Will Coca Cola+ salt clean spark plugs?

Pulled this one out of my Jaguar X-Type Yesterday. The center electrode is way off center. But it was still working fine....
Not a clue how something like this happens. About 100K on the plug. Think Coca-Cola will fix it?? :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
spark plug.webp
 
Huskyguy68 said:
Seen a few vids where a vehicle owner cleans his old dirty spark plugs in a mixture of coca cola and some salt. Let's them sit for a few hours to soak. Or over night .
Removes, cleans a bit with a small wire brush.
Then rinses them under the tap water.
Air dry them.
Or use a hair dryer/reverse blow with shop vacuum.
Is this a bad idea? I normally remove my spark plugs and give a lite clean with sandpaper or wire brush. Reinstall, no issues.
Or i just outright replace with new ones.
Here in Canada, my spark plugs are about $15 each plus tax.
Click to expand...

This was likely for copper plugs and not the newer fine tip plugs. I wouldn't do it. This reminds me of my grandma many years ago when she finally bought new windows in her house. I had to explain to her that you can't use ammonia and newspaper to clean newer windows as they have uv coatings on them.
 
JunkdrawerDog said:
Didn't cleaning spark plugs go away along with leaded gasoline?
Click to expand...
I just had the though me cleaning spark plugs goes back to the Summer of 1975 when at 9, I started my neighborhood grass cutting business with my $25 used lawn mower that I meticulously took care of!

$7 -$10 a yard was my fee and I made enough money to buy the KISS ALIVE 8-Track , a Huffy bike a mirror ball and disco light, a black light and some UV posters, I was kinda GROOVY back then but with the cleanest, best tuned, best running lawn mower in town!

At 9 the $25 lawn mower was the first thing I owned that had a engine and made me money, I was so proud! I think I actually used turtle wax on the deck and that red K-Mart lawn mower paint did shine...

I changed the oil VERY often before it got dirty and that foam air cleaner was washed an re-oiled every Saturday!

Dad showed me if I used some LEADED GAS in a glass jar ( who needs parts cleaner when you got red gas ? ) but soaking a plug in gas and a wire brush would clean it would fire up perfect EVERY Grass day!

No I don't clean car spark plugs but to this day I clean lawnmower and my early Harley at least every Spring if not 2-3 times a Summer is my 25+ year old mowers run great but need a clean plug to start, ANY small engine gets good cleaning just like DAD showed me in 1975.

Next time your mower is hard to start, try a wire brush...
 
I think there are better and cheaper acid you can use, like vinegar?

You may be able to clean the metal but you won't be able to add more back in there to make the edges sharp. I would at most boil it in some citric acid and that's as much as I would do other than replacing it with fresh ones. If your engine runs correctly minor carbon would get burnt off over time.
 
Harbor Freight Once sold a Spark Plug Cleaner that was like a mini sand blaster that used shop compressed air. I can't tell but it may no longer be sold? I'm sure would now have little demand but I sure could use it as I still use and prefer copper plugs in my old motorcycles and lawn mowers.

As a kid a have a fuzzy memory of seeing a Spark Plug desk top cleaning machine. Stick the plug in and it would come out clean.

If you are not old enough to remember life when Copper plugs were used before platinum arrived the idea of cleaning a plug may seem strange to young folks?

Out of habit I still keep a paper / cardboard finger nail file in the bottom of the saddle bag in my old 90's Harley.
As 30 years ago having that file and a small engine spark plug wrench ( the one you put a screw driver in to turn ) sure fixed my BIG problem when I was on a Sunday day trip to Lake Lure / Chimney Rock ( back when EVERYTHING was closed on Sunday ) my engine stopped and would not start but that fingernail file sure fixed my fouled ( Copper Autolite 4265 ) and got me back to Charlotte NC before dark!

LINK to video of that Harbor Freight Plug cleaner.

 
The Phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola does remove rust. Phosphoric acid is in a variety of rust-removing products.

So, sure, it works at removing rust (and I have used it for that) but the real question is - why are you re-installing rusty plugs?

If they come out, put new ones in. You can’t re-file and re-gap most modern plugs with iridium or platinum electrodes. They are either good (in which case, leave them in) or not (in which case, install new ones).

If your car has old style plugs (called copper, but with steel electrodes, like the Packard) and is fouling old style plugs so often that you need to keep cleaning them, then I would fix the car.

Removing exterior rust isn’t going to sharpen the electrodes, re-gap the plug, or remove any fouling from the plug.
 
I've read elsewhere that cleaning spark plugs with abrasives can change its heat rating. Not to mention that fine media blasting could change the texture on the electrode and ironically make it more susceptible to attracting carbon on it.

Like mentioned here, if you're already removing the plugs just put new ones in. Even in the older days with the cost of plugs it still makes no sense.
 
If you really need to clean spark plugs, think of what you use to clean an engine (internally). I would soak with:
- Valvoline Restore and Protect engine oil
- any number of engine flush additives
- CCCC (Carbon Combustion Chamber Cleaner)
- throttle body cleaner

... rinse , flush with acetone, brake cleaner, isopropyl and blow out with compressed air.

After that, chuck the spark-plug terminal, gently, in a drill chuck. Slowly rotate it in front of a torch (propane, MAP gas, etc) to get it nice and hot. Any built-up contamination should turn to ash.

LET IT COOL! Even though I KNOW it's hot I still seem to be able to burn myself somehow.
 
Astro14 said:
The Phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola does remove rust. Phosphoric acid is in a variety of rust-removing products.

So, sure, it works at removing rust (and I have used it for that) but the real question is - why are you re-installing rusty plugs?

If they come out, put new ones in. You can’t re-file and re-gap most modern plugs with iridium or platinum electrodes. They are either good (in which case, leave them in) or not (in which case, install new ones).

If your car has old style plugs (called copper, but with steel electrodes, like the Packard) and is fouling old style plugs so often that you need to keep cleaning them, then I would fix the car.

Removing exterior rust isn’t going to sharpen the electrodes, re-gap the plug, or remove any fouling from the plug.
Click to expand...
This ^^^. Best said so far.
 
New nickel plugs are like a buck or two each and if you tighten the gap a smidge to maybe .030 you could get away with leaving them in there for up to 100k in some engines. Platinums are a buck more. I wouldn't waste the time and effort to clean plugs 99% of the time i'd rather change them.
 
BHopkins said:
This ^^^. Best said so far.
Click to expand...
Oh ya best reply pffttt

I never said i had rusty plugs.
Just a bit oil dirty, nothing serious.
I cleaned them with coke and salt.
Removed, sprayed with electronic spray cleaner. Light brushing, rinsed under the tap.
Dried them off.
Looked much cleaner.
Installed, engine runs fine.
No cel.
 
Huskyguy68 said:
Oh ya best reply pffttt

I never said i had rusty plugs.
Just a bit oil dirty, nothing serious.
I cleaned them with coke and salt.
Removed, sprayed with electronic spray cleaner. Light brushing, rinsed under the tap.
Dried them off.
Looked much cleaner.
Installed, engine runs fine.
No cel.
Click to expand...
Why didn't you say that at the beginning, instead of playing all these silly games?
 
Huskyguy68 said:
Seen a few vids where a vehicle owner cleans his old dirty spark plugs in a mixture of coca cola and some salt. Let's them sit for a few hours to soak.
Click to expand...
JohnnyG said:
Really?
Click to expand...
Cujet said:
About 100K on the plug. Think Coca-Cola will fix it??
Click to expand...
Regular Coke contains phosphoric acid and even salt is not a base, there is some small reaction going between the two when mixed. Phosphoric acid in more concentrated solutions can be used as rust convertor and rust inhibitor.

Coke_Phosphor Acid.webp
 
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