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Well I am sure some of you have read my post in the For Sale section about a person who pretty much was joy riding in my car when he was test driving it. He thrashed the car and upon return to my house with it it was smoking. This was a 97 Ford Aspire with 62k miles on the clock. I have since discovered that the smoke probably wasnt caused completely by the guy that rode it hard and put it away wet. There has been a definate lack of maintenance done on this car by the previous owner. Oil was black and I had just put it in maybe 100 miles before this happened. On to what I have done to cure the issue.
My process for clearing up the smoke is as such....
First I pulled all 4 plugs and noticed number 1 was getting some oil in the cylinder. How it was getting there was a mystery but I was suspecting a possible stuck Ring, bad valve seal, blown headgasket. I cleaned the plugs and set them aside and decided I was gonna soak the piston in some Automatic Trans Fluid. Topped it off let it sit. Came out the next day and noticed there was none left in the cylinder. Topped it off again and let it sit. Came out couple hours later and noticed there was none left again. Topped it off a third time let it sit. Did this probably a total of 4 or 5 times dont really remember was drunk some of the time lol.
Next what I did was let all the ATF drain back into the pan. Checked the oil level and it was at full not above or below. Sweetness. Put the plugs back in it and cranked her up. Off around the block I went. Drove maybe a total of 20 miles and came back to the house and left it running. I than proceeded to spray about a quart of water through the brake booster vacuum line while i held the throttle to keep the car running. She bogged down a little after squirting quite a bit of water in there. So I backed off and let it come back up to rpm a little better and started drowning it again. The steam that is produced by the water helps by eating away at the carbon in the combustion chamber. I did this until I got the whole quart down and went off around the block for another 10 miles. The smoke cleared up tremendously at this point and was almost non existant until I came to a stop and accelerated from the stop.
I came back home and parked it until I could get to the store and get fresh oil and filter. While it was parked I pulled the plug on that cylinder back out and hey what do you know still pretty clean with a little bit of carbon on it. It was dry though which is a good thing. Noticed a nice black soot deposit in the driveway where the exhaust had puked carbon all over the place. Looks like something is working here yay.
Finally make it to the store to get the oil and filters. Drained the oil which was blacker than any oil I had seen at this point and decided maybe I should put some ATF directly in the crank case this time. So in a quart went and in the 10w30 went to balance out the viscosity since ATF doesnt have very good lubrication properties. Put my new filter on and off on a trip I went.
Smoke was noticeable on start up and initial acceleration but after that seemed non existant. Get to the gas station and top her off. Off I go. I decided to jump on the highway since the car had never seen it since I bought it. Get on the highway and gun it. She smokes a bit but takes off and up to 75. I drove for about 5 miles and decided to turn around and go back home. I stay on the highway and gun it little less smoke than before and up to 75 again. Slow down to about 40 and gun it again. It downshifts and hey no smoke this time. I repeat this a couple more times and drive it home. On my way home when I had to stop there was no smoke at all when I accelerated.
Today I start the car up on my way to work. Little smoke not too bad. Little more on initial acceleration out of my drive way. From there on out there was no more smoke to be seen. It is deffinatelly improving so that is a good thing.
My final word is that ATF seems to be working good at breaking up deposits in the crank case and oiling system as well as soaking the combustion chamber. The water did a lot to get rid of the carbon as well. This has been a lot cheaper than buying a 9 dollar can of seafoam. I have noticed a slight performance gain as well as the smoke starting to go away. It pulls a lot nicer than it did before and feels like an automatic 1.3 should feel now. I plan to change the oil and filter again when the stuff that is in it turns black. I will be adding another quart of ATF to the mix to help flush it again. Depending on how long that oil lasts it might be the last time I add the ATF to the mix. If it doesnt last long enough it will get another shot of ATF.
Figured I would post my results of doing this up here as it might help the rest of you free up some carbon and sludge deposits and help restore the performance your mighty 1.3 used to have. Thank you all and happy Festiva-ing, Jeremiah.
My process for clearing up the smoke is as such....
First I pulled all 4 plugs and noticed number 1 was getting some oil in the cylinder. How it was getting there was a mystery but I was suspecting a possible stuck Ring, bad valve seal, blown headgasket. I cleaned the plugs and set them aside and decided I was gonna soak the piston in some Automatic Trans Fluid. Topped it off let it sit. Came out the next day and noticed there was none left in the cylinder. Topped it off again and let it sit. Came out couple hours later and noticed there was none left again. Topped it off a third time let it sit. Did this probably a total of 4 or 5 times dont really remember was drunk some of the time lol.
Next what I did was let all the ATF drain back into the pan. Checked the oil level and it was at full not above or below. Sweetness. Put the plugs back in it and cranked her up. Off around the block I went. Drove maybe a total of 20 miles and came back to the house and left it running. I than proceeded to spray about a quart of water through the brake booster vacuum line while i held the throttle to keep the car running. She bogged down a little after squirting quite a bit of water in there. So I backed off and let it come back up to rpm a little better and started drowning it again. The steam that is produced by the water helps by eating away at the carbon in the combustion chamber. I did this until I got the whole quart down and went off around the block for another 10 miles. The smoke cleared up tremendously at this point and was almost non existant until I came to a stop and accelerated from the stop.
I came back home and parked it until I could get to the store and get fresh oil and filter. While it was parked I pulled the plug on that cylinder back out and hey what do you know still pretty clean with a little bit of carbon on it. It was dry though which is a good thing. Noticed a nice black soot deposit in the driveway where the exhaust had puked carbon all over the place. Looks like something is working here yay.
Finally make it to the store to get the oil and filters. Drained the oil which was blacker than any oil I had seen at this point and decided maybe I should put some ATF directly in the crank case this time. So in a quart went and in the 10w30 went to balance out the viscosity since ATF doesnt have very good lubrication properties. Put my new filter on and off on a trip I went.
Smoke was noticeable on start up and initial acceleration but after that seemed non existant. Get to the gas station and top her off. Off I go. I decided to jump on the highway since the car had never seen it since I bought it. Get on the highway and gun it. She smokes a bit but takes off and up to 75. I drove for about 5 miles and decided to turn around and go back home. I stay on the highway and gun it little less smoke than before and up to 75 again. Slow down to about 40 and gun it again. It downshifts and hey no smoke this time. I repeat this a couple more times and drive it home. On my way home when I had to stop there was no smoke at all when I accelerated.
Today I start the car up on my way to work. Little smoke not too bad. Little more on initial acceleration out of my drive way. From there on out there was no more smoke to be seen. It is deffinatelly improving so that is a good thing.
My final word is that ATF seems to be working good at breaking up deposits in the crank case and oiling system as well as soaking the combustion chamber. The water did a lot to get rid of the carbon as well. This has been a lot cheaper than buying a 9 dollar can of seafoam. I have noticed a slight performance gain as well as the smoke starting to go away. It pulls a lot nicer than it did before and feels like an automatic 1.3 should feel now. I plan to change the oil and filter again when the stuff that is in it turns black. I will be adding another quart of ATF to the mix to help flush it again. Depending on how long that oil lasts it might be the last time I add the ATF to the mix. If it doesnt last long enough it will get another shot of ATF.
Figured I would post my results of doing this up here as it might help the rest of you free up some carbon and sludge deposits and help restore the performance your mighty 1.3 used to have. Thank you all and happy Festiva-ing, Jeremiah.
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