Taking a peek into the combustion chamber?
 

I was wondering if there would be a feasible way to somehow look into the engine without having to take it apart. Something like using a device with fiber optics (like what doctors are using, an endoscope) or similar. One could use it to take a gander through the spark plug hole to see how much carbon deposits are there. Obviously this would be limited to a certain area and a bit awkward, but with a built-in light source it could at least give an idea about the inner condition of the engine.

Yeah, I know it's a silly thought but is there any device available for mere mortals that could do this? I'm not talking about some crazy expensive medical equipment, but one that's not too hard to come by... any ideas?

yhea ive done this on my 8 and someone elses. my bro owns a shop and he has this awesome fiber optic snap on camera. it has a built in light source and a color screen. idk how much it cost but all snap on tools are expensive

They sell them at harborfreight.com

Not sure if they have a light or not, but I know they sell them.

Can't really see too much really....I have one...and you can't see any of the side seals or anything....I did use it to look at the apex seal of one motor and see they were cracked...but a bright light could have done the same thing

Did come in handy when I dropped a bolt in a bad spot once though :)

If you get a high-quality borescope (not a Harbor Freight unit), you actually can look into the side-seal and corner-seal areas through the intake ports pretty well.

I'm primarily interested to get a feel about the carbon deposits. I imagine this way at least part of the trochoid and one face of the rotor would be visible, giving some clue whether there are any significant deposits. Wouldn't this method be good for that?

True



but I was just talking about the spark plug hole the OP mentioned ;)

If you are worried about the carbon....there are easy ways to clean most of it out :) and most are a blast :)

Right, but I don't want to whip out the Zoom cleaner unless there is a reason for it.
At 48K miles on an engine that never received a cleaning but is given premix from about 7K miles on, it'd be nice to see what the carbon scenario is like.