it. But "Fogging Oil" does basically the same thing Wrenchbender has described. Comes in a spray can. Boating types spray it into the carb when laying up marine engines for a while. IMHO, the spray makes it easier to handle. Most auto part stores have it too.

GM sells "top engine cleaner" over the counter.
It's used the same way I described using the ATF.
Gm has a few service bulletins for different symptoms that outline this procedure. Symptoms range from engine miss, ping,to carbon knock. But, with the modern fuel injected engines, the cleaner is introduced/ingested through the pcv system. The water part is tricky. I don't feel comfortable describing it in print. It was something an oldtimer physically showed me. It's better to see it done in person. It does work well though.

A friend of mine told me about water in the carb. Said it'll absolutely clean out the carbon. He said with engine running and warmed up, use a spray bottle with a mist. He thought 1 spray maybe every 10-15 seconds for a few minutes did the trick.