Hi all, My 55 had the same problem when I tuned it the first time. I just pulled the tubes and cleaned them in solvent. After they were cleaned and new plugs were installed the car smoked for the first few minutes after start up. I was told by a mechanic that worked on these cars for years that: this is general practice in the automotive industry for the early hemi. RC Billings, Montaaaanaaaa --- Hugh & Therese <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > Dave, > > What do you mean by spark plug recess? I would > guess you mean the long > aluminum tube that shields the plug from all the oil > sloshing around inside > the valve cover. If this is the case, keeping them > entirely free of oil is > probably impossible. Somehow, a residual amount of > oil manages to see in > there. The sludge is worse than it looks. I doubt > any kind of flushing > will stop the problem. Going out on a limb, the > tube is light aluminum, in > between the iron of the block and the iron, or > steel, of the spark plug. > Differences in how these metals react to heat > probably causes a gap to > briefly exist. > > Or, the gap between the top of the tube and the > valve covers does not deal > perfectly. > > I hope I am not barking up the wrong tree. (Or > barking mad, for that > matter.) > > Hugh > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dave Ford" <daveford1@xxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 9:48 AM > Subject: IML: Dirty 58 HEMI > > > > I just acquired my first 58 Imperial (with the > claim of 44k orig. miles). > I > > had to clean some plugs to get it running and > couldn't help notice the > oily > > sludge sitting in the sparkplug recess'. Is there > a recommended practice > > for cleaning or flushing and old engine that may > not ever seen detergent > > oil? > > > >