Kohler Command combustion chamber cleaning

[JohnK]

I know on the old flat head Kohlers that the heads need pulled to clean the carbon out of the combustion chamber, but does the same need to be done on later OHV engines? The reason I ask is b/c I have been working on my 1864 w/ Kohler CH18 and was wondering if I need to pull the heads? I looked in through the spark plug hole and there is carbon on the top of the piston, but doesn't look too bad. Both cylinders had about 170psi on compression and 10% or less on the leakdown test. So the engine seems to be in good condition with about 900 hours on it. Any thoughts?

[william1041200]

I wouldnt mess with it. Im not @#$@ retentive about carbon maintenance. Head gaskets are good, its obvious. Piston carbon is generally same as under head. If you want to pull head to replace head gasket, and scrape carbon.... take pics!

[Ikea6e]

John,

Steam clean it by poring water in the carb while it's running. Run at half throttle and slowly pour water in the carb. You'll know if you feed it to fast, but you will be amazed how much water you can run through one.

Sounds crazy but works well.

Ike

[ol'George]

Actually,
It is an old trick that goes back to the Model "T" days.
What it does is: cause the hot carbon in the chamber to flake off because of the cold water.
Now as far as removing carbon, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
With today’s oils and no lead Gas, the carbon build up is a lot less than it was many years ago.
When I was a pup growing up in the early 50's,
I remember many many vehicles that were followed by a cloud of blue smoke.
Today you almost never see that, as the oils are better, and oil control rings are better.
If you remove the head, and clean the carbon, remember to suck the carbon from around the piston/wall area with a shop vac, ya don't want to blow it out with compressed air as a small bit will find it's way between the top ring gap.
The only thing harder than carbon is diamonds

[JohnK]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I recently did the cleaning with Seafoam instead of water, which worked well. I have used the water trick on many cars over the years and it works well. I figured that would be good enough but just wanted some other opinions.