Fuel Power and spark plug

[yugrus]

I changed my stock iridium plugs recently to the "colder" version of the same to eliminate "summer" spark knocking. Plugs came our quite clean, not to any surprise. I changed them at 45,000km and I used FP in every tank during the winter. A little brown deposits on the side electrode and the skirt, just a tad of carbon, and sparking clean center electrode.
I took one plug and immersed it into FP. After 24 hours the carbon fell off and the brown deposits are gone too. I could have wiped the plug and it would be like new. I decided to keep it in FP for a couple more days, just to see if carbon dissolves.
Today I'll take another old plug and put it into LC, to see what happens.
My question is- what do I do with the old plugs? Can I somehow get rid of FP/LC on them and use in winter because they are "hotter"? Did I do any damage to the plugs?

 

[HEV]

I do this with my boat plugs when I lay it up for the winter. Just clean them off with some Berryman’s B-12. They’ll be fine.

 

[MAJA]

Dont know if this applies, but in the seventies I had a small handheld device that was a "spark plug sandblaster". You plugged it into your cigarette lighter (power outlet), and stuck your spark plug into the hole. Turned it on, and it was supposed to blast your spark plug clean, for reuse. Didnt work as designed..........

But back to the original, I see no damage in what you are doing. But if you are to switch back and forth, use something on your threads, especially if its aluminum heads. But I would still worry about "overworking" the threads by swapping so many times, if that is what you are to do.

Perhaps, a better remedy would be to apply a fix to the "summer" spark knocking issue, for year around use.

 

[kenw]

cleaning the plugs is only part of the issue, no amount of cleaning by any means, blasting, chemical or molecular teleportation is going to replace the metal that's been consumed from the tip.

 

[DockHoliday]

Wouldn't the use of FP negate the need for the cooler plug?

 

[yugrus]

quote:

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Originally posted by DockHoliday:
Wouldn't the use of FP negate the need for the cooler plug?

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Thanks everyone.
Yes, FP has helped a lot, but it appears that this is the common problem in the Suzuki Aerio community. For some reason manufacturer decided to spec the NGK "5"-temperature iridium plug which is really good in -30 and colder temperatures. But the same plugs go even in the cars that they sell in Florida. So the engine has a "tendency" for pinging.
I think I have very little carbon in my combustion chambers now, and I don't want to use higher octane fuel. So I switched to #6 iridiums, which eliminated the pinging for good.

Iridium plugs come pre-gapped and there's really no way to sand-blast or otherwise mechanically clean them because the tip is quite tiny and fragile. It is not recommended to drop them either...
Iridium tip is supposed to last 100k km (as per maintenance schedule), so I'm sure these plugs still have quite a life in them. Tips are looking just brand new, and the gap appears to be correct.

I put a tiny amount of anti-seize on the threads and I set my torque wrench to about 80% of specified torque. I hope I'm good...

 

[yugrus]

A small but somewhat discouraging update. Two days ago I put very lightly carbonized spark plug into LC beside the one immersed into FP. In 48 hours LC has done nothing to deposits on the plug, while FP keeps eating carbon up from another one. By no effect I mean that the plug has the same amount of deposits, I can not take any of it off with my fingernail and LC color has not changed. In the meantime almost all carbon flakes from the other plug dissolved in FP and I did not even had to scratch it.
Could that be that whatever "component X" that used to be in LC when it was produced, "evaporated"? It's been a while since I bought it.
Does that raise the question of the expiry date?
I’m thinking about Molakule’s report that has an observation that at least "component X" expires within weeks. Could that be that this component is in charge of the cleaning action of LC?
I assume that anti-oxidation properties remain in LC still?
By no means I’m bashing the product and I have nothing against it. I just need some explanation here.

 

[zoomzoom]

I think LC is designed to work hot, not cold...so that might be the problem...
Also FP is more of a solvent where LC is not...

I also have irridium plugs in mine and it has been around 40K miles since I put them in. I was wondering how long they will last...I glad you found them to be in almost like new shape...so I think I might be good to put another 40-50K miles on them...

My OEM platinum lasted 56K so if the irridium is as good as they say I think they should last 90K without problem...

What do you guys think?

 

[yugrus]

quote:

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Originally posted by zoomzoom:
I was wondering how long they will last...

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It is 100k km maintenance item in my schedule. I think it depends on too many factors though... Like gas you use, your driving style, etc.
But by any measure, the tip electrode should last 100k km I'm sure. The plug could be dead way before that because of deposits.

As for LC working only when hot... I guess FP's "working temperature" is even higher, but it works in my garage ambient conditions. And still, this "component x" expiry period still bugs me...

 

[mechtech]

Changing spark plugs hotter/colder, for wiinter/summer?
Spark plugs have such a wide heat range that I can't imagine not finding one correct one.
I have dealer experience, and my own shop, for over three decades, and changing plugs for winter/summer is a new one on me, and doesn't make mechanical sense.

 

[yugrus]

quote:

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Originally posted by mechtech:
...changing plugs for winter/summer is a new one on me, and doesn't make mechanical sense.

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I agree, but the thing is that the car comes with quite hot plugs from the factory. It's fine in winter, but last summer I experienced some substantial pinging, so I decided to switch to the colder plugs. I probably will leave these colder plugs for the winter if everything is fine. Although I have some concerns about not burning out deposits at the colder plug when the weather is cold...

 

[TheTanSedan]

Judging by the wear under close examination of a set of plugs removed from a recently purchased truck (Dodge, V8-318), after 6m plus miles of FP use all were quite clean but two and otherwise had been in service in excess of 30m miles.

Odis usually has an old black FORD truck at his house that, with 115m plus (as I recall), still has plugs looking like new (oem, never replaced).

Agree that LC-20 works hot. Haven't tried FP-60 cold to pan-soak sparkplugs.

Good luck with the iridiums, I'm trying them out in this truck (first 5m inspection this week or next to try to isolate "problem" seen above; hope is not evidence of head crack or intake leak).

Agree that thread wear concerns are valid enough to keep an eye on.

 

[acewiza]

Yugrus, it sounds like you are confused about the meaning of "colder" vs. "hotter" plugs.

The cold/hot reference refers to the plug's ability to dissipate heat through the insulator and out of the combustion chamber.

A hot plug typically has a longer nose and dissipates heat faster, resulting the opposite effect you seem to suggest.

Just FYI...

Paul

 

[dkcase]

quote:

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Originally posted by acewiza:
Yugrus, it sounds like you are confused about the meaning of "colder" vs. "hotter" plugs.

The cold/hot reference refers to the plug's ability to dissipate heat through the insulator and out of the combustion chamber.

A hot plug typically has a longer nose and dissipates heat faster, resulting the opposite effect you seem to suggest.

Just FYI...

Paul

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Welcome to BITOG.

But, NAH -- Yugrus has it right. A "hot" plug will operate at a higher temperature. It will have a longer path for conducting heat away less efficiently..

 

[goodvibes]

The new plugs are probable fine for everything but arctic conditions and I would change again for winter unless it became a problem at that time. The pluga do come pregaped but you should always check them anyway. Mine were quite different from each other when new. I'd pull em and chech the gap. Another option would be Denso's power iridium plug in the colder heat range. It's an easier firing plug that will work as well as the hotter plug in cold but won't knock in the heat. The down side is a 30K recommended use though they'll last longer with somewhat decreased performance.

 

[yugrus]

Thank you for your suggestions gentlemen!
Interesting idea about Denso plugs. I'll try to find a set, I have had very good results with Denso plugs before.