Oil on plugs?

[jhower08]

You're not running on five cylinders. You are getting spark on all 6, that spark plug is working. The oil is in the combustion chamber because a piston ring is likely broke. This lowers compression in that cylinder and when that cylinder fires, it basically isn't making as much power as the other ones, and you feel that in the way the car runs.

There's nothing you can do besides rebuild the bottom end.

I still don't think you are getting 16 mpg. Have you actually reset your trip meter, used almost a hole tank and filled up again, and calculated what you are actually getting?

You cannot go by the OBC or MPG needle.

You don't have a O2 sensor, you likely have a broken ring, your engine probably has over 200,000 miles, I wouldn't expect much more then 20 for around town driving.

fuck, i think you already explained all of that to me before haha.

heres the pic of the plug (not blurry) and i just cant imagine that this was firing...

[JGood]

Electricity follows the shortest path possible, which is why there is only one little spot on the electrode which isn't covered in shit. The rest of it can have 10 pounds of buildup if it wants, electricity doesn't have to flow through it.

All of that buildup is caused by oil flowing up through the sides of the piston and into the combustion chamber and splashing around, baking onto everything. Wait until we tear your motor apart (I give it a year tops until we will be doing this), that piston will look like that spark plug.

And you may be right, it may not have been firing, because it got so demolished from oil and being wet that electricity no longer flowed through it.

That said, I really don't know much about internals, and another possibility is that if it was a defective plug, that could be carbon buildup and the wetness could be fuel, and the wetness in the exhaust could be unburnt fuel. But I have to say, if you were on 5 cylinders only, your car would not perform as well as it does.

Someone with experience should chime in.

[jhower08]

Electricity follows the shortest path possible, which is why there is only one little spot on the electrode which isn't covered in shit. The rest of it can have 10 pounds of buildup if it wants, electricity doesn't have to flow through it.

All of that buildup is caused by oil flowing up through the sides of the piston and into the combustion chamber and splashing around, baking onto everything. Wait until we tear your motor apart (I give it a year tops until we will be doing this), that piston will look like that spark plug.

And you may be right, it may not have been firing, because it got so demolished from oil and being wet that electricity no longer flowed through it.

That said, I really don't know much about internals, and another possibility is that if it was a defective plug, that could be carbon buildup and the wetness could be fuel, and the wetness in the exhaust could be unburnt fuel. But I have to say, if you were on 5 cylinders only, your car would not perform as well as it does.

Someone with experience should chime in.

i am anxious to tear it about too just to see how fucked it is. i think since i put the new plugs in it is definately firing on all 6. i never thought about the wetness being fuel. how do you do compression tests, and would this reveal a bad ring or not?

[JGood]

i am anxious to tear it about too just to see how fucked it is. i think since i put the new plugs in it is definately firing on all 6. i never thought about the wetness being fuel. how do you do compression tests, and would this reveal a bad ring or not?

you can get a compression tester from autozone. IMO it's not worth it for you; even if it is bad, are you actually going to rebuild your eta motor? If it's not bad, are you going to spend time and money chasing down problems on your eta motor? We've done all the simple and cheap stuff, anything else is going to be major $$$.

If you think about the way the engine works, it was likely firing all 6 plugs before the plugs were changed. Weather or not it was getting a full, powerful spark is another thing. And whatever caused that plug buildup IS going to happen again. Just a matter of how long - which will be determined by how many miles you put on it and how hard you are on the engine. If I were you I'd look for a complete m20b25 swap (like the one you emailed me about... thats a good deal, BTW).

[euroshark]

It doesn't look like there IS an electrode on the plug!! lol, is it a platinum? Usually they have dinky ass little electrodes right where that hole is (it looks like a hole to me...)!

[JGood]

I think the carbon is literally a millimeter or two deep, and has created a valley down to where the electrode is sparking.

Judging by what else we found wrong with the car, I wouldn't be surprised if the previous owner removed the piston rings all together.
:drink:

[jhower08]

the plug was a platinum BTW