Pulled my Platinum 2s last weeked and replaced with TR55s. The +2s have been in for about 11,000 miles, when I pulled them they looked great-- a bit of light greying on the electrode and pretty clean looking. I did, however, notice that I had some very light carbon build-up around outside of the plug (like on the last thread) and two of the plugs came out noticeably oily around the outside as well (but still looking ok in the center of the plug in the firing dept).

I've only had my AMW catch can on the car for the past 2,000 miles and the car was running low 12s and high 11s up top under WOT during the entire time these plugs were in. I've now got the catch can installed (and I'm catching about a sprite cap's worth every 1,000 miles) and have tuned the car to run 12.9:1 on the dot under PE.

Should I be concerned about the two oily plugs? I'll check out the new TR55s from those cylinders soon, but I'd like to hear if other have seen this.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

If you have a big cam, it's probably pretty normal. Mine look that way; black, but not wet oily.

 

Hmm some of mine were wet oily. I don't have a catch can. Are my rings going south. Will I need a new motor soon, or is this just typical oil consumtion. 103,000 miles.

 

smoke at startup = valve seals
smoke at WOT = ring seal problem


oil on plugs with no visible smoke from exhaust is usually PCV realted and no cause for concern

 

stock cam the whole time

I agree with that rule of thumb. Never had smoke at startup, only had smoke at WOT when the car was running high 11s, after tuning, no smoke. But does the stock PCV setup (that I had for the majority of the time) usually puke into some cylinders more than others?

 

passenger sde is more susceptible because the pcv sytem enters on that side of the manifold, however individual/engine cylinder condition will also play a role

 

hmmm. My oiliest was the third one back on the drivers' side. I'll pull the new plug from that cyl and take a look at it after a few hundred miles.

 

could be slightly worn rings for that cylinder OR...this is my story on both driver's side rear plugs being oily.......went thru several days of trial and error to find out why the 2 rear most plugs on the drivers side were so oily and carboned up but the rest wre fine, I looked at everything and could not find a reason, I gave up one night and for ***** and grins was gonna retorque my intake manifold bolts,..well low and behold all were less than handtight, meaning you could twist them with your fingers...I removed the manifold and noticed a slight oil stain on the head surface under the manifold sealing surface by those back 2 cylinders, put a torque wrench on the valley pan bolts and all were torqued to spec EXCEPT the rear most two on each side ( pass and driver), they were way less than hand tight, I removed the valley pan to investigate and noticed 2 small oil stain trails leading up to the rear driver side cylnders... now obviuosly a lot off things cam into play here........the loose manifold botls caused a slight vaccum leak, and the loose valley pan bolts provided an escape path for the oil in the lifter valley...so basically the 2 rear drivers cylinders were sucking oil out of the lifter valley causing the oil on the spark plugs.........I retorqued all fasteners to spec with plenty of Loc-Tite and all is well now......The End