Well in the process of swapping dizzys on my car i pulled a plug. The whole insulator was rust colored and smelled faintly of oil. it doesnt use water, but I have pegged the temp gauge more times than I care to mention. Should I be worried? from what i have seen if the holes were wet the plug would be super clean. and if it was just burnind oil, the plugs would be black with carbon right? I just did an oil change, so maybe clean oil leaves a differen color on the plug?

 

If the car has overheated a lot, you prolly are burning coolant. On my N/A setup, I lost my water pump fan belt goin 120 on the freeway... I didn't notice until steam started spraying on the windshield. Just that one time warped the head enough that from then on, it burnt a lot of coolant & had a nice white exhaust.

-If the engine is running rich, or burning oil, there will be black deposites on the plug tip. If it's burning too much coolant, it will be wet, but usually won't be rust colored, unless you are using tap water & no coolant (good coolant mixture should be 50/50 using DISTILLED WATER).

Has the car been sitting a while?

 

I know all that, but its not using coolant and the plugs are brown. If it was usiing coolant they would be clean.

 

So what IS the question then? Oil will burn black whether it's fresh or dirty.

 

How old are the plugs?

 

Plugs have like 6k miles on them NGKs just like everyone reccomends.

 

Are you using octane booster? MMT will leave a rusty orange colored layer on your plugs. It's not a cause for concern. Just scrub the plugs with a wire brush and you're good to go.

 

...and re-gap

 

Ummm... YES!

Under what conditions have you pegged the temp gauge more times than you care to mention?

Unless something is broken or not working right, you should NEVER peg the temp gauge.

 

Rad. leak no coolant. And I have been running octane booster. Thanks lifegrddude!