Checked my plugs today...kinda scary

[FINICKY]

Ok figured i would pull the old tr6's and take a looksie.They have about a 1000 miles on them.. The white porcalain piece is a white as it was when it was new and theres little tiny black specs on one side of the porclain. Every plug was like this. Shouldnt they have a little color to them? and i would amagine that the black specs are a bad thing?

mods::
Lightning pulley
9 inch open filter
x pipe w/cats
magnaflow cat back
and a diablo chip.

 

[NetworkingGuru]

Well, the answer is "it depends". Get out a magnifying glass, and under good light, examine the black specks. I would suggest taking a plug from the rear banks for this, because they tend to run the leanest, so any detonation should show up there first. In any event, if the black specks are dull, it's probably just carbon, which means you are running a little rich (which would be common with a chip). If they "sparkle", get worried. Sparkle means they are chunks of something inside the engine, probably the piston, and are a bad sign of detonation. If you see this, look VERY hard with the magnifying glass for anything looking like a ridge or crack, on both the insulator and the electrode.
The white color is fine, as long as it gleams. If it is dull and "chalky", it probably means the plugs are too hot, which could be a gap issue, and could just mean you need a colder plug. White to tan is normal, black/red/brown is not.

BTW, here's a decent page with pictures on reading plugs:

http://www.centuryperformance.com/spark2.htm

 

[FINICKY]

Ok i found the two rears and they are the worst. I wouldnt say its chalky white ,looks just like a new plug bright white with the spots on about half of the porcelain..the other side is clean white..but the rear plugs have the most speckels on them. The passenger rear plug also has a slight red tinge in the area of the speckels i was talking about, but its the only one with the red tinge. I dont see any cracks. the spots look like dull spots i only see maybe 3 little specs that kinda look shiny but its hard to tell.

would a slightly rich mixture ''''carbon spots'''' only show up on one side of the porcelain?? and if it was rich would it still be bright white? also i drove with the new plugs for about 50 miles and they didnt have the spotting yet but the top electrode looked kinda blue where its curves like when you temper someting metal. Sorry for the long posts but im concerned and allways like to learn something new ....thanks

 

[NetworkingGuru]

Originally posted by FINICKY
Ok i found the two rears and they are the worst. I wouldnt say its chalky white ,looks just like a new plug bright white with the spots on about half of the porcelain..the other side is clean white..but the rear plugs have the most speckels on them. The passenger rear plug also has a slight red tinge in the area of the speckels i was talking about, but its the only one with the red tinge. I dont see any cracks. the spots look like dull spots i only see maybe 3 little specs that kinda look shiny but its hard to tell.

would a slightly rich mixture ''''carbon spots'''' only show up on one side of the porcelain?? and if it was rich would it still be bright white? also i drove with the new plugs for about 50 miles and they didnt have the spotting yet but the top electrode looked kinda blue where its curves like when you temper someting metal. Sorry for the long posts but im concerned and allways like to learn something new ....thanks

Hmm. The area with the slight red is where the fuel is being ignited. It's pretty normal, and you use that to "index" the plugs (which isn't pertenent so I won't go into it). Anyhow, from what you describe, I would say you are probably running too high of a heat range but are rich, which is keeping it from grenading (and providing all of the carbon you are seeing). The rich part is fine, but if you are running too hot, you want to go lower in heat range. The TR-6's are the same heat range as the stock AGSF22FM1 Motorcraft plugs, but they are copper, so running too hot doesn't cause as many problems with them as it does the 22's. Also, NGK is rumored for thier plugs being colder than thier equivalent heat range, but that's kind of speculation. In any event, I would look at the electrode closely and see if you can spot any pitting or other wear. This is a sign that the plugs are getting too hot and burning away some of the electrode (assuming they are fairly new). The rich mixture should be cooling down the plugs a good bit, but I would still try out a set of colder plugs gapped at below factory specs (between .035 and .042) and run it a bit and see if it looks better. NGK makes a colder plug, but I can't remember the # off the top of my head. The colder Morotcraft plug is AGSF12FM1, but it's platinum (just means that it resists heat better, but screws up quicker if exposed to really hot temps). Denso probably makes a colder plug as well, but the Denso's are irridium, which is a little more of a risk if they are too hot. Oh, also, if you can find a good mechanic who knows plugs, let him/her take a look at it. Get a second opinion before you get too worried (I did )

 

[FINICKY]

thanks i feel a little better lol so i guess they can be bright white but still have a rich mixture?

 

[NetworkingGuru]

Originally posted by FINICKY
thanks i feel a little better lol so i guess they can be bright white but still have a rich mixture?

Well, yes, and no. If they were really rich (fouling rich), they would be covered with sooty deposits. But running a tad rich, you will only have some slight deposits.

 

[JP DEMOLET]

Go one step colder with the Denso iridiums in IT22s.

I've also noticed that the gas quality lately had deteriorated.

Amoco 93...same iridiums (perfect color) 12 degrees timing...no detonation.

But over this past month, Amoco 93 (same station) , same plugs, and I had to back the timing down to 10 degrees as I started getting detonation.

Do you have a timing adjuster as this would enable dialing in the Densos optimumly.

 

[Moonlight96GT]

Guru, thanks for the great info!

Bookmarked that site