Are fuel fouled plugs ruined? Or can they be cleaned?

sizemoremk

Registered User
I have heard and read that fuel fouled plugs can't e reused. I heard that the gas soaks in ruining the plug completely...

Is this true?

I'm on my 3rd set trying to get this engine to start after a rebuild, and I just pulled the htird set to clean them again.

I have fuel and spark (verified by timing light on all 6 wires) but the plugs keep getting fouled...

I cleaned them with sandpaper and blew em out with air... now they're in the toaster oven now hopefully drying out... Figure I'd try it again cuz the parts store was outta my plug.
 
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hmm.........

I think there permanently ruined. I also threw mine away after fouling them out with gasoline. Put new ones in and fired right up. What kinda are you using to "try" and get it running? I went to my local Murrays autoparts and bought champion plugs that were like 1.58 a peice. Thats less than 10 bucks for a cheap set just to get it going, AND they were life time warranty, so when they fouled out, you could take them back for another set for free and try again. And FWIW, ive heard champion MAKES the motorcraft plugs that i usually use.
 
91BLOWNSC said:
And FWIW, ive heard champion MAKES the motorcraft plugs that i usually use.

As far as I know, and from everything I have ever read and heard, Motorcraft plugs are made by Autolite.
 
Cleaning plugs properly takes a special tool that essentially sandblasts them. You can get these things from places like Eastwood, etc.

Other than that it's hit or miss.

edit: And while Motorcraft plugs may be made by Allied Signal (I don't really know) and look similar to Autolites, they most assuredly are not the same. Personally I think they're inferior. Aged Motorcrafts are prone to two distinct failures IME. One is for the plug wire end to pull out of the porcelain all the way down to the resistor. The other is for the hex part of the hull to literally break off just below the hex, leaving the threaded portion in the head. the entire middle of the plug will come out easily at that point and you can get an easy-out into the hull and remove it from the head easily. Note that I am NOT talking about difficult to remove plugs, they break this way using normal removal effort.

And that's just two that come to mind right now.
 
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Clean & Reuse

sizemoremk said:
I have heard and read that fuel fouled plugs can't e reused. I heard that the gas soaks in ruining the plug completely.
Where in the world did that idea come from? New plugs only have an advantage for about 1000 miles. After that they remain the same, until they completely fail. I would never re-use spark plugs on my SC (because it's such a PITA to change them), But on the daily driver I pull'em out, clean'em up on the wire wheel, regap them & throw'em back in. As long as the electrodes aren't damaged, just ckean'up up & reuse'em.

68COUGAR
 
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I didn't believe it, but I'm starting to...

I heard it a long time ago, then a couple of years ago a bowtie boy at work told me that its possible to foul them enough to ruin them completely when i was having problems with spark in my truck. I swapped them in the truck, and along with other things and it finally fired.. But I couldn't bust the myth at that time;) Then today I found reference through a google search where two folks claimed it woudl ruin them, and both seemed to be secific to fuel injection due to the fuel being sprayed right on them... Something about compressed gasoline being imbedded into the poreclan or something, doesn't seem to make sense to me but...

The only time I've gottent he car to "hit" while trying to start it was with new plugs. I'm on the third set, and sanding and blowing it with the compressor, and "drying" them in a toaster didn't seem to do any good...

So I'm inclined to believe it at this point...

Maye this is one for Jamie and Adam:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Flyin' Pig Theory

sizemoremk said:
I didn't believe it, but I'm starting to...where two folks claimed it woudl ruin them...:
When I was in HS, my buddy & I saw these flyin' pigs. Craziest thing we ever saw, but there there were. If if I get my buddy to tell you the story, will you believe it's true? Because, you know, we'd be TWO people telling the same story over the internet!!! :rolleyes:

68COUGAR
 
Oh, I am sorry for the confusion here, but you see, I was asking if anyone knew for certain and could confirm or deny this. I'm sorry if I gave the impression I was looking for smartasss comments:eek:

I am using the autolite 103s by the way, the second sets I got had 103dp on the package from wally world, which would seem to indicate double plat; but these are standard type copper core according to the package. And there are no platinum tips on them. They look exactly like the autolite 103s I got from the advance auto, they also say 103, there is no "dp" on the plug. The advance didn't have any more of the 103s in stock.
 
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Well, I have also had bad experiences with fuel soaked plugs. Not even 200 miles after puting new plugs in one of my previous cars (fuel injected 4 banger), my wife flooded it trying to start it when it was real cold outside. She had er flooded pretty bad. I pulled the plugs, cleaned and dried them (I also used a toaster oven), spun the engine with the plugs out to help get rid of excess fuel and help dry out the cylinders some, then put the plugs back in. Still would NOT start. Put in a set of new plugs and it fired right up on the first try.

I saved the bad plugs and tried them again about a year later. After puting them back in I DID get the car to start, HOWEVER, it did not start like normal and it ran like crap. Swapped out those plugs again (and chucked them in the trash can) and the car started right up and ran smooth as could be.

So I don't give a rats ~~~ about any hallucinations someone may claim to have had involving flying pigs..... if you soak your spark plugs (fuel foul them) you might just as well pull them out and throw them as far as you can (then go pick em up and throw em again just to make damn sure they are gone).

I have seen the same thing happen on other cars many times as well, so it was NOT an isolated incident.
 
Fouled Plugs

No one has mentioned Harleys so I'll chime in....had a brand new Sportster 1100 back in '87. Now if you let her sit for a couple weeks and went to crank it up you better catch it right away when if fired because if you didn't and it flooded, the plugs were toast. You could pull them out, dry them, visually see good spark, reinstall and get no fire...then immediately pull them buggers out, put a brand new set in and it would light right off no problem. This bike had electronic ignition and I drove it cross-country a couple times, I couldn't believe it myself that plugs could become useless so easily by gas fouling, but it's a fact!
Later,
Bill
 
I would agree on fouled plugs being crap. As far as your starting problem, have you tried holding the gas pedal to the floor and then turning it over? This allows more air in and also cuts off fuel flow so that you can clear out the cylinders, and hopefully the engine will hit.
 
I wouldn't sweat the double platinum plugs. The old style plugs could become fouled enough that they woudn't create a spark as the electrode would absorb the fuel. It would evaporate out eventually, but if you wanted to start your car in the middle of winter right away, new plugs were required.
 
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