Reading my spark plugs in 1.8l N/A

[swatski]

Hmm. My timing is set up for 91 or higher octane, in theory.

I am not aware of any documented adverse effects of running premium gas in 1.8l N/A engines (other than on one's wallet!) That said, the stock engines are tuned for 87.

If my problem persists, I will switch to regular 87, while detuning the ECU back to stock. I am using the Vtech reflash - with their system it takes only about 10 min to reflash, one can do it even while on the water.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

There you go, no adverse effect hopefully, but certainly those plugs tell a story, all you need to do is get to the cause.
I'm just throwing out things that come to mind in the hope of assisting you in discovering that cause, I think we are probably much closer to the answer .

 

[swatski]

There you go, no adverse effect hopefully, but certainly those plugs tell a story, all you need to do is get to the cause.
I'm just throwing out things that come to mind in the hope of assisting you in discovering that cause, I think we are probably much closer to the answer .

I certainly appreciate the thought! And I do want to get to the bottom of it. I will report my findings but it will be very difficult to change only one thing at the time.
Right now I will need some better weather and some patience, too!

I keep thinking the choice of iridium plugs may also have something to do with it.

 

[veedubtek]

Sorry, just kinda skimmed through.

Weren't you doing all the tunes and stuff?

No plug conducts better than copper. Only thing you gain with iridium is longevity. Knowing what you've done, those plugs wouldn't scare me a bit. I'd throw coppers in and carry on. Check em again after a few of your test runs and I think you'll notice nothing abnormal. But I definitely wouldn't put never seize on em. ALL NGK plugs are made with a special shell plating to combat any corrosion or anything else you might be worried about. All the antiseize is doing is hurting heat transfer, making a mess, and making it super easy to over torque your plugs and ruin the threads in the head. I do engines for a living, but if you don't wanna believe me, NGK has released a bulletin on this as well.

 

[swatski]

Sorry, just kinda skimmed through.

Weren't you doing all the tunes and stuff?

No plug conducts better than copper. Only thing you gain with iridium is longevity. Knowing what you've done, those plugs wouldn't scare me a bit. I'd throw coppers in and carry on. Check em again after a few of your test runs and I think you'll notice nothing abnormal. But I definitely wouldn't put never seize on em. ALL NGK plugs are made with a special shell plating to combat any corrosion or anything else you might be worried about. All the antiseize is doing is hurting heat transfer, making a mess, and making it super easy to over torque your plugs and ruin the threads in the head. I do engines for a living, but if you don't wanna believe me, NGK has released a bulletin on this as well.

Thank you very much for your input. It totally makes sense. I am definitely done with iridiums!

Shoot me, I did not know about adverse effects of anti-seize here, always learning. Will clean it up. And I DO believe the over-torquing risk. I do not use my torque wrench because using anti-seize, but then I have to CONTROL myself to only crank it about 1/4 turn after hand tightened...

Thanks, again. What a great forum we have here! Really great discussion.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

By the way there is a very good reason why I would never place a spark plug in a 4 stroke Yamaha marine engine without never seize on the threads. I have owned 4 of them so far and I do it religiously before they ever hit the water just as I said.

 

[swatski]

By the way there is a very good reason why I would never place a spark plug in a 4 stroke Yamaha marine engine without never seize on the threads. I have owned 4 of them so far and I do it religiously before they ever hit the water just as I said.

I hear you. If my 1.8l gets splashed with salt water I will be packing that anti-seize.

 

[swatski]

Here's a link that might help.

http://www.autolite.com/media/11838/plugtips.pdf

@Noko I looked at this link again - it is a great pictorial guide to reading plugs. Saving it for a reference!

 

[rkluck]

The anti-seize information has been interesting. I use anti-seize because so many people had problems with these plugs being stuck. I also use a torque wrench to make sure I do this correct. I thought you should use anti-seize with aluminum and some other metal.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I do NOT use a torque wrench with anti seize you really do need to be careful not to over tighten the plug as it does give the torque wrench a bad reading, if you insist on using one reduce the torque by 15 to 20 percent.
I tighten them by feel, once the plug is snug I just tighten it about 1/3 turn paying attention to the feel of the wrench. I have not had any issues doing it that way. I had one on my first 1800 engine that felt like the original plug was not coming out easily. I don't like that feeling at all.
To get it out I put wd 40 in the plug recess and worked the plug back and forth similar to using a tap, working it slow and careful until I removed it . Since then I have removed even the new plugs and never seized them very lightly if you look at my picture you can just see a slight film on the threads, that was a factory plug.
As for the dielectric grease on the inside of the coil boots, this keeps the boot from sticking to the top of the plug and
becoming damaged when you pull off the coils to get to the plugs.

 

[swatski]

The anti-seize information has been interesting. I use anti-seize because so many people had problems with these plugs being stuck. I also use a torque wrench to make sure I do this correct. I thought you should use anti-seize with aluminum and some other metal.

I agree - this is great discussion. I certainly have learnt (or learned). I was aware anti-seize compound is a lubricant and one would need to reduce the torque on spark plugs, torque convention is dry (without lubrication). But how much? - to prevent stripping threads, particularly in aluminum block engines. 30%? I don’t know, so I would just leave my torque wrench alone and go by the fraction of a turn.

But - I liked the point @veedubtek made about heat dissipation! Did not think of it, which incidentally was the main motivation for me posting.

But then, add some salt to the mix and leaving your plugs alone for awhile we have a different situation...

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Well the proof is in the plug, look at the plug I posted you do not see any buildup on it or discoloration I would need to pull off the seat and look at the notes I write in the engine compartment for the exact hours on that plug but I just changed all 8 of mine recently and I am now over 250 hours on both. They all looked the same. Ok I just went out and checked , they had 175 hours on them when I changed them

 

[swatski]

Well the proof is in the plug, look at the plug I posted you do not see any buildup on it or discoloration I would need to pull off the seat and look at the notes I write in the engine compartment for the exact hours on that plug but I just changed all 8 of mine recently and I am now over 250 hours on both. They all looked the same. Ok I just went out and checked , they had 175 hours on them when I changed them

Duly noted!