I pulled the plugs out of my car last night and the electrodes on two of them were burned to a crisp. The middle two cylinders had some kind of whiteish-grayish film on them. I will post pics if I can get my cam working. What do you think my problem could be? My car has 142k on it now. The plugs that were in there were NGK Platinums and had only been in the car for about 8-10k miles.

 

Whitish film may indicate a leaky headgasket.... how is your coolant??? any trace of oil in it... If the plug is just straight white you could be running lean... Let us know when you get the pics up, that will help... latez

 

here are some pics, sorry about the crappy webcam, it was all I had. The plugs with the burned tips are from my 1 and 4 cylinders. The ones with the whitish film are from the 2 and 3 cylinders.

 

I just checked my coolant, I couldn't see any oil in it.

 

Yea that's not coolant.... hehe you're detonating hard core... What motor setup are you running... Forced induction or nitrous??? High compression all motor.... Lemme know and i'll try to figure out our problem... Good Luck

 

I'm running a stock internals H22A with I/H/E. I bought the car with 115k on it bone stock, now have 142k.

 

Okay maybe the plugs are just old.... Try some new ones then pull them out and see how ur motor is running then let me know... Good Luck

 

those plugs were only in the car for about 8k miles, I replaced them somewhere around 133-134k. They are NGK Platinums. The set of plugs I had before that only lasted about 8k as well with similar symptoms. it seems like they aren't lasting long. How would I cure detonation?

 

what octane fuel?

 

I always run 93 octane

 

What's your ignition timing set at?

 

my timing is stock as far as I know, although I have never checked it. If my timing was off would it cause the plugs to look like this. How would I explain the difference in how the plugs look?

 

There are alot of problems that can cause the plugs to burn. You didn't mention anything about the engine overheating, which would be the first thing I would look into. The next thing I usually check is the timing.

 

yeah, i don't have any overheating issues. The temp gage is always in the normal position. I will check the timing when it finally stops raining and see. Where do I get access to my timing mark?

 

There should be two marks on the cam gears that need to be aligned with a red/white dot on the crank.

 

That is detonation , either too far advanced ignition timing or something causing car to not get enough fuel. When was the fuel filter changed?

 

I changed the fuel filter last summer, probably about 8k miles ago, so that should be good to go.

 

that looks like a couple of things but heres my 2 cents: first off it looks like your car is running a little hot? by looking at the pics the whiteish on the plugs means engine is running a little hot but what is the main cause of this? second it also looks like your detonating ie. running lean. ok so...to put it all toghether i think your car is running REAL lean causing extremely hot temps through your motor, which i've seen can cause your head to warp. first i would just try to replace the plugs with some ngk 6's or 7's from your local marine store, (cause platinums are VERY expensive) and try to monitor your air/fuel ratio at the least with a guage. making sure your not running lean. if you are time to bump up the fuel!! if not i have the engine leak-down tested for the head gasket.

 

I would test the 1 & 4 injectors , and injector pulse. Funny thing, 1 & 4 go to the same primaries on your header/exhaust mani, maybe some kind of blockage?

 

how do you test the injector pulse?

 

The easiest way is with either a mechanics stethescope or a big screwdriver... With a screwdriver hold screwing end to the injector and hold the other end up to your ear... You should hear a clicking noise that speeds up with the engines rpm.. You could also use a noid light which plugs directly into the injectors connector and tells you if the injector is getting an electrical pulse.. That doesn't always tell you if the injector is broken rather if there is something wrong in the wiring... I don't think, that is the case tho... I would also test your fuel pump to see that you are getting enough pressure... If that all checks out good do you have someone that you can swap injectors with really quick to test?? That would be nice.. Anyways i'll try to keep thinking... Good Luck

 

that is HARDCORE detonation, that can seriously damage the engine if you dont take care of it
i reccomend new plugs, run them for a little and see how they look after a day or 2 or driving. if they are white with specs on it, check your injectors. if the injectors check out id look into a fuel pressure gauge to see if you are low on pressure.

 

They look like the motor is running lean