What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

How do you floss?

Vlad

Well Known Member
Once in a while I feed my Lycoming with a portion of leaded gas. It digests good and performs well but need a hygienist in a hundred or so hours. How d'you clean this? Yes, the lead deposits inside the cylinders around spark plug hole.


6.jpg




4-1.jpg
 
Aggressive leaning while flying and especially on the ground will prevent it in the first place. Try running up the engine to 2200 RPM and lean it to the highest EGT you can get to melt it out.
 
Last edited:
Anal Annuals

Doing annual inspections for over 15 years I've learned that pulling the plugs for cleaning and re-gapping tends to break loose the lead deposits that are bridged between the plug threads and the combustion chamber. I would install the plugs back in the cylinders and a lot of times those loose pieces would find their way back into a lower plug and foul it out as soon as the owner tries to taxi away after a fresh annual. Kinda makes me look bad. Now I always put each cylinder on TDC with both valves closed, take a round wire pipe cleaner brush in a drill motor in each spark plug hole to break the stuff loose then blow through the plugs holes with high pressure air. I'll usually get a palm full of stuff out of four cylinders. Since I started doing this, I've never had one foul.
 
I used TCP

in my 182 and 150 to help keep the lead under control. Seemed to work as I had really bad fouling in both airplanes until I started using the TCP.
 
Back
Top