Spark Plug vacuum leak

[Timothy]

Ok. I just tried the cleaning method and it still leaks. 22 lbs of torque isn't a lot. I don't want to just bear down on it. I fully seat the plug and then give it about 1/3 of a turn. It seats firmly.

Also I don't think that is a washer in there. I took the washer off my new spark plug and see if it would seat and it wouldn't. I fact it went down a little too far and my socket couldn't grab and turn it.

[Timothy]

There is a chance that the threads could be damaged, are all of the plugs leaking air or just 1?

#1 #3 and #4 are all showing signs of a leak. A little spray with starter fluid and the engines rpms spike.

[firebush357]

Do you have a Torque wrench or are you just guessing?

[Timothy]

Do you have a Torque wrench or are you just guessing?

Guessing

[Timothy]

If I were to hang a 20lb weight on the end of a 1 foot bar that would be ~ how much I want to torque. that is how I'm guessing

[firebush357]

Harbor Freight Torque Wrench
20% Off Printable Coupon

Do yourself a favor and get a Torque Wrench and try not to drop it.

[Timothy]

Thanks for the link to the coupon. I'm sure I'll put it to good use.

[firebush357]

There isn't much more we can help you with unless we know you are running it down to the correct torque specs. The seats looked pitted and dirty so if you can find a good way to clean those up it might help but even after that it may have damaged threads from the Previous owner.

[ryanprins13]

What spark plugs did you buy? Whats the part number and brand?

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[Timothy]

First I replaced them with autolites, but this second time around I went with NGK | Part # 6261

http://m.oreillyauto.com/h5/r/oap/site/c/detail/NGK6/6261/03435.oap?year=1992&make=Ford&model=Festiva&vi=1128226&ck=Search_spark+plug_1128226_1763&keyword=spark+plug

[Timothy]

There isn't much more we can help you with unless we know you are running it down to the correct torque specs. The seats looked pitted and dirty so if you can find a good way to clean those up it might help but even after that it may have damaged threads from the Previous owner.

Ok. Thanks for your help so far. Just for shits and giggles I put teflon tape around the threads to see if it would stop the leak. It did not. Don't worry it was just for a test, not for any sort of permanent fix.

[Timothy]

My plan is to buy a grinding stone like the one in the link that is the width of the washer and see if I can smooth out that surface a bit.

https://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ebayimg.com%2F00%2Fs%2FNTAwWDUwMA%3D%3D%2Fz%2FwDwAAOxyVaBS-tyU%2F%24_3.JPG%3Fset_id%3D2&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fbhp%2Fdrill-grinding-wheel&docid=ykk28nIeUZPeNM&tbnid=LwMz5OLBjW5ySM%3A&vet=1&w=500&h=500&hl=en-us&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim

[ryanprins13]

Reason i asked about the plugs was just to make sure they are in fact the right ones. As long as they have "BPR6EY-11" printed on them they should be good.

It was doing this before you changed plugs right? If not can you try the old ones?

Judging from the amount of rust on the sealing surface its been loose for a while.

I wouldnt use that stone. They are very course and i dont think youll ever get it to seal again. I would try this before resorting to a stone.


Personally i would as a last resort get the red high temp loc tite and slather it on some new platinum or iridium plugs and over torque them and just replace the head, engine or car in 180,000km when they wear out. I would do that before using the stone. Thats just me though.

Also may be worth buying the correct tap and chasing the threads

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[Timothy]

Thanks for the suggestion on the brushes. I'll try to find those. Thanks for the tip about the spark plugs I didn't know that. I don't know if the plugs did this before I replaced them. When I first purchased the car that was the first thing I did. Vacuum leaks weren't even on my radar back then. So unfortunately I threw away the old plugs when I replaced them. Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.

[WmWatt]

You wrote "Also I don't think that is a washer in there. I took the washer off my new spark plug and see if it would seat and it wouldn't. I fact it went down a little too far and my socket couldn't grab and turn it." I use a spark plug socket and an extension and don't have that problem.

I agree a stone could make the situation worse. I've used a stone to grind pitted rust off a bicycle frame and it left a very rough surface. The spark plug could end up leaking more not less.I might very gently try a large flat drill bit very briefly slowly rotated by hand, just a touch to clean up the mating surface. The drill bit would have to be pretty well perfectly perpendiclular to the hole to keep the surface of the hole level. I wouldn't try sticking steel wool or sandpaper down there as it would likely drop bits of steel wool or sandpaper grit into the combustion chamber.