puma

iTrader: (2)

Here is the deal, new engine flooded, tried cleaning off the spark plugs (full of fuel, but basically new) unflooded the engine with the cranking without the EGI fuse a couple of times and the car still won't start.

Now i am about to buy new spark plugs but those have only like 30 minutes of life, they still look brand new.

Is there a way to save these plugs? Or once the engine was flooded, the plugs can't be reused anymore?

bzwigart

iTrader: (9)

Try shooting them with brake cleaner to dry them out.

Smitter

dry em out with compressed air

Six Rotors

iTrader: (17)

If you want to get sofisicated you can dry them out in your oven,then put them in the car warm.However if what you say above is true,then your problem is not the spark plugs.Have you checked the spark?

impactwrench

Heat them up with a propane torch or just let them dry out. Flooded just means too wet to fire.

puma

iTrader: (2)

i have checked the spark with a conventional spark plug i had laying around and i have spark on every wire.

i will try the propane torch, good idea, i have tried the compressed air and didn't know if it was enough

NewbernD

iTrader: (1)

Just to be clear, a flooded engine doesn't start because of low compression, not because plugs are wet. It has no lasting effect on the plugs after you've cleaned them. If the car still isn't starting it is because there is still gas in the engine preventing sealing and compression. You need to finish flushing the gas out and get some oil into the chambers, either via the plug hole or down the intake track. Good luck.. a flooded engine can be a real bitch.

puma

iTrader: (2)

hmm, never saw it that way, i will try the oil trick though, didn't try it yet.

Care to explain more in detail how the fuel prevents the engine from getting good compression?

NewbernD

iTrader: (1)

When your engine floods, the excess of fuel washes away the film of oil that coats everything, including the seals. While the coating of oil helps to lubricate it also helps to build compression.

The same thing happens in a piston engine, only that the excess fuel eventually drain past the rings and into the pan. This is why letting a piston engine "sit for a bit" is the usual cure to unflooding them. Due the the shape of the rotary engine there is no where for the fuel to drain to and when you crank it, the fuel gets pushed everywhere. Since it's difficult to get all of the fuel out simply by cranking you need to add a little bit of oil to overcome the little bit that is trapped.

It doesn't matter what kind either and it doesn't take a lot.. 2 stroke, motor oil, MMO, Canola, olive, ... you just need to do it to all 6 faces, expell the excess (like you did with the fuel), reinstall plugs and fire it up. Be prepared for the oil to smoke.

puma

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the clarification, much appreciated.

DaveW

Although I agree that low compression is a big factor in non-starts due to flooding, the fact that the trapped gas keeps the plugs wet (and non-firing) is the other.

I've used the propane torch plug-drying technique a number of times on a Honda 3-wheeler (used to push my racecar around in the paddock) that doesn't like to start cold and floods easily. The other thing that the torch method does that other plug-drying techniques don't, is to leave the plug warm, so gas doesn't condense on it quite so easily when starting a flooded engine.