Oil on plugs?

[bryanwny]

Can you get some close ups of the electrode, porcelain, and ground? Try placing the camera on a fixed surface so the shudder can stay open w/out blurring the photo and change the Exposure Compensation vs increasing the flash comp as it blows out the colors too much.

I am curious why that one plug is different.

Which plug are you referring to? Here are some macro shots from the ends of the plugs. I'm attaching the photos in order of plug 1 - 4. Let me know if you want any different angles of a particular one, or all of them. If you want higher res photos, I can upload them elsewhere and send you a link, too.

I know on at least the first photo, there are little tiny splinters of wood stuck to it from setting it on the shelf of my rough cut amish shed.

Thanks for the help

 

[FinalImpact]

Which plug are you referring to? Here are some macro shots from the ends of the plugs. I'm attaching the photos in order of plug 1 - 4. Let me know if you want any different angles of a particular one, or all of them. If you want higher res photos, I can upload them elsewhere and send you a link, too.

I know on at least the first photo, there are little tiny splinters of wood stuck to it from setting it on the shelf of my rough cut amish shed.

Thanks for the help

IMO, over-all the plugs look good and good pictures btw.

#1 could be running cool OR have a slight amount of oil on it (ring blow by or valve seals), but lets not jump to conclusions.
#2, #3, #4 the color of the porcelain looks good, but there are deposits on both the electrode and ground. It doesn't look like aluminum; caused by the transfer of aluminum from the piston and head during detonation. Just additives in the fuel. Detonation looks more like balls of aluminum as the piston top melts and transfer. Those just look worn and have buildup of additives. Par for the course I suspect.

#4 color of the porcelain looks great. Not white, but hot enough to stay clean, and minimal deposits on the electrode or ground straps. A/F looks good.

So, to learn more about #1
- you could do a compression test.
- you could pull them after an aggressive run and see how they looks (same color as others or darker already).
- you could do a power balance test.
- you could balance the carbs and recheck the colors.
- you could ignore it unless a performance issue stands out.

I think if the injector was plugged it would likely be running lean (whiter plug but potential for lean misfire). So I'd do the compression test, valve adjustment and balance the carbs. Maybe the others are just too lean 2,3,4 and a carb balance will fix it. Could be misfire from faulty ignition too but I think not.

Do you ever hear this engine ping or detonate? Do you know what it sounds like?


Hope this helps. . .

 

[bryanwny]

So far I can't say that I've noticed any kind of performance issues. Still seems to get up and go just as it always has, and really good gas mileage. I'll say that I believe it has a LITTLE bit more vibration to it than it did for the first 10K miles or so though.

I do get that famous FZ6 "ticking noise" that a lot of other people talk about, but other than that, it seems to be running fine -- the best I can tell anyways. I have about zero mechanical knowledge though, and I'm not sure what the pinging or detonating sounds like. I did just watch/listen to a video on youtube supposedly showing what detonation sounds like, and I've definitely never heard that before.

I received my CarbTune Pro about a week ago and did the TB sync. I didn't have that many miles on the new plugs before the sync. They weren't off too terribly to begin with really. I took a pic of them on my cell that didn't seem to save I did the sync @ idle (after being sure I was in the 1250-1350 range), then I checked it again at 4K. They were all pretty close @ 4K still and only required a tiny bit of adjustment and are pretty good straight across the board now. It is off a tiny bit at idle, but still within specs.

I think I'll pull the plugs out again when I get a chance and see what the new ones are looking like just to be sure. We'll see what the results of that are and take it from there

Thanks again, I appreciate it!