Spark plug colour

Just checked my spark plugs today to see if I was running too rich or too lean and Im not too sure how they should look?




Thankfully they all look the same, the black seems excessive so maybe running too rich? although there is quite a lot of smoke from my breather pipe so could this cause the blackness?

Cheers
Matt

Mazza

Some Q's for you.

What engine do you have?
What mileage?
How old are the plugs?
When did you cleant them last?
What type of driving do you do, city, motoway or mixed?

Because they don't look that bad in my opinion depending on the above (a little hot at the top but).

I know I'm going to get slated for that but hey ho!  

Hi mike,
Its a fairly standard 1.3
175,500 miles ( i know right)
Probably did the plugs last summer when it was on about 168-9k
Not cleaned them at all
Mixed really, usually on fast country roads and town

They dont look too bad to me, but I dont know much about spark plug reading and I was curious to know really what to look for, because when I first took them out I thought they looked white which I thought meant it was running lean then I saw the black and thought too rich so I got confused  

Cheers

mazza411 said

Hi mike,
Its a fairly standard 1.3
175,500 miles ( i know right)
Probably did the plugs last summer when it was on about 168-9k
Not cleaned them at all
Mixed really, usually on fast country roads and town

They dont look too bad to me, but I dont know much about spark plug reading and I was curious to know really what to look for, because when I first took them out I thought they looked white which I thought meant it was running lean then I saw the black and thought too rich so I got confused  

Cheers

If you have a Haynes manual, there should be or used to be a full colour page in there.
Showing all the common conditions for Spark Plugs, would be handy to take a look at that!    

Unfortunately my haynes is in black and white and doesnt have that part I guess ill just do more internet research

They look pretty good to me actually.

This is an illustration of the common spark plug conditions.

Maniac said

They look pretty good to me actually.

This is an illustration of the common spark plug conditions.

Thanks 'Maniac' that's the pick I meant!  
Just don't have time to search right now as I'm at a Thermal Spar with the Wife!  

Oh god my spark plug looks nothing like those! Ill leave everything as it is because it seems to be running great  
Thanks for the pic and enjoy the spar Mike!  

mazza411 said

Oh god my spark plug looks nothing like those! Ill leave everything as it is because it seems to be running great  
Thanks for the pic and enjoy the spar Mike!  

I'm no expert but just give them a clean up and put them back. Take them out after 500 miles and look again.  

As for the Spar.
On this day last year my car was covered in 10 cm's of snow.
Today I look like a freshly boiled Lobster, was in a pool yesterday called the Volcano Spar with the temp at the moment 39.2 degrees.
But I've been driving my car around the forests for the last 90 minutes, so with a little luck the Wife should be cooked nicely by now!    

golfcabrio said

mazza411 said

Oh god my spark plug looks nothing like those! Ill leave everything as it is because it seems to be running great  
Thanks for the pic and enjoy the spar Mike!  

I'm no expert but just give them a clean up and put them back. Take them out after 500 miles and look again.  

As for the Spar.
On this day last year my car was covered in 10 cm's of snow.
Today I look like a freshly boiled Lobster, was in a pool yesterday called the Volcano Spar with the temp at the moment 39.2 degrees.
But I've been driving my car around the forests for the last 90 minutes, so with a little luck the Wife should be cooked nicely by now!    

Yeah good thinking  

Haha    I bet you needed a break after all the stress of guess the price game