Actually, I know I used lye (sodium hydroxide) to knock rust off of wrought iron artifacts from a Civil War era shipwreck through an electrolytic reduction process. It seems to me if you let it go too long it would damage the surface of the underlying iron....or perhaps that was the high amperage...!
Cleaning Spark Plugs
- Thread starter BigAl
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IIRC, reading some where that using sand blasted plugs in a Briggs and Stratton will void the warranty. An old timer once told me to use starting fluid to clean plugs , it works. I use a brass brush and will bake plugs on the hearth of my wood stove to cook the gas out of them. Its more of a convienence issue, than a cost thing. Thankfully, my BMWs are really easy to R+R plugs. My Grandwagoneer is a PITA to change plugs on.
I clean plugs with a little silica blaster a couple times then throw them away.
I "read" the plugs and do the carb adjustments acordingly. The old 40's farmall burns oil but not enough to get me to rebuild her so I have to put up with the plugs fouling.
I use hotter plugs.
The thing about hotter plugs that is misunderstood is that they are not for making more power by making the combustion chamber hotter.
A hotter plug simply has less heat disipation which makes the end of the plug rise in temperature and burn off any of the crud sticking to it such as carbon and oil deposits.
Remember that running a plug that is fouled with oil and carbon can glow red hot and cause preignition and end up making the combustion chamber hot enough to melt the pistion.
It is an art to get just the right plug with just the right carburater adj. to get the plugs to to last for a while.
Now it can be dangerous to be playing with the plug temps and carb adjustments if a person is not use to it. I do it because I was trained and worked as a small engine mechanic when I was 17 and have been doing it on my own and familys equiptment for 25 years now.
An engine can burn up fast if its too lean or the plug is too hot for the aplication.
We have lots of old equiptment that we even leave in the snow over winter then use the next year. It takes work to get them to go again but they end up working.
My question is why are the plugs going out that fast.
I know that if it is burning that much oil (like my old 307cid 1969 chevelle) then you can do nothing but clean the plugs twice a week.
But to get to that point you must be putting large amounts of oil into them.
Now you mention a few hours.
That is very excesive.
I might recomend a small engine mechanics advice.
I "read" the plugs and do the carb adjustments acordingly. The old 40's farmall burns oil but not enough to get me to rebuild her so I have to put up with the plugs fouling.
I use hotter plugs.
The thing about hotter plugs that is misunderstood is that they are not for making more power by making the combustion chamber hotter.
A hotter plug simply has less heat disipation which makes the end of the plug rise in temperature and burn off any of the crud sticking to it such as carbon and oil deposits.
Remember that running a plug that is fouled with oil and carbon can glow red hot and cause preignition and end up making the combustion chamber hot enough to melt the pistion.
It is an art to get just the right plug with just the right carburater adj. to get the plugs to to last for a while.
Now it can be dangerous to be playing with the plug temps and carb adjustments if a person is not use to it. I do it because I was trained and worked as a small engine mechanic when I was 17 and have been doing it on my own and familys equiptment for 25 years now.
An engine can burn up fast if its too lean or the plug is too hot for the aplication.
We have lots of old equiptment that we even leave in the snow over winter then use the next year. It takes work to get them to go again but they end up working.
My question is why are the plugs going out that fast.
I know that if it is burning that much oil (like my old 307cid 1969 chevelle) then you can do nothing but clean the plugs twice a week.
But to get to that point you must be putting large amounts of oil into them.
Now you mention a few hours.
That is very excesive.
I might recomend a small engine mechanics advice.
use bosch platinum plugs. the fine wire kind. carbon does not stick to them. i had a toyota truck that fouled the plugs every 10k miles. once i switched to platinums, i pulled them for the regular cleaning, and all i used was a pb blaster and a wire brush
Actually, I know people who never had fouled plugs until they used Bosch plats! I have no idea why, I like them and never had an issue...
maybe try soaking them in acetone then scrubbing them.
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