Fouled plugs

[mike's1965]

My truck has been parked since 2013, and before that it had barely been driven for a year, so let's say it's been parked 8 years.

Anyways on and off through the years I've kept tank near empty and add a couple of gallons of gas here and there and pour a little gas in the carb and start it, mainly idle.

I pulled the plugs this fall and all were fouled, but dry like charcoal, was doing compression test.

Later after new years on a cold day needing to move it for house painters, I apparently put too much gas in carb and flooded engine, waited a couple hours still nothing, so pulled out the 4 on the passenger side and used my propane torch on each one, each ignited from the gas still in them and I let them burn with the torch, the carbon got red hot, hit plugs with wire brush while hot and all carbon came off, plugs looked brand new.

By the way those plugs were new in 2010 and maybe had 300 miles on them.

Put them back in and truck started, driver's side must have cleared out and it went from running horrible to smoothing out.

Reason for not pulling driver's side the angle is hard to get on BBC, forgot if small block is same, probably is.

I stopped pouring gas in carb and now use starting fluid.

I'm thinking I fouled the plugs from priming carb with gas and let truck idle over the years, need to do the driver's side plugs.

Anyways the torch and wire brush worked amazing for getting that carbon off, but I read somewhere that could damage plugs or make them load up with carbon again quicker.

Also the Edelbrock Performer RPM quadrajet has a very rich idle that can only be leaned out so much, according to Cliff Ruggles Q-Jet expert, need to replace idle tubes in carb with smaller ones, it's set up that way to keep a wild cam idling, but my 396 is mild.

Soon it's getting Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 multi port injection, might just buy new plugs again, but only put them on at time of fuel injection.

Hopefully the rest of the carbon on the valves (assuming there must be carbon in that area) will clear off from driving with fuel injectors spraying on intake valves and maybe some freeway driving at high rpm, 3.73 gears and TH400.

Possible it's oil burning, however compression test was decent.

Does it damage spark plugs to heat carbon with propane torch and knock it off with wire brush?

Plugs don't cost much but I'm just curious since it worked so good.

[vince1]

I recently pulled a piston on an engine that had been sitting for many years and found stuck oil rings. You might try cleaning them. I have heard pouring water down the carb at fast idle frees them. There are also carb out products available.

Give it the right fuel mixture and the plugs will get clean. If they misfire you know you have damaged them.

[mike's1965]

I went over to where truck was today and was going to clean the driver's side plugs, but decided to pull #2 plug just to how it looked.

It was wet with gas, truck has not been started in 2 weeks.

I guess it's time for new plugs, hopefully it's from the very rich carb that also needs to be rebuilt, and not a worn out engine, I drove truck around block 2 weeks ago and felt misfire, while trouble shooting turn signal and light issues.

Don't think it would make it far like that, need to drive it about a hour on side streets to get it moved to where I'm currently living, avoid freeway because tires are very old.

New plugs are going to cost about 3 bucks a piece going to run NGK 7052, about 24.00 plus tax, or buy a spark plug cleaning tool at harbor freight for about 18.00 plus tax.

The plugs are not worn, just dirty.

Also when I put the pro flo injection on, I'm supposed to put in resistor type plugs, but I only want to put those in when it's time to start up engine with fuel injection, so they have a 100% fresh start that eliminates the carb being the issue.

What do the people here think of spark plug cleaner tools?

[geezer#99]

Likely not wet from gas, more likely oil. Gas doesn’t linger that long.
Waste of time with plug cleaning or replacement or swapping a fuel injection system on it.
You gotta find out the cause of the fouling.
Do a wet and dry compression test and a leak down test.

[mike's1965]

I did a compression test and all cylinders were at least 155, actually all except #2 and #4 were closer to 180 if I recall.

Also bought a oil squirt can and shot in a couple of pumps of gear oil, didn't have any oil, and tried that only on #1 cylinder, no change in reading, however battery was getting slightly weaker.

Maybe time to buy and try a leak down tester.

If engine needs work then I'm going to go 454 or bigger.

Funny thing the wetness on the plug seemed more thin like gasoline or water, but I agree, was wondering how gasoline could still be damp on spark plug after 2 weeks, was thinking maybe both valves were closed and there was nowhere for the gasoline to evaporate to.

Another thought could be Q jet is leaking gas into intake and that is getting in there.

Well will have to buy a leak down tester.

[vince1]

I had a problem with the crankcase of my 250 filling with gasoline. First I thought it was leaking through the fuel pump. Then I took the carb off and found fuel all over the intake manifold. The culprit was a new fuel cap that I bought. Air could vent in but not out. With the hot and cold cycles over winter quite a bit of pressure would build in the tank. The fix was drilling a little pinhole inside the rubber gasket but not out through the top. If you remove your fuel cap and air rushes out that is your problem

To me you sound quite young like maybe you don't yet have a lot of automotive experience. I would suggest getting a second opinion before spending more money that may not bring results.

[mike's1965]

Definitely don't have the experience of a professional mechanic, but have been wrenching on my own stuff for 25 years.

I do like asking what others think online, sometimes other people will see something you miss, this is the first engine I have had that has this issue, will find out what's going on.

Also it's possible the valve seals are leaking, so a few things to test.

[vince1]

We had a spark plug cleaner and tester back in high school and we used to change plugs quite often, now they go tens of thousands of miles and years before tossing them. The spark plug cleaner/testers probably went the way of the dinosaur once leaded fuel was phased out.

I have occasionally pulled the plug from a small engine when it was fouled and putting it on an electric stove element until the excess gas had burnt off.

Ever heard of a spark plug non-fouler? Check this out. https://www.rockauto.com/en/tools/ig...on-fouler,7216

[mike's1965]

I remember a friend had those on a 1973 C10.

When I find out what's wrong, will come back with update.

[PGSigns]

Here is what I would do. Pull the carb and clean it. Put more than a gallonor two of fuel in it. The stuff you have in it is toast. It will foul the plugs because it wont burn. Fire it up and run it a while, or better yet drive it. The storage is what it needs to recover from.
Jimmy