I searched about 1 million threads and internet links for a consistent good answer, but I thought I would come back here for personal experiences. Most people use a wire brush, but that isnt cool as it sets up carbon tracks. Some people use galss ball abrasion, but I am concerned about little beads getting stuck in the plugs. A lot of people say just buy new plugs, but at almost $50 a plug for race plugs that get fouled every time I try to start the car from cold with them in it, I wnt to try cleaning them.

I am interested in some kind of solvent system to just melt away the deposits. Anybody have some good ideas or am I totally off base and need to get a glass abrasive system.

Eric

 

I use the spark plug cleaner from harbor freight, and blast them with compressed air after. Makes them look like new.

 

set them in a cup of ether(starting fluid) and then blow them off with compressed air.

i have tried all methods and they always tend to cause some sort of damage to the plugs. bead blasting leaves rough edges which cause the plugs to foul out much easier, wire brushing leaves deposits which do the same.

the best alternative i found was bead blasting then going over them with a stainless wire brush, but you can't do this with coated plugs like iridium, platinum or laser cut because it damages the surfaces that make the plug work the way it is supposed to. it works okay on standard copper core plugs but they still will never be the same and may foul earlier than if you simply left them alone. degreasing them and trying to get the surface carbon off the best you could hope for.

 

I wonder if an ultra sonic cleaner would be the way to go? We used them a lot for cleaning delicate parts made of all kinds of different materials when I worked for a medical company.

 

That is how you clean fuel injectors on an ASNU machine. It may work on carbon fouled spark plugs. But you need to double check the gap width to see if you can reuse them after cleaning. If the gap has eroded enough, they will still just miss fire under load.

 

I wonder if using baking soda instead of glass beads in a spark plug cleaner would make a difference?

 

Spray with starting fluid

turn on bench grinder

use brass brush wheel

re-spray

re-install.

 

I went and bought a Harbor Freight style of cleaner and tried it out on some of my oldest grungiest plugs. It uses a glass grit and air pressure. It worked well. It cleaned off the old carbon very well and I could see that on a few plugs I had developed carbon tracks, si I put them in again and it removed them as well. The glass beads had minimal effect on any of the metals in the plug and with a quick brush with a brass wire brush, everything was cleaned up like new.

The only issue was that after a while the glass particles would start to break down and little pieces would get wedged in the gap between the ceramic and the outersteel housing. This meant that I had to spend some time picking away at it with a steel dental pick as air pressure and brake cleaner wouldn't remove the grit.

All in all I give this an 8 out of 10 to clean plugs. It does the job, but they still require a bit of examination and hand work afterwards. It worked so well that I spent the next 2 hours cleaning over 40 plugs I had laying around from my Cougar that runs sooo rich I can foul them in a single start.

Eric

 

Spray with brake cleaner and hit it with a nylon brush.

Then pour 1/2" of simple green in a small can and suspend the plugs tip down in it for a day. Flush. Repeat if needed. I use a little almond can, has a plastic top i poke holes in and the top of the plug fits in there.

Put it in the toaster oven 250* 30 minutes to dry.

It's not perfect but gets a lot of it off. I think baking soda media blasting has promise like someone mentioned.

 

I've used mapp gas to burn the carbon off. It also gets the plugs hot to help start flooded engines.

 

I use an ultrasonic cleaner. Makes the plugs look like new and does no damage or abrasion.

 

Saw the following video on Youtube. The guy uses the dry, granulated Drano crystals to clean them for engine tuning. Just soaks them in a small solution of crystals and water in a bucket tilted on its side.

 

I've always just used an oxyacetylene torch set to a reducing flame. Don't get the plug hot, you can easily ruin the ceramic.

This is always just a stopgap until the new plugs come in.