Iago

I finally found a place that carries these in my area. Took a LOT more digging than it should have, but regardless, they have a new customer.

My car is at the 40K mark, so I figured it was high time to replace the OEM plugs. Pulled them out and they looked suprisingly good for 40K on them...a little worn, but not fouled or gunky. I probably could have cleaned them up and put 'em back in, but I already had the Copper Vs and wanted to try them out. Put 'em in, and everything is sweet! I'm not sure how much of it is placebo effect, but my engine feels like it is running a lot smoother now overall.

I did encounter a small problem though. While pulling out the plug wires, I got a little overzealous with one of them and wound up pulling the wire, but leaving the hollow metal tube that caps onto the end of the plug in the hole. I got the conductor out w/out damage via cunning use of needle-nose pliers, and I managed to stick the metal tube back up into the wire. I listened VERY closely at several different RPMs when I hooked everything back up to see if the wire was functioning. I didn't detect any misfires, and I haven't gotten a CEL, so I assume that all is well. Regardless, I guess it's time to pick up an aftermarket set of wires. A word of caution to any of you newbies out there...be sure to give the plug wires a few turns before pulling up on them to make sure the conductor is detached from the plug!

One question before I end this post...when I had the plugs out, I peered down into the cylinders to just see how things were in there. On the heads that were high enough up to see, I noticed that they were NOT pristine...there was a pretty even coating of carbon buildup on all of them. I don't know how MUCH coating there was, because knowing my luck, if I'd tried to stick something down there to take a sample, I'd have dropped something into the cylinder... But, the question is, for 40K, is this expected? Should I rip my engine apart and clean all this up, or is it really not a big deal? Like I said before, the plugs weren't fouled, and my car was running fine. I have no indications that I'm running rich.

Thanks in advance.

Random

For cleaning Carbon deposits out, Z-Max actually does a fairly decent job. There are various other products out there as well.

Chances are it is just a "normal" carbon build up.