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Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 5:40 am
by FOXxX
Attached is a pic of my #6 Spark plug - can anyone give me a guess as to why it looks like it does? Click the pic for a closer look...
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 5:59 am
by gradon
After a WOT shutdown: white is lean, black is rich.
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 6:05 am
by FOXxX
Look closer at the specks on it - does it look like detonation? is is detonation blacks specs?
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 6:28 am
by unlimitedrubicon
Detonation can be black or silver specks. Silver specks are actually pieces of aluminum...very bad. That also looks to be a platinum plug and those run even hotter to self-clean making pre-ignition worse. I would recommend at least going to the factory coppers, but ideally contacting NGK and giving them the specs of your build so they can recommend the proper plug.
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 6:33 am
by SilverXJ
Don't run plats. No need for them and the engine does best with standard plugs. NGK gave me a part number for my build. I think its on here someplace.
Also, that plug doesn't look good. Is it only the #6 plug?
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 9:27 am
by Cheromaniac
Have you been using any fuel additives?
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 11:30 am
by FOXxX
This is the #6 plug but 3 others looked almost similar. They all had a slight variance of this one but this one had it going up the tip. I have aluminum pistons and no signs of silver specks - However before I got the engine timed properly it ran real lean and I noticed pits on the pistons. Once the engine was timed properly it ran stoich with a hint of richness. The last thing I did was installed the Accell coil pack and opened the gap to .055. I closed the gap back to .035 and cleaned the spark plugs a bit and will re-check them in about a week. These are the bosch plats and will go back to the champions. I have a WB AFR in line and it sits on 14.5 average. Engine seems to be running good but this pic just concerned me.
Cheromaniac wrote:Have you been using any fuel additives?
No additives, just running mid-grade (87) out here.
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 2:02 pm
by montelibre
This happened to me in the cylinder NÂș 2, never knew what might be.
07042011194.jpg
07042011193.jpg
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 2:14 pm
by unlimitedrubicon
Those are running WAY too hot and probably detonating like mad. What is your AFR? How long does it take for the plugs to look like that?
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 2:16 pm
by unlimitedrubicon
Are those splitfires?
Re: Spark Plug discoloration
Posted: April 7th, 2011, 2:40 pm
by montelibre
My plugs were Bosch FR9HC
When removing it had about 3000 miles.
I never appreciated any anomalies or detonation.