My Messy Garage Experiment

So I saw this idea online about cleaning carbon junk outta car engines yourself. Seemed cheaper than paying the shop, right? Figured I could whip up a DIY carbon cleaning machine myself. Spoiler: It wasn't smooth. Here's how my whole Saturday went down, warts and all.

First off, I dug around my garage. Found a big ol' plastic jug – thought it’d be perfect for holding the cleaning mix. Grabbed some hose lying around, one of those outdoor sprayer nozzles, and this cheap air pressure regulator thingy. Felt pretty good hauling all that junk onto the workbench. "This ain’t rocket science," I mumbled. Famous last words.

The Building Frenzy

Chopped a hole in the jug lid, jammed one hose into it real tight – that's my intake hose. Screwed the sprayer nozzle onto another piece of hose – that’s the output end. Then I hooked up the pressure regulator to the jug, thinking it'd keep the air pressure nice and calm. Looked like some kind of mad scientist bottle monster. Filled the jug with this carbon cleaner juice I picked up at the auto store, plugged the air compressor into the regulator, and... started the car.

Mistake City (Population: Me)

Here's where everything went sideways. I basically made every mistake possible:

• Plastic Bottle Blunder: My cheap jug? Total flimsy trash. As soon as the pressure built up, that thing started ballooning like a cheap balloon. Nearly bricked myself thinking it’d blow up in my face. Had to yank the air hose off quick.
• Pressure Regulator Roulette: That regulator I found? Guess what? It sucked. Couldn’t hold pressure for crap. One minute it's okay, next minute it’s either blasting like crazy or doing nothing. Made the spray totally unpredictable. Bad news.
• Hose Heroics Gone Wrong: Tried connecting the spray hose straight into the engine intake after the air filter box. Took forever trying to shove it in without damaging anything. Ended up spraying cleaner juice all over my engine bay instead of into the pipe. Greasy, smelly mess.
• Chemical Confusion: Got impatient. Poured waaay too much cleaner juice into the jug. Car started coughing like it was dying, thick white smoke pouring out the exhaust like a forest fire. Thought I broke the damn engine. Turned it off fast, heart pounding. Way too much.

Scrapping Plan A

After watching my plastic bottle nearly explode and coughing my lungs out from all the smoke, I knew this setup was junk. Shut everything down. Took a breather. Ate some chips. Felt annoyed but figured, okay, adapt. Dumped the scary plastic jug. Found a metal container – way tougher. Ditched the flaky regulator and grabbed a simple valve thingy I could actually control by hand. Cleaned up the greasy cleaner juice mess on the engine block. Feeling salty, but not done.

Trial #2 (The Slightly Less Stupid Version)

Alright. Metal container filled better (just HALF full this time!), solid valve control on the air hose, checked every connection twice. Started the car again, let it idle warm. Turned on the air compressor slowly, just a trickle of pressure. Gently opened my manual valve. This time, saw cleaner mist actually getting sucked into the intake hose properly! Held my breath.

Kept it super low pressure, letting the engine slurp the mist at its own pace. Saw smoke coming out the tailpipe, but light gray and steady – not that crazy choking white cloud before. Did this for like 15 minutes. Turned it off. Dreaded starting it back up... but it fired up smooth! Revved nicer, sounded quieter. Couldn't believe it. Actually worked!

What I Learned (The Hard Way)

Don't use weak sauce containers under pressure. Period. Forget about cheap regulators – manual control with a simple valve feels way safer. Use WAY less cleaner than you think – too much can scare you half to death with smoke. Triple-check all your hose connections so junk ain’t leaking everywhere. Start with very low air pressure and creep up slow. Build it stupid-proof. My first attempt sucked, but man, learning the hard way? That sticks. My car feels happier too.