help me evaluate my spark plugs...

[bell]

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
thanks....any thoughts welcome.

[TerryH]

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?

[BReyes]

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,

[bell]

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

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by bell

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.

, 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.

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.