Muffler Cleaning

[edmartin]

Ok, I know this may sound like I'm a cheap skate but has anyone ever tried cleaning out the inside of their muffler. I'm assuming the interior is metal also so it would seem you could flush it out with any number of solvents. If possible, it would certainly help the engine run at its best. Just a crazy thought.

 

[winston1]

Yes, I have, when re routing my exhaust I decided a good cleaning couldn't hurt anything. It really wasn't stopped up or anything but I have read of that happening. I washed mine through both ways with a water hose and then blew through both ways with a high volume of air. Looked clean enough for me after that.

 

[YannyMan]

I would imagine you could even run a minor abrasive through it similar to sandblasting.. But not with sand...

 

[clemsonfor]

if you had a shallow enough pan or big enough parts washer the best way would be to submerge it in deisel.

 

[rScotty]

Ok, I know this may sound like I'm a cheap skate but has anyone ever tried cleaning out the inside of their muffler. I'm assuming the interior is metal also so it would seem you could flush it out with any number of solvents. If possible, it would certainly help the engine run at its best. Just a crazy thought.

I know this may sound like I'm dumb, but can somebody please tell me why you want to clean out the inside of a muffler?
roger_scotty

 

[winston1]

I know this may sound like I'm dumb, but can somebody please tell me why you want to clean out the inside of a muffler?
roger_scotty

I haven't personally experienced it but have read on these forums of mufflers stopping up to the point of poor or no engine performance. I wouldn't think by any means this would be very common, most likely a rare occurrence.

 

[rScotty]

I haven't personally experienced it but have read on these forums of mufflers stopping up to the point of poor or no engine performance. I wouldn't think by any means this would be very common, most likely a rare occurrence.

OK, makes sense. Thanks. And I can't say I've never heard of it before....although never in a diesel. They will soot, yes...but not thickly. And it is a soft soot which blows out. Or maybe they do coke up and I just haven't seen it. It's true that sometimes a diesel will build up a wet "diesel slobber" in the exhaust system and blow it out on starting, but not enough to restrict the output. And they generally have a low point to collect it anyway.

When the first Japanese and European two stroke engines came into this country in the 1950 to the early 1960's they ran hot in the exhaust and had a removeable muffler baffle, instructions for cleaning them, and we did just that. Horrid job. It was called "de-coking" and was a common job before ashless oils. It's a ailiment almost unheard of since.

In fact, I haven't heard of any need for it in the next half century. By the later 1960's oil injection and ashless oils seem to have solved that problem. I'm kind of surprised that people are still cleaning mufflers but maybe I ought to look into them again.
rScotty

 

[smstonypoint]

I haven't personally experienced it but have read on these forums of mufflers stopping up to the point of poor or no engine performance. I wouldn't think by any means this would be very common, most likely a rare occurrence.

I've never heard of a tractor being equipped with a spark arrestor, but my Kubota RTV (and I suspect other ATVs/RTVs) is so equipped. It has to be removed from the muffler and cleaned periodically to maintain performance.

Steve

 

[jonyyuma]

Diesel fuel should soak most of it out. I did have a resinator try to plug up on my old diesel MB300. I cut it loose and gained a lot better Take-off for a little noise/. I would suspect you could tell if your muffler was plugged> Jy.

 

[Egon]

Clean the muffler?? -- work the engine hard!:thumbsup:

And some other comments best left unsaid!