Guest bastaad525 Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 running the stock NGK's on my car right now... I think they are the 6's (BP6ES-11 or something like that). Now, though they definately DONT look like I"m running too lean... not that clean white insulator... I think they ARE trying to tell me they are getting too hot though. They are all a yellowish, mustardy color... very close to the tan that you would want to see but with a tinge of yellow to it. And they look like they are glazed... well... it's hard to describe. Unlike a regular, good spark plug, that has a brown, sooty or powdery appearance to it, these look like they are actually coated with a thin layer of hardened deposit... hard to describe... wish I had a cam to show a pic. Imagine a Skittles or M&M candy... you cut one open/in half, and the colored part is only the very outer shell... well my spark plugs are like that, there is this outer brownish/yellowish shell, some of which have chipped here or there, and then the insulator underneath. However, the coating is NOT glossy at all, it still has a rough, powdery appearance to it. I looked in the haynes manual, and also at some online pages on spark plugs, and the closest any description comes to what I'm seeing is 'high speed glazing' which is when they get so hot that the normal deposits melt onto the insulator... none of the descriptions say this is any kind of idicator of running too lean, only that the spark plugs are experiencing a very sudden, high increase in temperature (makes perfect sense in a turbo motor). The pics look similar, but again, my plugs dont have a glossy shine to them, which the haynes manual says it should have. So I'm kinda confused.... Now... I haven't heard one single ping outta this motor (except a few times when i was messing with the timing a while back) and it shows no other signs of being lean at all... if anything it looks a little on the rich side. I"m wondering... I dont want to have to buy more than one set of plugs to try this, and I hate trying to return stuff... what heat range should I move to? I'm thinking either one or two steps colder (7 or 8). What do you guys think? The idea is to get cold enough where the deposits aren't melting, but not so cold that they wont burn off at all and build up on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 Going thru website after website... saw some with some really good pics... and now I"m not so sure what I"m seeing is glazing at all. What I see on my plugs doesn't look anything like any of the pics I've seen so far... OH and one other thing... there is also a small patch of darker stuff usually on one side of the insulator. Not splotches like you see if you're detonating... it looks like the plug is running too rich but only one one side like 1/4 of the insulator has that dark, sooty appearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 OKAY I found some good pics!!! go here: http://www.dansmc.com/Spark_Plugs/Spark_Plugs_catalog.html on that page are a series of pics of plugs.... my plugs look very similar to the ones in pics 12, 15 and 16 (closest to 16) which is what this page declares are from 'good' to 'best' condition, with that coating that has some chipped away.... however the color of mine is much more yellow and more roughly/powdery textured... like I said, almost the color of mustard. Also, the ground hook on mine is also like that.. not so dark as it is in the pictures on that page. I know this is probably no big deal at all and nothing to worry about... but... yellow?? It just seems so odd and no one I know has ever seen them that color before..... I'm also thinking this may be the last piece of the puzzle as to what's causing my intermittent misfire at low revs... everything else in the ignition system has been checked/replaced, so I wonder if these deposits could be causing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 Great link...thanks for posting. Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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