• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Spark plug's blowing bubbles. Help!

Share this page

G

gsm187

Freshman Member
Offline
Here's a strange one...I finally got my new '80 B to the point where it would run long enough to warm up the oil to normal operating temperature so I could change it. As I was staring into the engine compartment (I seem to be doing a lot of that lately) and waiting, I notice the #2 plug was blowing bubbles. I shut the car down and removed/reinstalled the plug (which was more black than a plug with a few hours on it should be - I know I'm running rich, but first things first) retarted and noticed the same thing again. The plugs are Bosch Platinums I got at the local parts store [I had to explain to the kid behind the counter that "MG" was the make of the car!], I don't have the box anymore, but they say 'WR7DP' on them. Any clues to this one? Thanks all.
Gary
 
Where were the bubbles coming from? The boot? By the threads?

Do you knoe what the bubbles were? oil? water?
 
The bubbles, and a littile liquid (I think gas at this point) coming from the threads. I've looked closer and #3 is doing it too, although not quite as strongly.
 
Hi GSM187, Why not put the old plug back in the bubbling holes and see if it Persists.The Bosh Plugs WR7DP are excellent plugs but I am not sure if that is the correct plug for your car. However,the plug threads should be compatible and the wrong plug type normally should not exhibit that characteristic. ---Keoke
 
Unfortunately, the old plugs are long gone. Replacing them per 'Waking a Sleeping B' was one of my first acts upon towing her home. She hasn't run much, so I never gad occasion to notice the leaking before. Gary
 
OK Gary, it seems that the WR7DP Plug is correct for your car.Perhaps you can add a "wee" bit more torque to them and see if the bubbling stops
 
I have that symptom on my 80 Fiat sometimes. It looks like maybe its coolant...maybe a cracked cylinder head? But, it doesn't happen all the time, the engine runs very well and there is nothing noticeable coming out the exhaust, even on start up. Not much help, I know.
 
This is a good place to start:

Do the plugs thread in readily? Do you use a torque wrench to tighten them if you are not used to the feel? If the plugs don't thread in easily, use a little anti-seize on them. Do use a torque wrench if you are not completely sure of the 'feel' of a properly tightened plug.

Do the easy checks that don't require MONEY or teardown first. So often when we jump into the first cure we hear about, we waste time and money and all too often cause other problems in addition to those we started with. Been there and done that!!

Guinn
 
Eye-Talian Content -- Fiats often do this because the plugs are vertical and the 2 temp senders are right there among them on top of the head -- the senders are prone to leaking and the bubbles are coolant in the spark plug wells boiling off.

LBC Content -- I always use anti sieze on the plugs but remember that the gasket on plugs has to crush the first time you install them. They don't have to be in there real tight but if that gasket doesn't get crushed they won't seal. The torque wrench suggestion is the way to go.
 
Just installed - and torqued - new NGK plugs and all seems well for now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Thanks all for your input. On to the next challenge!
 
Did it illuminate as well? If so, perhaps you had inadvertently used one of the old-fashioned Christmas tree "bubble lights".
 
Back
Top