Read These Plugs

[cordes]

What do you think of these bad lads? I should not that cyl. #1 instantly broke when I attempted to pull it out. I'm guessing some of the extra deposits, etc. are from that being on its way out. Do these look like I'm burning any oil from loose guides or leaky stem seals?

I'm trying to track down the source of oil burning. The turbo was "new" not long ago, and the head is a reman unit done at the same time. The car runs great with the exception of this oil burning which happens mainly when I start the car up after it has been hot. I can also smell it when I'm done driving. I should add that I have replaced the stem seals with Mopar units recently mileage wise.

Unless it's an exhaust guide leaking and not getting into the combustion chamber very well, I'm stumped for oil burning in the head. Maybe I'm wrong?

63932

[rgl10]

They don't look like they have burnt much oil from what I can see. How much oil is the engine using? If its like a quart in 500 to 1000 miles and its getting into the combustion chamber you can usually see it as heavy carbon deposits on the plugs as you no doubt know. If it smokes every time you start it after its set hot then maybe its the exhaust seal on the turbo even though its not that old. If its pretty bad you can unbolt the exhaust pipe at the turbo after it cools down and look into the turbine housing and see if its wet with oil seeping out. If its nice and dry then as you say it might be the exhaust valve guides leaking although usually they leak into the cylinders when the exhaust valve is open so those leaks show up on plugs too but not as bad as intake guide leaks or rings problems.

[cordes]

It doesn't burn much oil, but I don't drive it a ton of miles either so that makes it hard to tell. I think those plugs have thousands of miles on them though, so surely it would have shown itself by now? It let out a pretty good puff of smoke today after I stopped at the grocery store. I think I'll pull the exhaust from the turbo when I get a chance and see what the SV looks like. If there's oil in there, I'll know. I would imagine it would be pretty coked up in there too.

[GLHS60]

If I magnify them I can barely read "no new taxes"

Thanks
Randy

[iTurbo]

The plugs look pretty good to me. I've had a 2.2L burn oil from bad oil seals/rings before and it leaves a thick/crusty/gray/ashy deposit on the plug. Did the #1 plug break from trying to pull it out from behind the A/C bracket? That can be tricky as hell without banging it up on the way out/up. I use a magnet to get that one out after unthreading now.

What plugs? Does the oil burning/smoke stink oddly? That is usually a giveaway that the turbo seals are giving up. Turbo oil drain good/straight and not kinked at all?

[chromguy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agAWXnT4-EQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prXiQgVVnDY

These worked for me.. I also find that using Mobil 1 reduced my oil burning significantly.

[zin]

If I magnify them I can barely read "no new taxes"

Thanks
Randy

Thinking they're a bit old eh?... :-)

Mike

[GLHS60]

I thought he said lips...

Thanks
Randy

[Dr. Johny Dodge]

lol
you MIGHT want to think twice about spraying sh..tuff down the throat of your engine

had a buddy ... offered to "tune up" his girlfriends car

well , new plugs , rotor cap and such ... plus one can of combustion chamber cleaner

yeppers "spray the entire contents into engine"

yeah .. that's NOT the great idea you think it is ... when the cleaning fluid is enough to hydrolic the engine and break pistons

and .. nope , NEVER saw that girlfriend of his ever again

[Reaper1]

Having worked in the boating industry, fogging engines and such is commonplace. With the correct product, used correctly there's no problems. The *ONLY* time I had any sort of issue was I was doing a winterization on a Mercruiser 454 fuel injected engine spraying fogging oil into the flame arrestor and the stupid straw got sucked into the engine! Luckily I shut it down in time and it got stuck in the bottom of the intake plenum...I was SURE I had just ruined that engine!

[cordes]

The plugs look pretty good to me. I've had a 2.2L burn oil from bad oil seals/rings before and it leaves a thick/crusty/gray/ashy deposit on the plug. Did the #1 plug break from trying to pull it out from behind the A/C bracket? That can be tricky as hell without banging it up on the way out/up. I use a magnet to get that one out after unthreading now.

What plugs? Does the oil burning/smoke stink oddly? That is usually a giveaway that the turbo seals are giving up. Turbo oil drain good/straight and not kinked at all?

It was the #1 plug. I'm guessing it was dropped or otherwise damaged previously. It broke very cleanly and evenly as soon as I pulled the larger piece out of the spark plug socket. The plugs were 12RNYCs, but I usually use 11s. That's what they were replaced with. The oil doesn't smelly funny to me. The drain wasn't kinked the last time I looked under the car, which was also when this was happening. I'll pull the DP this weekend if possible and inspect it.

[ajakeski]

Puff of smoke when starting an already warm engine is typically valve seals. A puff of smoke when you let off the throttle Indicates a possible oil leak in the turbo.

[iTurbo]

I use NGK GR4 or GR5 plugs nowadays. I think the GR4 is the equivalent to the 'ol Champion RN12YC stock plug.

As ajakeski said, if it smokes a ton on decel after a good rip, that is a good indication of the turbo seals giving up. Pull the intake hose off and check for shaft play.

[cordes]

I'll check that too. When it starts up it isn't always just a puff of smoke. The last time it happened it did seem like it was burning off whatever oil leaked out of the hot side into the exhaust. The more I drive the car, the more convinced I am that it is the turbo.