Sounds odd doesn’t it? But whilst many people understand the importance of cleaning their spark plugs, both for safety and to save money, the question then becomes – is a spark plug cleaner really needed or can I do it without specialist equipment?
The answer is… yes, to a degree, but a spark plug cleaner is far better.
What a Spark Plug Cleaner Needs to do
To understand why a spark plug cleaner is better than doing it yourself you first need to understand WHY a spark plug needs cleaning at all.
The spark plugs job is to ignite the fuel to allow it to burn, producing the chemical reaction needed to power the engine. Because this process means continually igniting fuel there will always be some flash residue from each ignition.
This residue is carbon and it builds up over time on the spark plug, getting into every nook and crevice, making the spark plugs work to a lesser and lesser extent – and eventually causing them to stop working all together.
So what you are doing when you are cleaning a spark plug is cleaning off carbon
Getting it all
The problem with self cleaning a spark plug is that it can be very difficult to get all the carbon. Whilst you can help by cleaning the spark plug manually you are unlikely to get everything. Even if you used a specialized wire brush you are still only likely to get 60% of the carbon without stripping the spark plug.
You can of course strip the plug to get at the other 40%. This allows you to clean it fully. But be careful, for the spark plug to work afterwards you need to both remember to put the plug back together exactly right AND not to damage the insulation layer. Fail at either and the spark plug is useless to you.
That is the advantage of using a spark plug cleaner. They are very cheap and ensure that you get all the built up carbon off the spark plug, allowing it to work at full efficiency… and do so without any difficult manual labour, technical knowledge or risk of damage.
Time, money and risk taken out of the equation gives you peace of mind, and savings in your pocket. So whilst it is possible to clean a spark plug without a spark plug cleaner, it certainly is not advisable!
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