So one thing you CAN do...
Git a big-arse magnet, and stick it to the combustion chamber side of the head.
Go over to your bench grinder/vise area, and gather up all the iron/steel filings from when you were hand-filing that one thing a while back...
Get 'em gathered up (I use a piece of paper...) and sprinkle them onto the cylinder head where you THINK there's a crack.
The filings will present a very visible TRACK where a crack exists.
Note- If you see the filings showing a track, but you don't SEE a crack, that means the crack is under the surface, where you cannot SEE it.
You can also expose hidden cracks in machined surfaces by scrubbing them clean, then take a Sharpie marker and 'paint' the surface thoroughly... then pour acetone on the surface, let it run across... then stop, and let the acetone evaporate.
After the acetone evaps, you'll see that the permanent marker ink will migrate to reveal surface imperfections, particularly cracks.
BOTH of these techniques work in realm similar to 'magnafluxing'... but on a poor-man's budget.
My bet is that, if you move that spark plug to a different cylinder, it will leak there, too, which is a bad plug. Believe me- failed crimps on spark plugs is NOT uncommon... and on Champion plugs, it is VERY COMMON.
When the crimp seal fails, two things happen-
1) Compression drops... and it has greater effect at low RPM than high RPM (it has longer to leak)
2) The ceramic insulator no longer cools properly... so it overheats, which means:
Preignition occurs... (even if the engine is turning slow, and under a light load, it does!)
Electrode erodes
Ceramic becomes brittle
core fractures and drops parts into the hole....
remains of core spits out into your very dry bean field (or in my case, a boat engine compartment)... starting a fire...
Damage to all those expensive internal parts... and the heartache that ensues.
Topic Options
Post Options
Thanks(0)
