Spark plugs that fire in oil

[dmw16]

yesterday my friend and I were changing the spark plugs in my car and we found oil on one of the plugs...deduction, bad piston ring. However, being a poor college student I cant afford to have the ring changed. So my friends dad said they make spark plugs that fire in oil so I wont get as much knock. Anyone heard of this? Or know where I can get some?
thanks,
-doug

 

[dmw16]

bump

 

[TekViper]

sounds like a bs scam to me. never heard of special "oil" plugs. maybe if u fiddled with different gap sizes it would work better with an oil leak, but its bad to run the engine with bad piston rings. try a compression check on all of the cylinders. is the cylinder with oil in it a lot less?

 

[dmw16]

how do i run a compression check on the cylinders?
thanks,
-doug

 

[TekViper]

you need a cylinder compression guage...it screws into where the spark plug would go. i dont know how much they cost. check a chilton or hayes manual it should have the procedure for your particalar car (what car is it btw?). the manual should also have the correct pressures for each cylinders. if u dont have or want to buy the guage, i dont think a mechanic would charge too much to have this done, its pretty simple and doesnt take long. if you do the compression check and its low for the cylinder and squirt some oil down into the chamber, and your compression goes up,,,,its def the rings.

 

[TekViper]

oh dont forget to pull the fuse for the fuel pump...u dont want the engine to start while doing the compression check, cuz that wouldnt be good. the complete procedure should be in the manuals, or just bring it to a mechanic.

 

[MrChicken]

Firing in oil shouldnt be any big deal, air is a good insulator too, dirty oil is a good conductor, clean oil is probably a good insulator.

Any ways, a spark plug has to fire in a combustion chamber with rapidily moving fuel, that's probably alot harder to spark through than oil.

Engine knock is not caused by a plug failing to fire. It's caused by the fule igniting by a source other than the plug. What happens is the plug and another spot ignite during the stroke and the two explosions meet, that causes the knock. Dirty combustion chambers and pistons can cause this, and substandard fuel can too (octane too low).

Oh and rings are just one cause for oil in the cyclinders, valve seals, leaking intake gaskets, too much oil and others can cause this.