Hi, I decided to change my plugs today (not first time). I started examining each plug and found that at least 4 were really dirty on the top.
There was some rust on two of them and a oil grain mix on the others. I tried everything to clean it up, before I unscrewed the plugs. I actually built a straw onto vacuum cleaner, in order to suck the surrounding area clean (worked pretty good).

But as I was unscrewing some of the plugs, I'm pretty sure some dirt fell into the chamber. At plug #6, I can actually see some rust particles down there. They fell down while I was unscrewing.

I haven't screwed in the new ones, because I wanted to get some input. What should I do from here? Is it a concern? Is the oil filter going to catch this? Is it going to get there at all?

All this dirt, I'm freaking out!!!!

 

you should seafoam before u change the plugs...

and use antisieze

 

I'm not convinced by Seafoam. I wrote them a letter, a while ago and there is no official, unbiased test, to show that this stuff really works. They even offered me a refund through email, rather then showing me real results.

In a large German forum, most Audi owners have never even heard about this stuff and refuse use it, trust me I was defending it at first, thought it looked and sounded legit. But this is not recommended by ANY car administration. It's basically a myth as far as real evidence goes.

 

when i seafoamed my car, my plugs fouled out from all the crap the seafoam loosened up. thats enough to convince me

 

What would you say if the plugs actually fouled from the seafoam instead of the "crap". My point is, just because your exhaust looks fun and white... that simply doesn't convince me. You get the same white smoke from spraying WD-40 inside the chamber.
Most people think the car idles better or reacts faster, but most also say that they could be wrong.

Regular oil changes and blasts on the highway should do just fine as far as "inner" cleaning goes. Rule of thumb in Germany: cars v/max for a couple minutes helps with all kinds of problems. (well maintained and warmed up engine of course)

But let's not fight, I need to know what's up with the dirt.

 

i would try to get as much of that dirt out with your vaccuum straw as you can. when i do my plugs i always blow the plug holes out with some shop air before removing them for this reason. if its a few pieces of sand it might just get sucked out of the exhaust ports after a few seconds, or it could sit in there and scratch the hell out of the cylinder walls, its really hard to say. it definately wont get into the oil unless it gouges a path past the piston rings.

as far as seafoam goes, im a believer. you try putting WD40 in there and watch it smoke. do it again and it will smoke just as much. the second time i seafoamed it didnt smoke nearly as much as the first time. and now when i do it, it barely smokes at all. on my previous car (12v 2.8) i put a boroscope down the spark plug hole cause one of the cylinders lost some compression. the engine was pretty dirty inside, black crap all over the valves and dome of the head. after a few seafoams, i pulled the head to replace the headgasket. everything inside looked like a new engine. there was some discoloration in the metal, but no crap buildup that was in there before.

i dont know how much seafoam helps in the engine oil besides breaking up any sludge, but when added to the gas and thru the manifold, it cleans the insides nicely. you can believe it or not, but il be using it.

 

Thanks, I cleaned as good as possible and put the new plugs on no probs but I doubt that I would be able to "feel" the dirt anyway... just freaked out for a moment and I was annoyed by the Audi's engine design.

I was defending Seafoam at first but a lot of people are against it. Fuel also comes with a higher octane rating and appears to be "cleaner" than in the US. These cars (Audi, BMW, etc.) take regular gas there and Premium here. That might a reason for less buildup in Germany... but I really don't know.

I was stunned after I got Seafoam's official email, stating that there isn't a credited test or an actual proof. That was enough reason for me not to use it. How often do you do it? Do you put it in the crankcase, too and change oil afterwards?

 

i put a whole can in the gas tank once every few thousand miles, i do it thru the manifold about once every 10k miles. when im about 100 miles away from an oil change i throw half a can in the crankcase to break up any gunk. seafoam thins out the oil, i use 0W-40 which is fairly thick so it shouldnt matter much, but i dont do too much hard driving with it in there. drain it and fill it with mobil1 or amsoil and your good.

 

seafoam isnt black and gritty..., seafoam is 99% oil with a cleaning additive, thats why its white, and the car doesnt idle better or react faster, its just burning oil...

and that dirt could be really old oil or old anti sieze. yea if u got an air compressor, try to blow it out