I had problems for years with exhaust fumes in the cockpit of my '72
Spider. I refitted the grommets repeatedly, sealed the seams around
them, all that stuff, with little to no effect.
But one day I washed the engine and decided to start it and boil out the
water in the spark plug cavities that I couldn't suck out with the
turkey baster. I noticed bubbles coming up around 3 of them, and a
quick sniff confirmed exhaust fumes (what else?). This surprised me,
because I install plugs with a torque wrench and these had been new,
with pristine gaskets.
What I had not accounted for, was 30+ years' accumulation of baked-on
oil residue and assorted gorp on the sealing surfaces of the plug
gaskets. You don't clean your engine with the plugs out, so however the
crap had collected there, it had created an uneven sealing surface,
combustion gas escaped, and found its way into the cockpit.
I cleaned the areas immediately around the plug holes to shiny aluminum,
reinstalled the plugs, and the problem was solved. Until the header
gaskets started leaking, but that's an easily diagnosed problem with an
obvious fix.
There should be NO exhaust gases escaping inside the engine
compartment. Maybe squirt a little water around your plugs and see if
you aren't suffering the same malady.
Joe C.
PDX
Sono lento, ma sono brutto
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