So yea no joke. I was wondering if anyone else had run across something similar. Before anyone freaks out, and to stim any "you idiot" comments, I know its probably going to cause damage. Not sure what, but that's kinda why I posted this. I'm interested to know what happens. So here's the story. I was changing plugs and wires in my wifes 92 teg ls and my 2 year old daughter was "helping daddy". One thing led to another, and a quarter size chunk of playdoh found itself inside the number 3 cylinder. I tried to fish it out to no avail. I contemplated taking the head off, but this car has 250k on it without ever being apart. Reverse is burnt out of it as well. So pulling the head off is a can of worms I don't want to open. especially since my leave is over soon and i have to report to seattle. So here's the plan. I left it in, buttoned it up, and gonna drive it for the next few days with an oil change or two in between. If I don't see any degradation in it we will attempt to drive it t to seattle. Once I get there, my spare gsr motor is going in it. So the point is I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are. We can even take bets on what fails first,lol.

 

i would figure it would just disolve in there, i could be wrong.. have you driven it yet? any problems as of yet ?

 

I started it and it smoked and sputtered but I attribute that to the oil that fell in around the plugs as I took them out.( bad spark plug tube seals "replaced") I took it down the interstate with no problem. I'm wondering if it will score the walls or affect the bearings.

 

couldn't suck it out with shop-vac or something?

 

best bet is to take a camerascope and see. i doubt it will disolve but maybe it will it gets hot as **** in that chamber

 

^^^ +1

And hooray for kiddos!!! HAHA

 

Play dough is simply made of wheat, mineral oil, salt, a drying agent such as borax, agents, perfume and colourants

 

well maybe when it first got in there it could have just gone away. but after playdo is left outside for a while it becomes as hard as a rock and you dont want that lol

 

probably harmless and will devolve really quick with gas and spark. the only risk is compression, as in if enough is in there to hydro the motor

 

with 250k on that engine, I'm sure it has seen much worse things than a blob of play doh. I wouldn't even change the oil.

You could have put a bit of oil down the spark plug hole and turned the engine a few times (with the spark plug out) to flush it out or dissolve it. Next time consult HT first.

 

Vacuum wouldn't get it. Tried. After trying to get it out for 2 hours I said "screw it, I wonder what'll happen." So I posted it on here to see what ppl thought. It's like a really bad science project. Right now its running fine.

 

It's clay... it'll dry up, crumble, and make dust in your tailpipe.

 

Play-doh can bake to a hard form. You already started it, so it most likely smashed while pliable onto the cylinder head or piston. When it bakes, it could break free and wreak havoc. You may have gotten lucky.

 

I think it will just burn up and smoke out of your exhaust.. Playdoh + Air/Fuel/Spark/Stroke.. probably unlikely that it will just melt to your piston walls and combustion chamber.

Who knows, maybe you gained an HP or two.

 

My guess is it will disinTEGrate into a vapor and flow out of cylinder along with the rest of the exhaust the first combustion in the cylinder, if anything it probably took some carbon "build-up" along with it. 94

 

Seems almost unanimous that it wont cause any damage. I could see how it could bump static cr seeing how its incompressible. Maybe it will pull some carbon with it.

 

should have tried to spear it with a coat hanger carefully of course...

 

i'm curious to hear how this will turn out. i'm with most of the people hear in saying that if it doesn't harm the engine it will just gradually break apart and flow out on its own.

 

Well everyone has been so nice I'll try to be a little sarcastic.

Since you have a glob in one cylinder you better put the same amount in the other three. It has likely hardened on top of the piston and raised your compression to about 12 to 1. Start running premium fuel in it now and let us know of the power gains, I expect about 40 HP.

 

I tried the hanger thing first but I couldn't get a good angle and smashed bigger than the hole. So I drove it 150 miles visiting friends,family, and such, with no problems. Well, other than the exhaust hanger for the muffler is squeaking. Which is also something I've never seen before. Lol, this car is just full of tricks. Actually you gave me a good idea, I wonder if the compression has changed vs the other cylinders. I wonder how many cc's of play-doh it takes to make it 14:1. Lol that'll take some math. I'll check the compression tomorrow. Feel free to do the math.

 

I wouldn't get too carried away, clay is used as a mild abrasive... better to use it to touch up the paint.

 

interested to find out what or if nothing happens.

 

Sorry it took so long. Went out to buy a 89 crx si. Even though I can't take it with me. Couldn't help myself. It matches my teg. ANYWAY the compression came back about 10 lbs higher than the next highest. So maybe it does. But I'm gonna check it when we get to seattle to see if it goes down. But yea it looks like I'm gonna drive it.

 

So for anyone who's wondering 2 years later and the thing still runs like a top.

 

94