possible to remove debris from spark plug gallery?

[sw20r]

while checking to the condition of the evo's sparkplugs to diagnose a non start i came across this..



a small chip from the copper ground core near the center electrode may possibly be in the cylinder..

are their other ways of checking for debris other then taking the cylinder head off?

[TTECelica]

unless you have access to a borescope i doubt you will be able to see in there without removing the head. or snap on do make a little camera with an lcd that is designed to fir through a spark plug hole?

[sw20r]

i'll try bluetac on the end of a chop stick for now.. but yeah I found what your talking about -

Snap on tools borescope Imager
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....ia&dir=catalog

might pick one up this week

[Ben Wilson]

If it happened while the engine was running it probably blew out the exhaust, any damage would have been done by now.

Give it a compression test if you're worried about it.

[DrNick]

i'll try bluetac on the end of a chop stick for now.. but yeah I found what your talking about -

I had the insulator crack on one of my plugs too, sending little bits of ceramic all around. It was the plug closest to the firewall on my Supra as well so I couldnt stand over and look into the hole. Eventually I pretty much climbed into the engine bay so that I could get a good look and I saw 1 piece inside the cylinder. After trying many ways of removing it I discovered the best was to get a wooden dowel (chop stick is fine too I guess) and smear grease on it. It will pick up pretty much anything it touches and no danger of dropping anything else into the hole (as would be the case with blue tack). Hope this helps somewhat

[LeaThaL]

HI DR NICK!! ......sorry had to do it but thats good info dude, +rep

and good luck with it dude, my mate did the same thing with a corolla, ended up with a bent valve but its cheaper to replace a 4age than what im guessing is a 4g63

[wilbo666]

I'd second / third the grease & dowel option if you can see something as opposed to blu-tac.



Cheers
Wilbo

[petergoudie]

I had this happen on my motor bike out near Hay, NSW. All I did was take the plug out and ran the cycle on the other cyclinder. The ceramic bits blew out the spark plug hole. Where I was lucky is it has a type of hemi-head which means the bits did not pound into the head or piston. I never did anything else since except at the time to fit a spare plug which I always carred on me.

[Javal]

I had this happen on my motor bike out near Hay, NSW. All I did was take the plug out and ran the cycle on the other cyclinder. The ceramic bits blew out the spark plug hole. Where I was lucky is it has a type of hemi-head which means the bits did not pound into the head or piston. I never did anything else since except at the time to fit a spare plug which I always carred on me.

Decent plan.

[Jabtronic]

I've used a vacuum cleaner hose with a smaller hose sticky taped into it (to fit down the cylinder)... worked like a charm

[1975ToyotaCrown]

Suck it out with a high pressure wet and dry vacuum cleaner with smaller plastic tubing as the nozzle and use plenty of lube of fuel to dislodge it.

[allencr]

If its been running & hasn't just broken off very recently, it is either embedded in the head or piston/ring land, or it has been blown out the exhaust by now, and there is nothing that you can do about it that would help.
What's the compression?
That picture looks like a plug with very little wear, the center electrode isn't rounded off and the ground electrode isn't rounded off either and the gap looks very good. It does look like its has had a lot of buildup from old age & little old lady Sunday driving - lots of short trips & cold start ups.

Is there really 'copper' visible? I do not believe that there is any copper in a spark plug except for a small portion that is internal, in the center electrode, that is just enough for advertising BS.

[PlacentaJuan]

i thought copper was cheap as?

so is there a cheaper metal that you think they are using instead?