so I put in new +4 bosch platinum plugs in my civic hx...and after 50 miles....the plugs are completely black..the electrode and everything near it..its blowing a little bit of smoke too....remind you its completely stock....so what does it sound like?....piston rings....valve seals?.....any ideas and would swapping them out with ngk's be better for my car cause alot of people say bosch isnt the way to go for honda's...especially the +4's.....thanks alot

 

Regardless of plug type, if they are turning black, that means you are running rich. It may be oil, but to confirm that you would need to tell us how many miles are on the motor, plus what color the smoke is.

Black/dark grey = Richness ( too much fuel)
blue = oil burning off (not good )
White = water, either small amounts depedning on climate ( condensation) or the worst case, coolant, large clouds of white smoke from a blown headgasket, or mixxed coolant/vaccum line.

 

its the original d16y5 vtec e 146,000 miles...and the smoke it blueish

 

burning oil. check valve seals and piston rings.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spray_bombed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its the original d16y5 vtec e 146,000 miles...and the smoke it blueish </TD></TR></TABLE>

burning oil, not a good sign. it could be one of 2 things. bad piston rings or headgasket.

to pin point the problem, you could do a compression test. this will tell if the rings are bad.

you can also do an oil change. this will show if coolant is mixing with the oil, signs of a bad headgasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LaTe ApEx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">burning oil. check valve seals and piston rings.</TD></TR></TABLE>

x2

And to your other question, NGK's are IMHO best for our cars. I'd swap some in.

 

I havent got to check my mpgs cause I just put the car on the road yesterday but if my compression's messed up then thats gonna mess up my fuel mileage which is the reason i bought the hx model....ah...i sold my cb7 to get this so get good mpgs now im pissed...but anyway any opinions on the plugs themselves...if my compressions bad does it matter what kinda plugs im using anyway?

 

Just for the record, is this scenario seafoam would NOT be a good idea.

 

lol yeah I may need a little more than seafoam to fix this situation