Mercury "Power Tune" Question . . .

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
17,696
I bought (via iBoats :) ) a few cans of Mercury Power Tune to de-carb my various engines. I got the Mercury stuff, as a slew of web postings favored the results over SeaFoam and the similar decarb products.

When the Power tune arrived (thanks again iBoats) I noticed that on the can it says that it can be used for both carb'ed and fuel injected engines. The detailed instructions on the can only reference carbureted engines, i.e. squirting the stuff down the carb, etc.. There are no specific instructions for fuel injected engines. I have always thought that fuel injected engines would not want the stuff sprayed into the throttle body :noidea:

Here is a pic of the can showing the statement on the front "Use in all 2- and 4- cycle carbureted and fuel injected gasoline engines"
IMG_7636.jpg


So, I'm not sure anyone will know, but I thought that I would post the question for thoughts/comments, or if anyone has used this stuff on a fuel injected engine.


I got my old Merc 7.5 hp . . . my less old Johnson 4 hp to de-carb . . . and then my 2004 Ford Explorer is running a bit rough so I thought I would use a can on it as well ( I bought 3 cans) But the Expy is MPI, so I'm not sure it will mess things up by spraying in the throttle body.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,513
Ayuh,.... I wish I could help ya Ted, But,....

I've never used power tune for it's intended purposes,....

I've only used it to put rubber parts into holes that are too small to otherwise stuff 'em together,.....
 

jimmbo

Supreme Mariner
Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
12,961
Spraying it in the throttle body of a multi port engine won't do any harm. It will clean the throttle body. Just make sure to spray some into the idle bypass passage to clean it. It actually may remove some of the soot that resides in the intake courtesy of the EGR system. GM actually markets an intake cleaner for MFI engines.
 
Last edited:

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
17,696
Well I tried it out on the Ford, I pulled the Brake Booster line and sucked it into the engine that way. The entry point into the intake seemed to be past the sensors.
 

Grub54891

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
5,911
Power tune, sea foam, water do similar things. They clean carbon from the intake/combustion chamber. The can says it can be used on it, so use it. I stated water also, yes we used to slowly pour water down the carb on the old cars in the 70's, it would steam clean the combustion chambers and make them run better... Sort of like them water injection systems they sell today.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,513
I stated water also, yes we used to slowly pour water down the carb on the old cars in the 70's, it would steam clean the combustion chambers and make them run better...

Ayuh,.... I still do that to a runnin' motor that's about to be torn down,....

Saves alota clean up work later,.....
 

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
17,696
The Ford smoked up the neighborhood pretty good after the Power Tune had set for a little bit, when I started it up. The rough idle is now smooth, so it did something.

I used water on the Mercruisers a year or so ago and used it on a couple of snow blowers. The only thing that I found with using water is that you do get some blow-by and water in the oil . . . which should burn off, but just something to consider. Probably an oil change is a good idea after using water for decarb.
 
Last edited:

Grub54891

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
5,911
Well yes an oil change, we would dump around half a quart of kerosene in the oil to clean up the crankcase, after we did the water treatment, a lot of sludge would come out when drained. The oils were not as good as they are now, and who knows what previous owners did for maintenance.
 
Top