reading spark plugs
 

Hiya,

Well I thought my car was running really rich. My plugs fouled out in about 3000 miles or less. I was running all 9s. I took them out tonight and they had a bunch of crap built up on them and 2 of them had some big white spots on them. Does that mean I'm running lean? What should I do next I don't wanna hurt my car. It's been running amazing since I got the new pettit motor.

So should I worry about the white on the plugs? I don't understand how I could be running lean. What would you do?

white spots are generally coolant....which means coolant is getting in your engine ( coolant seals going bad, etc, which require an engine rebuild)

ummm..... I dont think thats right. White areas are from running lean, dark brown/black is excess fuel IE running rich. Coolant? ive never heard that, but I may be wrong. If you have coolant in your chambers your plugs will be covered in it, your oil will have coolant in it, and you will smoke like a bitch.

What are your mods snook? you might not have enough mods to be running that temp range plugs all around.

HAHAHA....No my motor is beautiful
no problems with the motor it has been so very well maintained and has about 9k miles on it


The weird thing is that the plugs had a lot of buildup on them. On 2 of them on top of that black/brown buildup there was a white spot. So it looks like I was running rich earlier on and the last few hundred miles I was running lean or something.

I have intake, dp, mp, cb, streetport, pettit ecu for powermods and I'm running 12 psi on 93 octane

Perhaps running lean isn't the problem but detonation is -- from too advanced ignition timing. Does Pettit re-progam the ecu with retarded timing for the street-ported motor and midpipe?

I thought the pettit computer bumps timing.

I don't think it's worth it to have the computer remaped. I'm not even sure that it does much any way. The pettit computer lets you run up to 14.7 psi safely on racegas and has more advanced timing. I'm not sure what mods I can run on it though.

My next step is going to be to try to lower the boost more without porting the wastegate. The silencers I made for the N1 lowered it 1 psi already. I'd be really happy if I could get it to stay at 11psi in 4th gear full throttle. There's no way I could detonate then is there? I mean shit, I think you could almost pull that off on the stock ecu with these mods and not damage the motor.

I think you should put on a highflow cat to be completely safe. But I always like to err on the safe side.

No I want to be on the wild edge! haha

Hell no, I also like to be on the safe side. I had no idea it was running lean until I took the plugs out. Been running great for the entire time I thought. But you can't really feel detonation now can you .

I'm going to run some injector cleaner through my car and do a mod to lower my boost.

I will reply to this thread and let you guys know how much I was able to lower the boost with the mod. I'm not sure too many people know about this...I didn't till recently

-SNook

A pic of the plugs would be better, as depending on size and actual color, white spots can either be coolant in the combustion chamber or detonation.

Are you guys sure? First, he said his plugs fouled out, which probably means hes running considerably rich. seriously ive never heard this before. Detonation? wouldnt his engine be gone by now?? Coolant I coulddd see, but you would totally have noticed some sort of coolant loss after this much time.

The white spots my friend, are from running a bit on the lean side. Let me guess, the white spots are on the trailing plugs correct? The trailing usually get a lil white build up.
How many miles are on these plugs? Your engine could just need a new set.

Oh you'll know. 99% of the time when u detonate in these cars the engine is toast, you only get by when they are extremely minor.

I personally think they fouled because u might be running too COLD a plug all around, switch back to the normal 7's and 9's and see if your problem persists.

Either that or your ECU needs to be re-tuned, cuz its a bit to much on the rich side. You could try the high flow, but as long as your staying at 12 psi I personally thing you dont have any problem going on there.

Hey guys

no I dont have coolant problems
the plugs had 4000k but I was running the car pretty good for those miles

Yes I know I already had a motor blow and I didn't notice until I slowed down that it happened. Wasn't my fault though it was shit build quality

I did this mod tonight and lowered my boost to an incredible 7psi
it gets to 9 at 7500 rpms but just barely because of creep. I am so happy. Before the lowest I could get it in 4th gear was 13 psi and now it gets to 9.5psi!!

I have this on a switch mounted in the car. This is by far the best mod I've done I can't believe nobody knows about it.

Awesome I am so happy!!! If I'm running lean now I don't give a shit I did everything I could. Who blows a motor on 7psi and a piggyback ecU!

If you guys want info just pm me.

So you would rather run 7 psi than install a highflow cat? What are you trying to accomplish? It seems you just made your car safe, but really slow.

paw I didn't like how the lowest I could get my boost possible with the manual boost controller and silencers in my exhaust was 12 and 13 in the higher gears. This is okay for the track or when racing but I don't want to hit 12 psi every time I accelerate on the street.

Now I have this switch just like my fanmod in the car and I flick it on and get 10psi max and flip it off and get 13psi

I think that's pretty fuckin cool, it's like the expensive boost controllers for 5 bucks!

You are right the car is really slow because the boost stays at 7psi until about 6k rpms and then moves to 9 or 10. Since I daily drive my car I think this is great so my motor and turbos can last for a long long long time. And when I want power I just flip the switch and bam fast car is back!!

I think yur jealous! If you want directions just ask. ;) Who thought you could get boost to 7psi on a non ported wastegate with straight 3" exhaust.

Ok, makes sense. I am dying to know how you did it ;)

Could you post it, or send me a PM.

Could the white spots on the plugs just be hot spots created from all the carbon buildup due to the excessive fuel/running rich?

Why dont u just regulate it with your foot?

That's quite possible as well. Again, without a good close-up photo, it's hard to say.