Originally Posted by AussieDog

Those pictures really bring out the truth about borescopes. When you look at them closely ask yourself this - what is normal, what is not? What should it look like? Is anything in there a real problem, or just a theoretical problem? Reminds me of when I was a young engineer for a natural gas company. We bought an $8000 Olympus borescope, which was a lot for 1982. One of our big 4000 hp Ingersoll Rand compressor engines was having problems, so they sent me and another young engineer to borescope the massive cylinders. We got with the maintenance crew, some of who had decades of experience. We all peered down the sparkplug hole looking at the inside of a cylinder head. Was it cracked? We weren't sure - maybe. The young engineers and the highly seasoned mechanics all took a look, then we discussed it and reached a consensus - yep, it looked like a crack. The head had to be pulled, no small project on a machine this size. We finally got the head off and what did we find for 'cracks'? Anti-seize.. Someone had put a bit too much on the sparkplug the last time it was changed, and it spread out from the sparkplug hole. That was our 'crack'. The young engineers, the very experienced foreman, and the well-seasoned lead mechanics all got it wrong. So if your going to use a borescope you really better know what you are looking for. And next time you get a colonoscopy - well, think about this story a bit.

Originally Posted by internet troll

You guys remember pouring water down a (running) carb throat to clean carbon out?

When I was young and bought my first V8, one of the 'old timers' in my unit (also a hot rodder) told me about a way to 'de cabrbonize' an engine. He said pour little bit of water down the carb with the engine running, The concept was, the water turned to steam and helped clean the carbon out. Youd do it a few times while feathering the throttle. It was supposed to help with carbon related dieseling. (for the young ones here, dieseling is when an engine jumps over a few times after you turn it off. The engines internal components are so hot (excessive carbon) that the chambers fire off heat and compression alone) (Ive also discovered that 'dieseling' in gas engines has more to do with advanced timing curves than carbon)

On the other side of the spectrum.....Ive met guys who say s layer of carbon on your piston head actually bumps compression up a tad, so if you have have the heads off, resist the temptation to wire wheel the piston heads.

So, does either method have any merit? I feel like with all this snake oil, there may have been a bit of truth years ago but is no longer relevant in modern engines.

Sorry. Way off topic.

Originally Posted by Highway Handler

Hmm. If only there was a tiny camera we could stick in a spark plug hole to see what is really there.

is there excessive carbon build up or not?
Does Top Tier gas work?
Do we really need to know?

I say yes I need to know and thanks for the pictures. That is a cool tool and a lot can be learned, I am sure. I am impressed also.
When I said I assume it is your engine, yes I knew it was an engine, but it could have been almost any engine. I assumed it was a Harley engine. I assumed it was yours.

Proof is in the pictures, they are worth a thousand words.

Originally Posted by dickey

The first pick looks like a class M planet with stars in the background