Has anyone described this problem to a spark plug manufacturer to
see if they have any suggestions on the subject? It seems that they
should have a pretty good idea about what is taking place inside the cylinder
(sp?) when the plug is firing. This TCP probably doesn’t clean the
plugs, it probably combines with the lead at high heat and prevents as much of it
being deposited as lead oxide. Our plugs up in those shrouded, water
cooled holes, probably don’t get relatively very hot. At least not
like a plug would sticking out in the flame in an air cooled head.
Back in the day, I could only get about 12K miles on a set of plugs
using high octane ethel. I changed the plugs in my wife’s Camary a
few months ago at 110K miles. The performance didn’t change with
the new plugs. Unleaded gas??
Bill B
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of James Maher
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 9:33
AM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Emailing:
Decalin Chemicals RunUp Fuel Additive
Since lead melts at a relatively low temp have your tried using a
propane torch to heat the plugs and let the lead drip off.
I don't know if it would work but it might be worth a try.
Jim
Ed Anderson
<eanderson@carolina.rr.com> wrote:
Actually, I did, Todd. They guy sent
me a complimentary spot of the stuff. I flew with it for over 20 hours
and it not only did not help but actually seemed to leave more deposits.
In the end after some research on the topic, I came to the conclusion that the
temperatures did not go high enough to cause the chemical reaction that bound
the lead. In other words, it would work with the high temperatures
reached in air cooled cylinder heads but apparently not with the lower temp
water cooled blocks. At least, that was my conclusion.
One of these days, I am going to find a
heavy duty ultrasonic cleaner and see if that might "buzz" the lead
deposit off the ceramic (without pulverizing the ceramic). Typical
abrasive blasting does not work very well due to the shrouding effect of the
multiple ground electrodes which tend to shield the ceramic cone.
Thanks for bring it to my attention