help me evaluate my spark plugs...
 

in the middle of some maintainance, and need a second opinion.
plugs have been in for about 5000miles.
my cht guage reads from cylinders 2&5 at the spark plug gasket, the right bank (#5) has been reading about 40degrees higher than the left bank, and it take about 10 seconds for the idle to stabilize on first start.
there is a little gunk on all the plugs but nothing heavy, plugs 3 & 6 have some decent carbon deposits on the tips.
the cht guage tells me that one of cylinders 1-3 is misfiring....or that 4-6 is burning too hot.
it's been 2 years since my last valve adjust too......this is next on todays agenda.
crappy pic from an average digital camera :D
thanks....any thoughts welcome.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1120499384.jpg

They don't look bad. It may be the angle of the photo, but 4, 5, & 6 look to have a larger gap, perhaps too large?

They do not look that bad from the pics. Relatively they are different (may have some residue on outside of plug.

Ask yourself: Do any appear wet with black, burned oil? If not you are ok. How is the porcelain.

As you know, best if they are light brown in color and dry.

Regards,

they are all pretty much the same, other than the carbon buildup on #3&6.
the porcelain looks clean, and the oil that is on them is minimal.
i'm also getting some heavy exhaust popping but that is from a few minor exhaust leaks i have.
the engine/tranny is coming out soon for a tranny rebuild and a good cleanup and to address a few minor oil leaks......just getting some baseline before i pull it apart and check this all again.
i was going to use my new snap-on compression tester today but realized i drained the oil first and hate doind **** twice so i'm going to wait til the engine is out for the valve adjust, i'll do my compression/leakdown tests then so i can see the changes.

thanks guys......going to get her put back together and continue drinking a few beers.....and randomly light off some saturn missles for the 4th.

this weekend was supposed to be spent with a freind who was coming home on leave from iraq but his date got pushed to september........i'm saving him some fireworks but i doubt they will be anywhere near as exciting as his M1A1 :D

Re: help me evaluate my spark plugs...
 

I don't know much about your fuel injection so this is mostly an outside view.

- a leaner fuel mix than routine will increase EGT and thus CHT, beside greater loading, and ambient air temp increasing CHT. A mis-fire from dirty plugs will increase EGT.
- maybe the start idle bs is related ?
- maybe fuel injectors are dirty? A few pelicanheads have written that they had their 3.2 injectors cleaned to eliminate bs running probs and fuel in oil dilution.
- a misfire increases EGT about 300deg at a steady low load speed and much more when accelerating. It doesn't always take much plug coating to create a miss. Sometimes a little dab will do 'you.