Cleaning spark plugs

[daugen]

I have about twenty pounds of spark plugs sitting in an overflowing bowl in the parts storage area I have.
I have a lot of small engines and change the plugs usually once a year for some and once every other year for others that don't get used
very much.

so over the years I have quite a collection of not very dirty spark plugs. Growing up, there were always JC Whitney spark plug cleaners to ponder, but then someone said
the abrasive was bad for the conductor and someone else said something else they likely knew little about and the spark plug cleaners got a bad rap. Do they still?

It's kind of like sharpening knives. I wouldn't mind sitting down and recovering about three quarters of these. Not one of them shows any physical wear other
than the normal crud you get on plugs. Not for a car but for a lawn mower, where it will probably only be used one year?
I'm asking for reasons I suppose why not to...
thanks

let's see:
too cheap to worry about
won't come clean and crap will get in the engine
overheats the porcelain
breaks eleven OSHA rules...

 

[V1Rotate]

Don't forget about the EPA. You will probably have to recycle the sand after you clean those plugs.

 

[DeereMann]

EPA will sick FBI on you. :laughing:

(so please don't tell 'em I use emery cloth on occassion for my low hour use 2-stroke engine plugs)

Yes, slight cleaning of regular copper core plugs is fine, as long as they don't have a lot of hours on them (pitted conductors, cracked insulators, etc.). I do it all the time, as did my dad.

Of course, you don't want to do that to automotive platinum plated plugs for obvious reasons!

 

[ETpilot]

I have an aircraft spark plug cleaner/tester. Once I clean them I can bomb test them to see if they are good. Bad spark plugs can show a spark when testing while cranking engine. When you test them with 80psi of air they can fail miserably. I had this problem on my ATV. Plug showed a spark but when I tested it, it did not spark at all. New plug was the cure.

On the bad side this tester is a bit expensive. Not for the average home shop.

 

[daugen]

ET, is "bomb testing" the 80psi part?
I always wondered why someone didn't make a
low impact powder cleaner/blaster made of something that
cleaned out thoroughly.

So what's different about an aircraft spark plug and/or tester, and other than being for a plane,
which of course triples the cost, what do you get for the money? Is the cleaning part foolproof?

thanks. When I think of all the plugs I have thrown out over the last fifty plus years. The recycle bulb didn't come on
until late in life for me. Now I hate to throw stuff in the dump.

thanks for the info. One thing most of us have is spark plugs.

 

[daugen]

Customer Image Gallery for Sunex 3912 Spark Plug Cleaner

Another important issue is what is the best media to use? Not the one this guy used for sure.

 

[DarkBlack]

I've never changed a plug in any of my non-auto engines, and I've never needed to.
I must be lucky.

 

[daugen]

I've never changed a plug in any of my non-auto engines, and I've never needed to.
I must be lucky.

or a lot smarter than I am. How you can do that with chain saws and weed wackers I don't know; do you use a lot of carb cleaner?

 

[DarkBlack]

Maybe it's the heated garage?

 

[murphy1244]

Why save them if your changing them with new plugs every year? Don't change them then you won't have to clean them.

 

[Soundguy]

i have a harbor freight abrasive cleaner.. I use black beauty... works awesome... then a dip in some naptha/laq thinner in a coffee can and swish around to celan off.. rebox and go.

I have a entire drawer full of old plugs for my old tractors. I swap a set every year.

havn't bought a plug in years...

 

[Code54]

I personally will not clean them. One or two grains of unnoticed sand or abrasive will tear the wall/rings in short order. For $2 or 3 bucks for a small engine plug it is not worth the chance

 

[Soundguy]

I personally will not clean them. One or two grains of unnoticed sand or abrasive will tear the wall/rings in short order. For $2 or 3 bucks for a small engine plug it is not worth the chance

i see you don't change plugs in engines that use more than 1 at a time.

PS. that's the whole point of 'cleaning' them. you actually. CLEAN them.. you don't stick em in the hole dirty.

 

[adirondackmtnman]

I have about twenty pounds of spark plugs sitting in an overflowing bowl in the parts storage area I have.
I have a lot of small engines and change the plugs usually once a year for some and once every other year for others that don't get used
very much.

so over the years I have quite a collection of not very dirty spark plugs. Growing up, there were always JC Whitney spark plug cleaners to ponder, but then someone said
the abrasive was bad for the conductor and someone else said something else they likely knew little about and the spark plug cleaners got a bad rap. Do they still?

It's kind of like sharpening knives. I wouldn't mind sitting down and recovering about three quarters of these. Not one of them shows any physical wear other
than the normal crud you get on plugs. Not for a car but for a lawn mower, where it will probably only be used one year?
I'm asking for reasons I suppose why not to...
thanks

let's see:
too cheap to worry about
won't come clean and crap will get in the engine
overheats the porcelain
breaks eleven OSHA rules...

Sounds like the makings of a good 'Red Green: Handyman Corner.' "Remember, if the women don't find ya handsome, they should at least find ya handy. I'm pullin' for ya, we're all in this together." ;-)

Sent from my LGL35G using TractorByNet

 

[ruffdog]

Old plugs with rounded off electrodes....just a waste of my time.

 

[Soundguy]

Old plugs with rounded off electrodes....just a waste of my time.

they make these new things nowadays called FILES.. and you can remove the round off the electrode, then regap.

lets do the math... I have 66 spark plugs to maintain. change those once per year at tune up time.. we can use the 3$ number someone posted.. that's 198$

for me.. since I'm not independently wealthy.... that's worth a few minutes and some air compressor time.

a quick tally of the money I have saved NOT buying new plugs for a few years.. and I have paid for 2 of my last 3 tractors i've aquired......free and clear... a farmall C and a case VAC

so.. lets rehash the math.... 'waste' some time and clean some plugs.. and get 2 tractors free? hmm.. don't need an accounting degree to figure that one out.

 

[ruffdog]

My wife keeps telling me we could get rich from making sweaters from my navel fuzz too.

 

[oldballs]

Then too, your navel base could get bombed. I've hand cleaned spark plugs for years on small engines and old cars. Works for me.

 

[RobertBrown]

too cheap to worry about

 

[daugen]

Old plugs with rounded off electrodes....just a waste of my time.
couldn't agree with you more, but hardly any of these show wear, just normal fouling.


i have a harbor freight abrasive cleaner.. I use black beauty... works awesome... then a dip in some naptha/laq thinner in a coffee can and swish around to clean off.. rebox and go.

Soundguy, black beauty is what kind of abrasive? why the choice of laq thinner vs something else? Just trying to understand what works, what to avoid.
Sunex 3912 Spark Plug Cleaner - Amazon.com
ALC Abrasive Media for Spark Plug Cleaner - 1-Lb. - Amazon.com (this stuff is aluminum oxide)

Today is my day to fire up the propane heater in the garage, since it's going to be pouring out, and get a year's worth of neglect organized.
And I'll be eyeing those plugs...

thanks for all the info.
So who do we know that works in a spark plug factory? I wonder if today's plugs are more durable than older ones, and more resistant to the type of damage
that abrasive cleaning creates.

I also have about half a dozen platinum plugs I pulled out. probably should have left them in...but I do let them go longer. If they'll last 100k miles in our cars, they
likely don't wear out too fast...but gunk is gunk.

I think it took this almost foot high pile of old plugs to wake me up, I need to do this differently. It's not the money, just trying to keep things out of the dump, and still have my equipment run fine. It's like throwing out a perfectly good tool...something bothers me about that.