Spark Plug Appearance

[rjbathgate]

Hey,

Pulled out and checked the spark plugs today...

I'm not sure if they are 'too dirty'...

See attached pics - I have gently rubbed with a brush, but could possible clean up a little bit more with a bit of elbow grease...

The plugs are only 60 hours old, and are very expensive, so I would prefer to clean and put back in --- but just wanted your thoughts before hand....

What would you do?

It's a 60Hp 2 Stroke by the way...

Cheers

[matt h]

plugs look wet to me, have you been trolling on tick over to long?? if not then mixture slightly to rich? too much oil in pre mix? get the mixture right first, then give it a good run, i mean 2/3 throttle to full, take out plugs whilst on the jetty,.if still to rich, screw in the mixture screw 1/6 of a turn on the offending throttle and try it again!

aim for the first picture good luck

p/s i wouldnt change them, they look ok

[250kts]

After those hours, I would say they are alittle too oiled up, but that really depaends on how the engine has been used. If you do a fair bit of low rpm stuff, then you might expect this.

It appears that there is no real wear on them, so I would clean them up and use again. Elbow grease is cheaper than plugs.

[spartacus]

Some people don't recommend cleaning spark plugs in case you damage the electrode, however as you've mentioned, they're not cheap to replace. To clean, use a little brake cleaner and a copper wire brush (the same brushes you use to clean suede shoes). It's not as abrasive as a steel wire brush. Once cleaned, completely dry the plug. If you have access to compressed air - even better. Worth checking the plug electrode gap. Can be reset with feeler gauge (check the specified gap - refer to workshop manual for your particular engine) and tap gentle to desired height. Use a little copper ease on the thread and tighten.

[jyasaki]

Are those pics before, or after you cleaned them?

If after, well, they're kind of worthless as a guage for how the engine's running.

If before, I'd say the left one looks fine, the other two a bit on the wet and carbonny side.

Then again, I don't run 2-strokes (except for a chainsaw.)


jky

[m chappelow]

you could get that if a plugs not sparking proper too, eg, bad lead or faulty coil giving a poor or intermitant spark at certain revs,,,,some lower cylinders can run a bit cooler than the upper ones ,they should clean up if your carefull as said by sparticus using a brass/copper seude brush ,its not a bad idea to wipe/scrape inside the electrode rim where a lot of the grunge will be with a wood/plastic cotton wool bud stick or some thing,,,. i am not too sure about putting copperease/ grease on theads though especially an outboard ,though suppose you will only get galvanic corrosion if its below water level .

[rjbathgate]

Originally Posted by matt h

plugs look wet to me, have you been trolling on tick over to long?? if not then mixture slightly to rich? too much oil in pre mix? get the mixture right first, then give it a good run, i mean 2/3 throttle to full, take out plugs whilst on the jetty,.if still to rich, screw in the mixture screw 1/6 of a turn on the offending throttle and try it again!

Recently I have done a bit of low throttle stuff - in fact our harbour is pretty big and you're at 10 knots for about 15 minutes before you are allowed to rag it.... so if I was go give it a good run, and then come back to Jetty to check plugs, I'd've done another 10/15 mins at low throttle! Maybe I need to find a nice big lake....

And it's relatively new to me so I've not been flooring it as much as I could've been!

I'll give them some gentle cleaning, size up the gap and pop them back in for the season... maybe look at replacing at the end of this season... (it's summer over here!)

Cheers for all your advice

[spartacus]

(it's summer over here!)

We're getting ready to batten down the hatches. Only 5 degrees yesterday morning - definately a chill in the air. Enjoy those lazy summer days!

[rjbathgate]

Originally Posted by spartacus

We're getting ready to batten down the hatches. Only 5 degrees yesterday morning - definately a chill in the air. Enjoy those lazy summer days!

I knew there was a reason I emmigrated to New Zealand!

[chewy]

Originally Posted by rjbathgate

I knew there was a reason I emmigrated to New Zealand!

More sheep?