The other day I was racing a friend's friend at the track which i was supposed to beat, but ended up losing to, then i raced my friend that i am usually neck and neck with and ended up losing to him pretty bad too. No mods had changed on any of the cars, so the next day i check my plugs that i had just changed no more than 5k miles ago, and i found them looking like they were rusted and looks like there might have been oil on the threads or something for some reason. Once i changed them i raced my friend that i am usually neck and neck with and found that i was a bit quicker but still not 100 percent. About 1k later on these new plugs and im feeling a bit sluggish again, going to check them again tommorrow. Any help as to what may be causing this would be appreciated....



BTW all races took place safely at the track.....

thanks in advance!

 

what kind of plugs? what were they gapped @?

 

NGK irridium no gapping necessary.

 

hmm, I wish I could help more.. usually the rusty/red/orange color refers to insufficient heat/spark. Did you get the correct heat range?

 

Are you using some type of octane booster in gasoline? Looks like what happens with Ferrocene or MMT.

 

i used an octane booseter on that set of plugs (torco) i was thinking that was the problem but even now on this new set that i have not used any additives on i am feeling the loss of power again. My friends were telling me that my exhaust was smelling weird, and i was smelling the scent of coolant too. they said it almost smelt like race fuel but not quite.

 

just because their pregapped doesnt mean you shouldnt check them lol

ehh dumb but consider did you have a full tank of gas when you loss and little bit of gas when you won? 15 gallons of fuel is quiet heavy ._.

- Eric

 

It is very difficult to gap iridium plugs - they break real easily (don't ask me how I know).

It looks like you may have been burning coolant. Check your compression - you could have a blown head gasket. Smelling coolant in the exhaust is a good indicator.

 

coolant white smoke

oil black smoke

fuel blue smoke

i believe =)

 

lol i never have a full tank. Most i ever have it just a bit over 1/4.

 

this is exactly what i was thinking...


blue=oil
black=gas

 

the image you have posted is textbook of what happens with octane boosters - there is nothing wrong with them and iridium plugs will last you ages

i would put my ***** on the fact that whatever issues you are having have nothing to do with your spark plugs

now to diagnose your "sluggish" engine.. if your exhaust smelt of fuel, maybe consider your base timing, it that's out you could be sluggish and have unburnt fuel passing through your exhaust.. have you checked that as yet?

best of luck!

 

took one plug out this morning, just about 1k after installing my new plugs they look like theyre turning the same way. No additives were used with this set of plugs.



btw the irriduim part of the plug is still good, its just hard to tell from the pic because i took it with my phone

 

octane booster will hang around in your tank for a while

remember, when you fill up, there's probably at least 10% of fuel that is still in the tank that then mixes with hte new fuel

when you add a fuel additive, it can take ages for it to be completely removed from the tank

remember with cars there are so many parts working together to make a desired output, think outside the box when you're trying to diagnose a problem

now, have you cheked your timing as yet?