My 2001 has deeply inset vertical spark plug holes. About 5 inches down, there is a narrowing and a "shelf." Unfortunately, the shelf seems to collect junk that comes in from the outside as the spark plug boot does not (I guess) completely seal this out. The problem comes when you remove the plug and this junk (dirt, whatever) falls partly onto the rim further down that forms the seat for the plug. Cleaning it out requires care not to drop any into the cylinder. Has anyone else noticed this?
Just because they guy didn't think of the blown air solution doesn't mean he is stupid. It's an easy trap to fall into thinking someone is stupid because they don't have *your* kind of smarts. Something that may seem common sense to you can not be as apparent to others. Right? I had a quantum physicist girlfriend at one time that sure was a genius at math and many other things but sometimes she seemed downright stupid. This guy asking you about his spark plug problem may just be the brain surgeon that will some day save your life with his particular genius. I want to see people being cool to each other. Yeah I know I'm asking for a lot and will probably catch some nice, warm flames for this. Blah blah blah. Scott
Well we jave no way of knowing for sure whether it's me or Andrew that whissed in your porridge. Since my answer was somewhat terse and overly simplistic, I'll assume that I am your target. Andrew and I both indicated that compressed air was the trick..... I'm still looking for the term "stupid" in both our posts - but the only place I see it is yours....
Rander3127 is the one who said it in his reply to Stuart&Janet and guess what? I was too lame to realize he was the original poster! Woohoo! Oh well :) Look at the bottom of his post. If I could change one thing about the way people communicate on-line... okay... two things.... One would be, sure, give people the benefit of the doubt. Two would be post at the top so people don't have to scroll down to see what you wrote. Thanks at least for not flaming me :) I think I'm probably reacting to the times I asked ignorant questions on here and got smartass answers. So hey thanks for not being one of "them".
If you do any type of mechanical work, you should have some type of air compressor on hand. A little hand-held can of compressed air will probably not be enough to dislodge and blow sand and other "larger" particles out of a deep spark plug well.... not adequate. There is an inexpensive solution though, and it would be an excellent investment. You can get a 5 or 10 gallon portable air storage tank... Campbell Hausfeld offers them... about $30 or $40... you can just carry it to your local gas station and pack about
80 psi of air into it, and you'll then have enough pressurized air to blow out all your plug wells properly and much much more before you deplete your air. I'd recommend getting one of at least 10 gallon size... still relatively small and easy to carry. I have one of these and use it all the time... I don't think I could live without it. One nice thing is that it's portable... just carry it to where ever you need it... a nice advantage over a big air compressor unit. You can even use it to adjust the air in your tires (as long as you have at least 50 psi in it)... or in fact you can inflate a flat tire with it as well. Just get one... I think Home Depot may have them.... Sears too.
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