Hello, it's me again.

After several weeks of fowling out plugs time and time again, I'm back.

Remember my 1985 Z28? Yeah. Me too.

For those of you that don't know, The engine runs great for a while, until too much carbon, or whatever else, builds up on the spark plugs - the engine starts to misfire, and then dies, refusing to start until I take out each and every plug and burn them clean.

Anyway, over the holidays, the open exhaust at the catalytic converter ignited a fuel leak at the back of the car. Luckily, I doused the fire before it could do any damage - other than roasting the wiring harness going to the fuel pump in the tank.

I dropped the fuel tank out, and am repairing that stuff right now.

The reason for my return is this: While browsing through the 1985 maintenance manual for Camaros, I came across a page describing the several and only causes that make Spark Plugs fowl out.

1.) Worn pistons - I know that there's a slight rod knock, but nothing that would fowl out all the plugs in 3 minutes.
2.) Worn rings - There's tiny bits of metal in the oil.
3.) faulty ignition - I've replaced all the elecronics in the distributor.
4.) Over-rich carbueration - possibility - dunno how to correct ;P
5.) SPARK PLUGS THAT ARE TOO COLD - this brings me to my main question:

TO ANYONE THAT HAS AN OWNERS MANUAL FOR A 305 CAMARO -
What are the stock specifications of the spark plug size that SHOULD be in the engine? I looked in my maintenance manual, and it said to consult SECTION 7 in the owners manual for the stock plug size. Right now I have Autolite 24's in there. I bought a full set of autolite 26's recently, and haven't put them in yet, they were the recommendation of the dude at the auto parts store.

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys. I can't wait to hear back.

- Don

 

R45TS

Keep in mind too, that "maintenance manual" was published to help NEW CAR DEALER techs take care of problems with NEW CARS; it does NOT begin to describe everything that can go wrong with either very high-mileage cars, or ones that are no longer in factory condition (such as rebuilt motors).

The single most common caue of fouling plugs in a high-miles small-block Chevy, is oil; from needing the valve guide seals replaced. this is also the cause of the famous "puff of blue smoke at startup" issue. If your car does that, AT ALL, EVER, it need svalve guide seals.

Note that the "maintenance manual" doesn't mention that.

Do that, and see what happens.

 

Of course - I take everything the manual has to say with a grain of salt. I'll see what happens when I get the whole fuel tank taken care of.

Thanks

- Don

 

when changeing valve seals clean all sludge from cylinder heads . make sure drain holes on front and rear of cylinder heads are not sludged up . clean them well , they allow the oil to drain back to the crankcase . if they do not drain well , oil will build up in the heads and seep past the valve stems . i also like to put umbrella seals on both intake and exhaust valves ( old school ) . they are cheap , easy to install , and can't hurt . good luck .