How to clean spark plugs without long soaking

After eliminating excessive carbon formation from the spark plugs, it is not at all necessary to purchase a set of new spark plugs and spend a lot of money on their purchase. If the old spark plugs do not have mechanical and thermal damage, then after the carbon deposits are completely removed from them, the spark plugs will still be able to work successfully for quite a long time.

Soot on spark plugs leads to increased fuel consumption, slow acceleration of the car during acceleration, problematic engine starting, especially in winter, etc. There are quite a large number of ways to clean spark plugs from soot. Let's consider one of them, associated with boiling these critical engine components in acidified water.

A quick and easy way to clean spark plugs

To do this, we need a package of food-grade citric acid, a small saucepan and some clean water. Pour 1 liter of water into a metal container, set it to heat on the fire of a gas stove and add 3 tablespoons of citric acid powder along the way.

We wait until the citric acid completely dissolves in boiling water.Then carefully place the spark plug with large carbon deposits in boiling water. After some time, we will observe how carbon particles separate from the spark plug and float to the surface of the water.

Since boiling water evaporates rapidly, periodically add a little boiling water from the kettle into the pan. Spark plugs must be boiled within 60 minutes. Over such a period of time, boiling water turns dark in color, since numerous soot particles that have separated from the surface of the spark plug, having a predominantly fatty (oily) base, dissolve in it.

After intensive one-hour boiling, we remove the spark plug from the water with pliers and, using a stiff toothbrush and toothpick, clean it, separating and picking out the remaining carbon particles from corners, recesses and other hard-to-reach places.

At the final stage of cleaning, thoroughly rinse the spark plug under running tap water and dry it with a hair dryer or a construction equivalent. If a hairdryer is not available, then a completely cleaned spark plug can be dried over a small fire on a gas stove for 1-2 minutes.