Spark Plug Problems

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: Spark Plug Problems
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steven Thum on Wednesday, December 03, 2014 - 04:18 pm:

Since the Thanksgiving parade here in St. Louis was postponed due to the unrest and we did not get to drive our cars that day. Don, my wife and myself decided to do a little tour last Saturday. ( Temp went up into the high 60's). My new to me 26 Fodor ran okay but seemed sluggish and had lackluster performance and did not run as smooth as I think it should. I chalked it up to being 350 pounds heavier than my Touring.
When we got back I opened the hood to turn off the gas and the radiator neck fell off. Okay, no big deal. Sunday morning, still warm out, I took the shroud and the hood off and soldered the neck back on. When I started the car to test for leaks I noticed that the inner two spark plugs were leaking fire between the porcelain and the base of the plug. So I replaced the plugs with some spare Champion X's. Since today's temp was almost to 50 the wife and I decided to drive it to get lunch.
Boy what a difference. Much more power and much smoother.
I had adjusted the coils(I have a Strobo-Scope and have rebuilt over 600 coils), checked out the carburetor and pulled the plugs. but could not find a reason the the slight roughness.
I would not have found this problem if I was not able to look straight down into the plugs. You could not see this issue from the side or by pulling the plugs.
I thought I would post this problem and correction so if others find their car running slightly rough they could look down in their plugs and see if any spark is leaking.

Happy Holiday's
Steven

PS The parade is rescheduled for Saturday the 13. On that afternoon is our annual meeting (Christmas Party). So the only way we could be in the parade is to go to the meeting straight from the parade. We decided not to leave our cars out as targets for the idiots so the parade is still out for us.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Wednesday, December 03, 2014 - 08:38 pm:

How did you fix the radiator neck?
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Wednesday, December 03, 2014 - 09:42 pm:

If I have an antique running a little rough, one of the first things I do is start the engine at night, in a dark area. With a flashlight in hand, so I can shine it and see what in the dark recesses I am looking at, I look over all the ignition wiring and spark plugs. High resistance shorts through the porcelain are fairly common. Often the plug will spark, but weakly, and the porcelain will light up like a small lamp. Often a crack will have developed in the porcelain, and you can clearly see the crack traced by spark. Sometimes, also, you may be able to see the spark leaking from one spark-plug wire onto another (I wonder where that is going?).
Nothing like a little darkness to shed some light on the subject!
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steven Thum on Wednesday, December 03, 2014 - 10:50 pm:

Norman, Take off the hood and shroud. Clean the area on the radiator and the neck, I use a dremel tool with a wire brush. Paint on Flux on both sides to be soldered. Set the neck on the tank then use a propane torch and copper pipe solder and heat up just enough to draw the solder under the neck. I have had to reattach the necks on my touring as well as my 4 door and several of the other members cars. I seem to be getting pretty good at it as a radiator repair man complemented me on it.
Wayne, I need to check both my cars in the dark. Just to be sure.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Strange on Thursday, December 04, 2014 - 09:13 am:

So Steve, how did the rear leaf spring removal go, does the car fit easily through the garage door now?

Your comment about the unrest has me wondering what next year's Easter show will be like....


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steven Thum on Thursday, December 04, 2014 - 10:53 am:

Mark, I decided to change the springs between my tudor that I am going to sell and the fodor. The tudor is in Columbia now so I need to wait till I can get it home to make this swap. It is a little chore to get it in or out of the garage


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