If your bike has started pinging, wont hold a tune, or is just starting to perform poorly, there might be a couple of solutions. I started this thread just to inform others of the problems I have encountered and the methods I am using to solve them. It's really a 2 part problem and I will try to cover them both.

1. Sucking oil into the intake (relocate the breather tubes)
2. Getting rid of the carbon buildup afterwards without rebuilding.

Part 1 is straight forward, inexpensive, and highly recommended whether or not you are experiencing problems at this time. It most definitely will prevent future problems down the road with sludge and carbon buildup. The process is simply relocating the breather tubes away from the intake manifold so you do not suck up the gasses and oil coming from the engine and contaminating the valves, intake, and combustion chambers with gunk, junk and carbon.

Part 2 is a more controversial problem and will likely start some kind of debate. The process involves the removal of the carbon and sludge buildup involving chemical and water injection into the intake without disassembling the motor. The debates always pop up in a couple of different topics. The first topic is usually about whether the chemicals and or water treatments actually work. The nay sayers state that you cant remove the carbon with simple chemicals or water and that you must physically scrape off the deposits. The chemicals are just snake oil brought on by the companies trying to sell their products at high profit margins. The second topic of debate is the damage that you cause to your motor. It seems like everyone knows someone who completely destroyed their engine by hydro locking it with too much water or chemical. They also know someone who destroyed their engine from large chunks of carbon flying off and damaging the pistons, valves, cylinders and everything else. I have no doubt that there is a risk involved in doing this, but I also know that there is usually some kind of risk involved with any kind of mechanical work. I have 2 choices to make. Tear down and rebuild the top end or try and chemically remove the gunk and carbon. I don't plan on a rebuild and am going with option 2. I will document each process along the way and put up links to some short You Tube videos if you care to follow. If I can help even one fellow rider keep his bike in shape or prevent any problems from occurring in the first place, then I feel my efforts for documenting this will be well worth it.

I reserve the next couple posts to break this down into each section so it will be easier to follow.

 

Part 1 Relocate your breather tubes.

Symptoms
Pinging, knocking
Won't hold tune
Oil running down the side of bike
Oily sludgy air filter, intake manifold dirty
excess carbon and sludge build up on valves and pistons
fouled plugs
More symptoms ? feel free to comment

Causes
Over filling your oil tank (number one reason for everyone)
Modified engines are more prone to breath harder through the vents
Steady speed highway and interstate riding
Mechanical issues (bad umbrella valves, flappers)

Obviously something needs to be done to help correct all of this. This is one solution and to me it's the simplest and most inexpensive mod one can do to his bike. Relocate the breather tubes away from the intake manifold and quit sucking all that crap into your motor.

I have a 2007 Road King with a Screamin Eagle stage 1 air cleaner kit. My particular kit is for retaining the stock air cleaner cover. The fix is ultra easy and inexpensive and I have included a link to a short You Tube Video.

Those with other air cleaners will probably have to find a different method but I don't imagine that they would be anymore difficult to perform. Also a quick google search will lead you to several manufactures kits that you can purchase but they will likely cost a little bit more money.

My You Tube Video can be found here

 

Part 2 Installing a vacuum port line for chemical and water injection

Now that I have relocated my breather tubes away from the throttle body and fixed the problem of sucking oil and gunk into the motor, I need to repair the damage that has been done. Now before I start on this I just want to let you know what a moron I really am. If I had done more research in the past I wouldn't be going through all of this again ! You can skip the story if you like. I just think it is kind of important for you to know just how things can go wrong without you knowing about it if you are unsuspecting like I was.

Back in 2008 when the bike was basically a stock 103 police (screamin eagle slip ons and air cleaner) Harley wanted to charge a around $125.00 for a tune reprogram. My loving wife bought me a Thundermax tuner instead. I loved the tuner and all was great. It dialed in the bike and it was strong and running great, for a while. A few hundred miles later the bike started to develop a ping. No problem, just dial back the timing a little, problem solved, for a while. A few hundred miles later the ping came back. No problem, I just thought I would richen it up a little and viola the ping was gone, problem solved, for a while. A few hundred miles later (actually a trip to Sturgis) the ping was back and the bike was starting to run quite poorly. I called Thundermax and they were very polite and helpful and sent me a new tune and made some adjustments. I ran the tune and the bike was adjusting and autotuning and started pinging again but never running quite right. I called it tuning itself into a ping and posted the problem on the forums. One other person seemed to be having the same problem so I thought I bought a bad tuner or the sensors were going bad. So my loving wife bought me a Dynojet Power Vision Tuner with the wide band sensors pro kit. While changing the tuner and o2 sensors I decided it was time for plugs and air filters and everything else. I guess it was when I took the air filter off and looked at the throttle body I knew something was wrong. The whole throttle body was a disaster. Gunk and junk caked on everywhere. Behind the butterfly I bet the gunk was a 1/2" thick. Long story short I removed the throttle body and saw where the intake valves were totally gunked up and I'm talking severe.
I removed the heads and the whole combustion chamber was clogged from the valves to the pistons to the rings and a huge ring of buildup around the top of the cylinder. So I took the heads to Harley and asked them what was going on. They said the bike didn't break in properly and the rings didn't seal and blowby was the issue. They asked if the bottom end looked that bad too. It didn't. The oil was clean. The bottom side of the piston was clean, the whole bottom end was actually pristine. Well they cleaned up the heads but for a little more money and a cam to boot my loving wife bought me a Fuel Moto 107 big bore kit with woods tw-555 cams. Everything back together cleaned up and broke in with a new tune from Jamie at Fuel Moto, the bike was stronger, faster, more powerful than ever. Man I was smiling, for a while. Here come the inevitable ping. I wrote about it on the forums and called it the same autotuning itself into a ping. Really didn't get much response. Jamie sent me a new tune and I autotuned again of coarse retarded the timing, ran richer afr's and to no avail here we go again. So after many searches I finally ran across people sucking in oil through the breather and having major problems. What an idiot I feel like now. Twice I let this happen? I don't know how bad the carbon and gunk build up is this time. The throttle body was not near as bad this time,, but it is still had a serious build up and took a lot of cleaning. So end of story, I fixed the cause of the problem and now I must deal with the results from the problem. I decided I will not tear it down again and that I will attack the build up with chemical and water injection.

Installing a vacuum port line was very simple and inexpensive. It now allows me to start the carbon and gunk removal process without having to disassemble anything at all on the bike and can do this process literally anytime I want without special tools.

Here is a link to my You Tube video

 

Part 3 Chemical and Water Injecting

Okay here we go. This is the meat and potatoes of this whole project. It's time to find out if any of these top end cleaners actually work and to see if my bike will hold a tune and stay problem free. I will update this post after I try each different product and try to inform you if I see any changes. I hope you are as interested in this as I am.

I put in a fresh tank of gas and a double dose of seafoam to clean the fuel system at the same time. I reduced the afr's to 13.0 to prevent any detonation from wide open throttles and red lining.

5/31/16 Memorial day
Product CRC Intake and Valve Cleaner
I used the directions on the website and not on the can. Short 1 second bursts until the can was empty holding the rpm between 2000 - 2500. Then 2 short revs to 3500, let idle for a second, turn off and let sit for an hour.

Took it out for a 30 mile run. The first 20 miles I just ran up to 4500 to burn off any residues. At mile 20 I gave her hell. I ran it through the gears and shifted at 5000-5500. Down shifted to 3rd and held and it at 5000 for what seemed forever. I then backed off and cruised at 3000 for the ride back home.
The results are unknown. I am running it rich and with a lot of seafoam. When injecting the CRC in the driveway I had little puffs of smoke letting me know that something was happening. I didn't see any bits of carbon on the driveway. I am sure I left some on the highway though. Next up will be a can of seafoam. Stay tuned.

Here is a link to my You Tube Video

 

Best thing you can do to keep the motor from carboning up is to find the rev limiter..

 

We use to use water ( through the carb ) before a tear down, on some of the old cars that were in for a valve job etc. ... You'd be amazed at how much carbon was removed.

 

I totally agree with you as far as the combustion chambers go. I don't believe it would help much on the intake manifold or the back side of the intake valve though.

 

That's what I've been hearing and reading a lot about. I guess it's some form of steam cleaning. That's why I am holding out and save the water injection for last. I figure the CRC and the Seafoam may soften up some of the hard stuff and then I'll try and steam it out with the water. I will place a white sheet or towel under the exhaust when I run the water and try to get an idea of what the CRC and Seafoam left behind. Hopefully nothing. I'll probably have my tests complete by the end of next week. I don't want to run one right after the other. I want to give the bike a rest between chemicals so I don't strip all the oil off the cylinder walls or something else. I'm taking it slow and methodical as I go.

 

For the truly brave, get a can of chlorinated brake clean and throttle body cleaner. The good stuff not the napa cheap crap. Run the engine around 1500 rpm and spray that directly into the throttle body while it's running. Make sure you are in a well ventilated area with the exhaust facing your Obama, Clinton, Bernie supporters. And be sure to have spark plugs on stand by. You will need them. I used to do this along with the mist of water in the carb. This lethal fog that leaves your exhaust will burn your throat, lungs, and eyes. Shines things up inside quite nicely however damages platinum and iridium plugs.

 

Have used water on cars, as well as brake fluid, both make a great smoke show. I think it's the fact that neither can be compressed that knocks the carbon off.

The results are sometimes amazing.

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