Best way to clean a spark plug

[t_andersen]

What's the best way to clean a spark plug that is fairly new and looks mechanically ok but is black?

White spirits?

I believe that caustic soda removes soot from stove windows, so that might work for spark plugs too?

 

[windthrown]

I usually just replace the plugs if they get fouled. They are cheap. Rarely happens though. I use NGK plugs in all my engines.

Also a bit of emery paper will clean off the electrode tip and the prong. That is about all you need to clean up, the engine firing will do the rest. More important, find out why your plugs are turning black.

 

[ShoerFast]

Dito

Toss them, there cheap.

You can clean plugs, spray out with carb or brake cleaner and boil/burn them out till there glowing. But your taking a chance of cracking the porclin and if that brakes during usage, your jug is screwed.

Same with abrasive cleaners, that sheet falls in th ejug and scores it.

Just my .02 cents worth,,,,, I don't think i have a cheep engine that dose not have a plug that i cleaned at some point.

 

[niv]

I agree with shoerfast carb cleaner em real good and GENTLY burn em out. This will buy you some time until you can go get a new one.

 

[romeo]

I don't clean them with any more than a wire brush, if it fires its good, if it fails its trash. I have used a propane torch to clean fuel fowled plugs for the kids dirt bikes at the track. But that is only an "emergency-race-starts-in-5-minutes-technique".

 

[brncreeper]

oven cleaner works for me.

 

[Sprig]

I don't clean them with any more than a wire brush, if it fires its good, if it fails its trash. I have used a propane torch to clean fuel fowled plugs for the kids dirt bikes at the track. But that is only an "emergency-race-starts-in-5-minutes-technique".

Yup, agree with you, a fine wire brush is all you need and make sure all the crud/debris is either blown out with air or washed with a bit o' fuel, check gap and plunk it back in if it looks good. Never have found a use for old ones except ta make your toolbox look fuller



Serge

 

[wkpoor]

There is cheap plug blaster on the market that works great. They look practically new when cleaned in one of these. Don't use sand, its a special plug blast material. Works with air pressure. I've had one for yrs. Yes plugs are cheap but it will keep you going when the stores are closed or too far away to justify the trip.

 

[jhellwig]

You could buy 20 spare plugs for what that hokey plug cleaner would cost. Spare are just as cheap as replacing a plug.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I have heard horror stories from people that sandblast sparkplugs -which was common in the old days when when the land was rural and stores were miles away. The blasting media can get lodged in the small space between the porcelan and the metal casing - and when your engine is running it comes loose and gets between the piston and cylinder and gouges everything up. The only media that I heard is safe for this purpose is Walnut shells that are ground up - BMW used them for a while when they were having trouble with carbon building up on the back of the intake valves - they could remove the intake manifold and blast the back of the valves while the engine was still together.

Spark plugs are cheap - engines are not. If you have an engine that is hard on plugs and worth keeping.....find out why it is burning so rich and get it fixed. If I have to clean a plug I use a wire brush to get the worst mess off and then use carb cleaner to blow it out - then a small piece of sandpaper to clean the tip of the electrodes.

 

[rxe]

Brass wire brush, if they need doing at all.

 

[wkpoor]

I'll agree to the economics of buying plugs vs the blaster but..... I don't own a blaster for just saw plugs. I probably have over 200 plugs in all the equipment around here and I certainly don't stock spares for all that stuff. As for Hokey.....Hmmmmm.... well we use the same process and media to blast the plugs in aircraft engines worth more than my house in some cases and we do it every 100 hrs. Seems to me a chainsaw motor ain't quite that critical in comparison. Its called pay attention to what you are doing. Inspect the plug carefully before installing even when they are new.

 

[jhellwig]

Buy one, don't buy one. I don't care.

 

[ray benson]

I have a glass blaster at home and had a big one at work. Used them on lawnmower plugs, car and truck plugs, chainsaws, weedwackers you name it. Just need to be very careful to remove all the glass beads.Blow them out and spray with electronic cleaner.Most guys won't take the time to do it. Anymore very few even do there own vehicle oil changes.

 

[windthrown]

Plugs are what, about a buck or two each? I have mostly Stihls, which all take the same plugs. By the time you mess with cleaning and inspecting them and all, it is just not worth cleaning them. If they look good, I will keep them around as spares. Otherwise, I toss 'em and move on with life.

That kind of chisel savings on cleaning and reusing plugs is about what my girlfriend wants here when I ask her to get premium gas for the chainsaws. She says that everyone else around here uses regular in their saws. I tell her that is why Jack can make a living down at the saw shop, all these people running regular gas in their saws. And half of them use ethonol gas to boot. I have to show her the Stihl manual at least twice a year (see? mid grade!). Then she wants to get mid-grade... so I have to explain about octane degrading in gas that sits in a can for a month. Then she wants to get less gas, more often. But being as the nearest station is 15 miles from here, that is not such a good idea. Its a downward spiral and I just wind up tossing her more money and say get the dang super gas already!

There are places to save money and there are places not to. opcorn:

 

[Dan Forsh]

Never have found a use for old ones except ta make your toolbox look fuller



Serge

Why do we do that?

 

[Sprig]

Why do we do that?

No idea, last time I clean out one of my tool boxes there was probably 5lbs of broken nuts and bolts, wtf, maybe my instinct not ta throw them on da floor and trip on them later, dunno, dunno, dunno, :bang:

 

[wkpoor]

Some missed the point.
I totally agree on just keeping spares. But the question was can it be done and what is the best way. I mostly replace myself. But many a time the little blaster has bailed me out of a jam at 6:00PM on Sunday or such. I would hate to inventory how many different types of plugs are in all the stuff at my place and figure what spares to keep. That would be a decent sized number. This $20.00 blaster has come in handy and does a good job if used right. Now if the only gas engine I own is my chainsaw.... then heck yeh, just buy plugs.

 

[Lakeside53]

Clean them? Nope... if they fire, just forget them. Mine look like crap on my saws when tuned for milling, but they work fine.

 

[ShoerFast]

Some missed the point.
I totally agree on just keeping spares. But the question was can it be done and what is the best way. I mostly replace myself. But many a time the little blaster has bailed me out of a jam at 6:00PM on Sunday or such. I would hate to inventory how many different types of plugs are in all the stuff at my place and figure what spares to keep. That would be a decent sized number. This $20.00 blaster has come in handy and does a good job if used right. Now if the only gas engine I own is my chainsaw.... then heck yeh, just buy plugs.

I think the point some are trying to make, is plugs are a very small presantage of quality equipment's cost.

The real story behind any type of abrasive cleaner, unless it's a routine clean, plugs don't crap out like that.

When a plug goes bad, it is better then 9 times out of 10 that the spark is taking a short-cut throu were the cone of the porcelain attaches to the grounding base,,,,,, not sparking. Out of those 9 that miss-fired they got that way because gas washed conductive deposits into the porosity of the porcelain. Unless you burn them out, there in there.

Even if you burn them out, some deposits stay in the porcelain and may not cause a cold start misfire, but will again quicker then it did the first time.

So if your replacing a bad spark plug, chances are that you should also be looking at the starting procedure, or why it's flooding out.