Nasty plugs out of buddys 03 f150
#1
08-25-2010, 10:55 AM
Nasty plugs out of buddys 03 f150
These came out of my buddy’s 03 f150 with 108 on the clock. I guess it’s the first time they ever been changed. He told me it runs a lot smother and has more power. I told him no way LOL. I replaced them with the same motor craft plugs and new coils.
Does any one here know why they look like this? All 8 looked about the same.
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Does any one here know why they look like this? All 8 looked about the same.
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#2
08-25-2010, 04:04 PM
From what I can see from the two photos, all 8 cylindes have no differences if they all looked the same.
The cone shape of the center electrode is interesting.
Usually the center is rounded off more flat than pointed and the ground strap is erroded as well.
This is due to the normal high temperature errosion that took place from the peticular flame front travel and small amount of metal melting each time the spark jumped the gap.
Often you will see the center electrode rounded as well as angled, indicating the flame front is not uniform in all driections but favors a sweril usually dictated by the shape of the combustion chamber and the location of the plug, the plug indexing in reference to the ground strap, and piston crown shape..
Plug design and materials used also have an effect on their errosion life.
The white deposits are from some of the ingredients use in the formulation of the peticular gas supply used and could even be from after market additives if used on a regular basis.
Some of these same deposits likely would be seen in the combustion chamber and piston tops.
As for plug heat range, they look about right.
Errosion to this extent raises the voltage requirements from the coils to fire reliably each time.
If there was no precieved missfire, the coils would still be in excellant condition and have enough reserve output to handle the worst operating condition being when the EGR is opened and the air-fuel ratios are at the highest at close to 20 to1 +/-..
Good luck.
The cone shape of the center electrode is interesting.
Usually the center is rounded off more flat than pointed and the ground strap is erroded as well.
This is due to the normal high temperature errosion that took place from the peticular flame front travel and small amount of metal melting each time the spark jumped the gap.
Often you will see the center electrode rounded as well as angled, indicating the flame front is not uniform in all driections but favors a sweril usually dictated by the shape of the combustion chamber and the location of the plug, the plug indexing in reference to the ground strap, and piston crown shape..
Plug design and materials used also have an effect on their errosion life.
The white deposits are from some of the ingredients use in the formulation of the peticular gas supply used and could even be from after market additives if used on a regular basis.
Some of these same deposits likely would be seen in the combustion chamber and piston tops.
As for plug heat range, they look about right.
Errosion to this extent raises the voltage requirements from the coils to fire reliably each time.
If there was no precieved missfire, the coils would still be in excellant condition and have enough reserve output to handle the worst operating condition being when the EGR is opened and the air-fuel ratios are at the highest at close to 20 to1 +/-..
Good luck.
#3
08-25-2010, 04:54 PM
#4
08-25-2010, 09:37 PM
#7
08-26-2010, 01:48 AM
Plat. is much harder than the copper alloys and is the general reason it is used to lengthen plug replacment intervals.
It shows for 8 years on this truck, that Plat types will hang in there much longer before degradation begins to show in drivability.
For anyone who wants max performance at all times, the plugs should be changed much more often and could even use less costly plugs to that end.
Just think, if a coil or coils had gone shorted turns, this engine would have stuttered/misfired like a bandit and never set any codes.
The combination of erroded plugs, and faulty coils during EGR operation would have surely resulted in missfire /stutter.
Taken a step farther, just replacing the plugs only would have improved that kind of situation but not totally eliminated it. This is ofen a time confusion sets in when there is more than one issue at the same time and not recognized.
It does not pay to run a motor till it about dies before maintaince is done.
I have 142,000 miles and have had coils go bad with shorted turn and one DPFE at about 40,000. The EGR has neve been remove nor ports cleaned behind it.
Over the life of the motor it has had the oil and filter changed at 5k intervals with MC 5w20 only.
The motor is like new in performance with no noises of any kind.
I run a monitor and can still get nearly 17 mpg 'Running average' if I keep the foot light trying to keep the instant mpg and the ignition timing as high as I can.
Gas quality has a significent effect. Tryed Gulf mid grade a short time ago with ambient temps in the 70 to 75 range and got really good long term 'average running' mileage but this won't always be the case at all times.
.
A word about monitors and what they tell you;
Instant mileage is the equivelent of what fuel amount the motor is using at that instant in time.
The higher the instant mileage the faster it adds to the running average each time the software updates the average display.
The running average is "not" the average for the tank of fuel.
The average fuel mileage for the tank of fuel has to be figured on accurate fill procedure and accurate miles driven and even over several fills for the final average over the long term. This then includes all the stops, starts, braking, accellerations, hills etc that knocks down the average to the real cost of running the vehichle..
It shows for 8 years on this truck, that Plat types will hang in there much longer before degradation begins to show in drivability.
For anyone who wants max performance at all times, the plugs should be changed much more often and could even use less costly plugs to that end.
Just think, if a coil or coils had gone shorted turns, this engine would have stuttered/misfired like a bandit and never set any codes.
The combination of erroded plugs, and faulty coils during EGR operation would have surely resulted in missfire /stutter.
Taken a step farther, just replacing the plugs only would have improved that kind of situation but not totally eliminated it. This is ofen a time confusion sets in when there is more than one issue at the same time and not recognized.
It does not pay to run a motor till it about dies before maintaince is done.
I have 142,000 miles and have had coils go bad with shorted turn and one DPFE at about 40,000. The EGR has neve been remove nor ports cleaned behind it.
Over the life of the motor it has had the oil and filter changed at 5k intervals with MC 5w20 only.
The motor is like new in performance with no noises of any kind.
I run a monitor and can still get nearly 17 mpg 'Running average' if I keep the foot light trying to keep the instant mpg and the ignition timing as high as I can.
Gas quality has a significent effect. Tryed Gulf mid grade a short time ago with ambient temps in the 70 to 75 range and got really good long term 'average running' mileage but this won't always be the case at all times.
.
A word about monitors and what they tell you;
Instant mileage is the equivelent of what fuel amount the motor is using at that instant in time.
The higher the instant mileage the faster it adds to the running average each time the software updates the average display.
The running average is "not" the average for the tank of fuel.
The average fuel mileage for the tank of fuel has to be figured on accurate fill procedure and accurate miles driven and even over several fills for the final average over the long term. This then includes all the stops, starts, braking, accellerations, hills etc that knocks down the average to the real cost of running the vehichle..