Plugs - Fouled or not?

[Ridenour]

I have a set of NGK Iridium TR55IX plugs w/ MSD 8mm wires. The whole system is about 2 to 3 months old. Lately, I've been having some problems with choppy idle / lack of power issues. I pulled my plugs to see if they were fouled, possibly causing the trouble. I've heard nothing but good about my plugs amongst the GA community, so I don't think they are fouled. But I don't know what I'm looking for. I was going to upload a pic, but I couldn't get it to focus. So I'll describe it: The very tip of the thing that hooks over the straight thing is kind of greenish (looks like old copper kind of). Further down the "hook thing", there's a little white spot. I thought people said that fouled plug tips turn white, but mine only has a little bit of it on it.

I'm doubting the plugs are fouled, but I figuired it was worth checking into. What do you guys think?

[GTP Dad]

Check out this picture from the GP forum. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=373147

The pluds don't sound fouled to me. If they were fouled they would be totally black with carbon, oil or would otherwise be discolored and have deposits on them. The plugs you have are normal for the engine.

[Ridenour]

Great - thank you very much. They aren't fouled I'm sure of it now.

[meti]

also I did some work before about starting on a cavalier so why dont you check your COIL pacts too! Thats what i am about to do too....its good to take parts and check once in a while and its usually free!

[Ridenour]

Yeh I actually just checked em a while back (just the end-distributor things) and they were all good. The coils themselves only have 38K miles on em, so I think they're all right.

And for the most part, after tons of cleaning of the IAC motor, the EGR valve, the TB and the UIM, the majority of the symptoms have dissapeared.

[meti]

Originally Posted by Ridenour

And for the most part, after tons of cleaning of the IAC motor, the EGR valve, the TB and the UIM, the majority of the symptoms have dissapeared.

hey tell me more what you done plz...i wanna do that to mine! not that is not starting but it could soon do that and it did before but it was just the plugs....

lolz its ok if ur lazy like me to describe haha ;-)

[Ridenour]

Well it's hard to easily right a how to, meti. If you have more in depth questions, you can ask me on MSN, but I'll try to give you a general rundown.

Here's what I did.

Pull all sensors from intake / intake area and cleaned them with electronic cleaner

Remove intake all the way to throttle body

Remove IAC motor

Clean the hell out of throttle body and IAC motor cavity with throttle body cleaner

Clean spindle end of IAC motor with throttle body cleaner

Remove EGR valve

Clean the hell out of EGR valve with carb-cleaner and break away

Remove throttle body (except for coolant lines) and rock forward and thoroughly clean the hell out of entire throttle body / cavities

Clean the hell out of entrance to UIM / plenum

It was a lot of dinkin around to get at stuff, and worth a lot of cussing, and ended up taking about 5 hours - it was worth it. There's lots of little stuff you have to do (specially when removing throttle body) - if you have any questions about in depth stuff ask me on here or PM me or MSN me or whatever. Good luck. And make sure that when you're done all your sensors are dry and plug them all back in.

[meti]

thats sweet man! I know what you are talking about and I'll probably end up doing that in 2 weeks when i get spring break, 1 week off from school!

Great Ideas mannn....sweet!

[Ridenour]

Yeh it'd be a great spring break project - it'll give you plenty of time to do it right. By the time you're done, you'll know you're entire intake and emissions system like the back of your hand LoL.