Smooth engine start, with high air humidity or in the cold season, becomes a real torment for motorists. And this is due, first of all, to the fact that the fuel mixture fills the spark plugs. Why this happens, and how to fix this problem, will be discussed later.

Reasons for pouring candles

When trying to start the car, the starter moves the valves of the engine cylinders, thereby trying to start it. At this time, the formation of a fuel-air mixture occurs in the cylinder chambers, which should flare up after a discharge jumps across the spark plug.

What happens at high humidity and low temperatures? The fact is that the course of a chemical reaction is disrupted in the fuel-air mixture, due to which its ignition does not occur. And, of course, because of this, spark plugs are poured.

In fairness, it must be said that such a malfunction occurs, as a rule, only on old car models and on cars with serious mileage. This is due, first of all, to three reasons:

• Reduced compression in the engine cylinders,
  how to measure compression:
  on injection engine
  on diesel engine
• Low quality gasoline;
• Clogged nozzles.

What to do if spark plugs are flooded

There are three ways to fix the problem yourself when flooding the candles.

METHOD # 1. Replacing candles

Using a spark plug wrench, one by one, the old spark plugs are unscrewed and new spark plugs are installed.

METHOD # 2. Cleaning old candles

Cleaning old candles of any type is carried out in the same way. The candles are unscrewed and cleaned with a metal brush - without incandescence, if the carbon deposits are small and easily removed.

And heating will be required if a large layer of carbon has already formed on the candles. You need to ignite the candles until they turn red. After that, the carbon deposits can be easily removed, and after the candle has cooled down, its contacts will need to be cleaned. However, excessive overheating of the candles will lead to cracking of their ceramic insulator and the impossibility of further use.

METHOD # 3. Purge execution

One of the most effective, safest, and easiest ways to fix the candle flooding problem is to purge. Purge (aka drying) of the candles is carried out as follows:

• We recessed the gas pedal all the way, opening the throttle to the maximum;
• At the same time, we continuously rotate the starter.

As a result of such manipulations, air, in a sufficiently large amount, begins to enter the cylinders and enters the candles, drying them. Purge is used for both injectors and carburetor engines. The only drawback of purging is that it cannot be used with a low battery charge, since it discharges quickly enough during this procedure.

How to keep spark plugs from flooding?

It turns out that candles will not be flooded if you follow three rules:

• Use only difficult-to-thicken engine oils that are not afraid of low temperatures;
• Use only high quality fuel and only the brand that is supposed to be used for a particular car;
• Systematically adjust the nozzles on the injectors, and carry out their routine cleaning (how to rinse the nozzles with your own hands).

SUMMARY

Preliminary preparation of a car for operation in the cold season is a guarantee of its reliable operation.

Of the "little things" that are often forgotten by novice drivers, it is possible to note the switching of the filter to the "winter" mode from the "summer" mode. In addition, you must always monitor a high battery charge, for easier engine winding. Well, as for the candles, you need to know that one more set of spare candles will never be superfluous! After all, candles can be poured at any time, and you need to be ready for this.

Video: New method for cleaning spark plugs

Video: Drying candles on a VAZ 2114

If the video does not show, please refresh the page or

If you get behind the wheel, you find that the engine won't start, don't be discouraged. Maybe your spark plugs are just flooded. This problem especially often arises in the winter season, which already causes a lot of trouble for motorists. Most often, the candles are poured with gasoline, sometimes oil. You need to understand how and why this happens, then you can act proactively and avoid a situation when the car cannot be started. Well, if everything has already happened, then it will be nice to know how to return the spark plugs to working form and start the engine.

On the left is a flooded candle, on the right is a normal one.

Symptoms and Gulf Mechanism

When it comes to flooded spark plugs, it doesn't matter whether we are dealing with a carburetor or an injector. Both types of engine are not protected from flooding. Its consequences are unpleasant in that they do not allow the engine to start. At the same time, it can smell like gasoline, maybe, but most importantly, it is easy to find traces of a foreign substance on the candles themselves: gasoline, oil or carbon deposits. To assess the condition of the candles, they must be unscrewed.

The bay mechanism is quite simple. The fuel supplied to operate the engine is non-flammable. The spark plugs get wet and this blocks the ability to start the engine normally.

Seven Reasons for Cold Candles

If you decided to start the engine, but nothing worked, and instead you found sparks stained with gasoline, then this could happen for the following reasons:

1. Insufficiently charged battery ... Even if the battery coped with its tasks without any problems at positive temperatures, the onset of frost could radically change the situation. It is enough that the battery is discharged by 50%. Even with such an indicator, the power may not be enough to start the motor.

2. Cylinder wear... A worn out engine cannot perform perfectly, so it is not surprising that new engines have insufficient cylinders. Combined with other factors, this can lead to candle flooding.

3. Old spark plugs ... It is not for nothing that this part is consumable and requires regular monitoring, and, if necessary, replacement. If you do not change the candles for a long time, then defects appear on them, which can prevent sparking, which is so necessary to start the motor.

4. Malfunction of structural elements of the ignition system .Defective wires and sour contacts can be one of the reasons that caused the flooding of candles.

Wear

5. Low-quality fuel ... This does not mean that you were deceived and sold to you bad gasoline. The point is that in winter there are a number of factors that can negatively affect the quality of fuel.

For example, the formation of condensate in the fuel tank and its ingress into gasoline. As a result, the fuel does not ignite at the right time, which becomes one of the reasons for "wet" spark plugs.

6. Unsuitable engine oil .When it comes to winter, then you need to use oil with such a viscosity that will not load the engine, otherwise it will become another factor creating conditions for the bay.

7. Accumulation of carbon deposits in the combustion chamber ... Short trips in the city do not allow the motor to "breathe". As a result, carbon deposits are formed, which are deposited in a thick layer on the walls of the combustion chamber. The mobility of the piston rings is reduced, and with it the compression in the cylinders. As a preventive measure, it is necessary to run the engine at high speeds. Sometimes, in order to restore the mobility of the piston rings, a special flushing of the system is required.

Sometimes it happens that there is a spark and the starter rotates normally, but gasoline still spills out. In this case, it is necessary to carry out diagnostics for serviceability. In rare cases, the problem may be in the ECU itself.

Engine oil on candles

Gasoline isn't the only liquid found on candles. Sometimes they are filled with engine oil. Again, this can happen with both the injector and the carburetor. In this case, it is important on which part of the candle there are traces of oil. If the top of the plug is stained, the problem is most likely related to the valve cover gasket. If oil is observed at the bottom of the spark plug, then you need to take care of the condition of the engine and the compression in it. Read about the reasons for the appearance of oil on candles in

Ambulance for filling candles

If you follow the manufacturer's instructions, then the whole procedure for solving the problem can be presented in several steps.

Step 1. Unscrew the candles.

Step 2. Dry the wet part.

Step 3. We turn the engine without spark plugs for 10 seconds.

Step 4. Put the dry part in place.

Step 5. We are trying to start the engine.

But the driver does not always have time for these simple actions. Filling candles is an unexpected situation, and what if you don't have time to mess with wet parts?

Car enthusiasts have one more way in stock for such a case: starting the engine with purging the cylinders. It is performed as follows. This is an injection engine.

Depress the gas pedal all the way, then crank the starter for about 10 seconds. Return the accelerator pedal to its original position. Thanks to this manipulation, more air enters the cylinders, which allows the candles to dry out.

If the "folk" method did not help, then there is no getting away from the need to unscrew the candles and spend a certain amount of time on drying them. The unscrewed part is cleaned. You can dry it with a hairdryer, on an electric or gas stove.

Drying candles with a hairdryer is one way.

True, there is an even more effective way: buy new candles. Any drying will shorten the service life of wet candles. It is only a temporary measure, so if it is possible to replace the spark plugs with new ones, then in this case it will be the best option.

Prophylaxis

By observing the following conditions, you can avoid the bay at any time of the year:

Refuel with quality fuel;

Clean the injector promptly;

Run the engine at high revs.

Every motorist knows that if the car does not start the first time, it will be much more difficult for it to do it the second and third times, but not everyone knows that the problem at such minutes often lies not in a dead battery, but in flooded spark plugs. What floods them, why and what to do in such situations, this article will tell.

We define what this means and why is it happening?

It's no secret that an internal combustion engine is a rather complex device in which several sequential processes take place. The first process is the supply of a fuel-air mixture, during which the fuel is mixed with air and enters the engine cylinders. The second is the compression of the named mixture by the cylinders, by raising the piston as high as possible with the valves closed. The third is ignition: a spark is supplied to the cylinders, where the fuel-air mixture is under pressure, provoking a mini-explosion, igniting the said mixture and moving the piston downward. The fourth process is the release of exhaust gases through the piston and valves into the gas outlet system.

This is how the internal combustion engine operates under normal conditions, however, in winter (in the cold), malfunctions can occur in this sequential cycle.

Due to the fact that cold air is much more enriched with oxygen than warm air, a larger volume of fuel is required to ignite it. The ECU knows about this and gives the appropriate command to the injectors. Those, in turn, send the adjusted upward amount of fuel into the combustion chamber, where at this time the starter tries to simultaneously create good compression and give a spark to generate a flash. Taking into account the poor quality of gasoline at our filling stations and the presence of some wear and tear of parts (we are not talking about new cars here, because the compression in them is ideal, so the question is: the candles have been flooded, what to do? – just not worth it), he does not always succeed in doing it well. As a result, the mixture does not ignite, and the fuel supplied to create a chemical reaction floods the candles, completely paralyzing their work. This can happen for only 2 reasons:

1. due to a too simple and already outdated injection system in carburetor engines, in which there is no measure of fuel supply (even if the car does not start, the system will continue to "pour" gasoline in the amount "prescribed" in the settings), as well as its incorrect settings;
2. (found both on a carburetor car and on an injector) due to a weak battery, which at low temperatures is simply not able to create the required voltage to ignite a spark.

A large number of motorists in the process of operating a vehicle periodically encounter difficulties in starting the power unit. In this case, quite often there are no obvious prerequisites in the form of clearly manifested faults. An unexpected engine failure to start can occur both during a cold start and when trying to start a previously heated one. In such cases, one of the most common reasons why the car engine will not start is that the spark plugs are flooded with gasoline or oil in the engine.

In the event that the candles are poured on or, starting the engine will be very difficult or completely impossible. This indicates the presence of certain problems both with the engine itself and with individual elements and systems. In this article we will talk about why it floods, how to understand what flooded the candles, and also what the driver should do if the car does not start, floods the candles with gasoline or engine oil, etc.

Read in this article

Why does it flood candles when starting the engine on a cold

To begin with, in the warm season, the problem of pouring candles is not so urgent compared to the cold. As a result, it becomes more common for the car to flood candles in frost. The main signs of filled candles are:

• the malfunction manifests itself in such a way that it is scrolled by the starter, but the engine does not "catch";
• the exhaust pipe smells like gasoline, the smell is distinct at the moment;
• after unscrewing the candles, the threads and electrodes are in gasoline, there is also a dark carbon deposit at the bottom of the spark plug;

We add that fuel filling occurs regardless of which power system is installed on a particular vehicle (an engine with injection injection or a carburetor version). The only thing, if we compare the injector and the carburetor, fills the candles on the injector in frost a little less often. Also, some features of flooding may differ slightly, taking into account the individual characteristics of a particular power system.

So, it floods the spark plugs (especially at negative temperatures) as a result of the fact that the fuel enters the combustion chamber from the power system, but the fuel does not ignite. The spark plugs become wet, after which the further normal sparking process becomes impossible, that is, it will not work to start the engine.

As practice shows, the list of reasons for pouring candles on a cold injector or when a similar problem occurs on a carburetor car includes several main points:

Do-it-yourself tuning and modernization of spark plugs to improve fuel efficiency and other characteristics of the internal combustion engine. How to modify the candles yourself.

Occasionally, a twisted spark plug may be wet. This can be caused by gasoline, oil, or coolant (antifreeze). Each of these liquids has its own determination methods.

Gasoline can be easily identified by its high volatility. By unscrewing the candle, gasoline dries quickly. Most often, filling with gasoline occurs when starting a cold engine. It can also happen due to incorrect ignition adjustment.

Oil on the spark plug electrodes can appear due to significant wear on the valve stem seals. Less often, the cause may be wear of the cylinder-piston group of the engine or breakage of oil scraper rings on the piston. Any of these faults require immediate repair.

The amount of oil on the spark plugs can indicate how serious the problem is. When diagnosing, it is best to use a set of new spark plugs recommended by the car manufacturer, as oil droplets are clearly visible on a clean insulator. The first stage is the appearance of small dark specks from the burnt oil. This will not affect the performance of the spark plug in any way, but it will indicate that there are still problems with the engine. The manifestation of the next stage of oil entering the combustion chamber will be wetting of the lower threaded part of the spark plug. This condition of the plug will cause pops in the muffler at idle speed. When the engine speed increases, they disappear.

The last stage is the complete wetting of the candle from below. In this situation, a spark does not form at all. Consequently, a cylinder with such a plug does not work. You can find out about this by regular pops into the muffler, which do not stop with increasing revs. The engine starts to triple.

If oil enters the combustion chamber with 100% serviceable fuel supply and ignition systems, then its combustion occurs at the spark plug electrodes. As a result, the oil does not have time to wet the candle. This is not to say that this is good, but it is not too bad either. In this case, droplets of combustible oil turn into ash. It accumulates on the electrodes, increasing their thickness. When the engine is running, the ash heats up well. This contributes to the further combustion of the incoming oil. It is easy to clean, but it is better to do this at the same time as replacing the valve seals. If you remove the ash from the candle, the oil may stop burning. Because of this, the spark may stop skipping, the candle will flood, and the cylinder will stop working.

Sometimes "craftsmen" use the following methods of dealing with candle flooding: install candles with a shorter skirt or with a higher glow number, increase the spark voltage by putting on high-voltage tips, leaving a small gap. All these methods are short-lived, ineffective, and are dangerous to the condition of the car.

The reasons for the ingress of coolant can be the following: poorly pressed cylinder head, a crack in it or in the liner body, a leaky carburetor heating system. As for the latter reason, it is typical only for Japanese cars.

In practice, it is difficult to determine whether antifreeze enters the combustion chamber, since when the engine warms up, some holes can be closed as a result of metal expansion. Diagnostics must be carried out on a cold engine. This requires starting the car for about 10 seconds. During this time, the candles will not have time to heat up and the cracks will not disappear. On a twisted plug, the coolant looks like dew droplets.

When buying new spark plugs, you should be wary of fakes, as they can damage the entire engine. They can be identified by a curved or uneven inscription, poor-quality processing of the candle hexagon, poorly executed packaging.