Cleaning Spark Plugs

Anonymous-0 · Mar 10, 2011

Is there something one can soak spark plugs in to clean rather than sandblasting them?

Lloyd In South Carolina · Mar 10, 2011

I've sprayed them with starting fluid, or brakeclean and it works. I also wirewheel them if one is around.

L.

Cienna · Mar 10, 2011

I use carb cleaner spray to soften the carbon, then use a dental pick to reach deep into the cavity to break up the carbon, flush out with carb cleaner, and then blow clean/dry.

MarkB_MI · Mar 10, 2011

Hit 'em with a torch.

mkirsch · Mar 10, 2011

What's wrong with sandblasting? The tool is like $15 from Harbor Freight, and it has more than paid for itself in not having to replace fouled spark plugs with new.

Bob M · Mar 10, 2011

A flame from a propane torch cleans dirty plugs very nicely. Heat the plug's business end until both the ground and center electrodes glow red. Continue heating an additional 30 - 60 seconds to burn the stuff off the porcelain insulator.

A gentle oxy-acetylene flame works too - but you need to be very careful to not melt the electrodes!

Gene Dotson · Mar 10, 2011

I clean all my plugs in my glass bead cabinet.

Gene

Brian Schmidt · Mar 10, 2011

Never ever, use a wire brush or even worse a wire wheel on the porcelain. This leaves metallic deposits from the brush and will leak to quicker fouling. This is why the blasting technique is best and thus a special tool was developed.

Lamar Fudd · Mar 10, 2011

Propane torch works really well. I had an old riding mower that would not start when cold after running and being put away. Plug would be oiled fouled. Hold the plug in the torch flame until the insulator was white, install back in engine, and she'd take right off. I'd run it about four hours to cut the acreage-fill with gas and oil.

Paul from MI · Mar 10, 2011

Use the smallest tip you have and as much oxygen as you can. Heat the unsulator about red, move flame around. All the carbon burns off & plug is as good as new. Done it lots of times, once in a while you will crack an insulator, but you have nothing to lose.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Mar 10, 2011

Because sand can stay in the plug and come out when the engine is running.

mkirsch · Mar 11, 2011

Even if you're sloppy about it, how much sand could possibly stick to the spark plugs? A few grains, maybe?

Of those grains, how many actually fall off the plug in the engine?

Of the ones that fall off, how many don't get blown out the exhaust valve on the next rotation of the engine?

Of the ones that don't blow away, how many work their way past the rings?

Of the ones that work past the rings, how many stay suspended in the engine oil?

Of the ones that stay suspended in the engine oil, how many make it through the filter before being pumped into the bearings?

The answer? NOT MANY, if any at all...

There are way more realistic things to worry about than a few grains of very very fine "sand" working their way through your engine and ruining it.

I should hope you're using the blowgun to dust off the plug before you reinstall it, in the first place.

Cleaning Spark Plugs

Anonymous-0

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Lloyd In South Carolina

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Cienna

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MarkB_MI

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mkirsch

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Bob M

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Gene Dotson

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Brian Schmidt

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Lamar Fudd

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Paul from MI

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Brian Jasper co. Ia

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mkirsch

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