How to fix engine blow by

According to Brid Walker of Cost Effective Maintenance, “There’s a big window of opportunity to fix engine blow-by problems before serious engine wear occurs.” Most drivers can easily tell when things aren’t quite right — for example, when the engine is:

• Getting tired and down on power
• Starting to breathe heavily
• Using more oil than usual
• Producing excess exhaust smoke
• Going through increased DPF filter regenerations

Engine blow-by, smoke and oil use are related issues that, if ignored, can turn into very expensive repairs. Fortunately, in over 80% of cases this can be corrected at low cost and without any downtime.

Short answer: fix engine blow-by by adding FTC Decarbonizer to the diesel at every fill and running Flushing Oil Concentrate at your next oil change — together they clear the carbon and cylinder glaze causing it.

Typically, blow-by is cylinder pressure leaking past the piston rings into the crankcase. It commonly starts as cylinder glazing or carbon forming in the top ring grooves — both of which allow cylinder leak-down and some oil burning. Oil burning produces further ring deposits, and more blow-by — and, of course, more internal engine stress.

Using our Truckies Blow-by Pack is the logical solution, because it directly addresses the root cause of blow-by. It does this by enhancing combustion to burn off cylinder glaze and carbon (particularly from the top ring grooves).

This Blowby Pack will reduce Blowby Fumes, satisfaction guaranteed.

Simply add FTC Decarbonizer to the fuel, complete an oil change with Flushing Oil Concentrate and the problem is solved.

BUY NOW

What Do I Need to Fix Engine Blow-By?

Engine blow-by can be reduced by following two steps:

Step 1: Simply add FTC Decarbonizer in with the diesel.

Step 2: Use Flushing Oil Concentrate when completing an oil change.

“To fix engine blow-by, FTC Decarbonizer is added to the diesel at each fill, and you literally just drive the engine clean! The decarbonizing process is gentle and progressive, but efficient — even cleaning turbos and DPFs.”

Most engines will also need cleaning from the oil side to restore full cleanliness to the lower piston rings. This involves running Flushing Oil Concentrate through the engine. It uses detergents to target hard, baked-on deposits and engine sludge, and according to the manufacturers, restores an “as new” clean throughout.

The longer blow-by is ignored, the more carbon accumulates in the engine. Black smoke increases, oil soot increases, and performance and fuel efficiency deteriorate.

Excessive carbon on pistons can cause rapid wear. Most broken piston rings are the result of carbon accumulating in the ring grooves. By cleaning the engine up — and, more importantly, keeping it clean — the risk of engine failure is greatly reduced.

Engine Blow-By Reduced

The photos below are examples from Caterpillar D11R dozers operating in Queensland’s Bowen Basin a decade ago. Recommended rebuild life was about 11,000 hours.

There were many failures due to severe carbon build-up, some with only 3,000–4,000 hours. Typical rebuild intervals were 8,000–10,000 hours. One 10-piece fleet using FTC Decarbonizer stood out: the first engine was stripped down at 15,000 hours and found to be in excellent condition. After a while, they settled on 18,000-hour rebuild intervals.

Increased exhaust soot fouls turbochargers, EGR valves and diesel particulate filters, while increased oil soot chews out turbo seals. Many catastrophic failures result from neglecting blow-by.

By fixing engine blow-by issues, engines operate with much reduced stress, more efficiently, and for much longer.

The key to getting long life from Euro V emission-controlled engines is burning the fuel clean for low exhaust soot, and maintaining low oil soot levels.

To understand the technology behind it, see our guides on how FTC Decarbonizer works and using Flushing Oil Concentrate.

For more information on how to fix engine blow-by, give the team at Cost Effective Maintenance a call on +61 7 3376 6188.

Recommended Products to Fix Engine Blow-By