What would cause a spark plug to be white?
Burned. Blisters on the insulator tip, melted electrodes, or white deposits are signs of a burned spark plug that is running too hot. Causes can include the engine overheating, incorrect spark plug heat range, a loose spark plug, incorrect ignition timing or too lean of an air/fuel mixture.
What color should the tip of a spark plug be?
Normal Condition If the firing end of a spark plug is brown or light gray, the condition can be judged to be good and the spark plug is functioning optimally.
What does an ashy spark plug mean?
Appearance & Symptoms: The electrodes—center and ground—are covered in an ashy coating. As a result of this masking of the electrodes, your engine may experience a misfire. This build-up of combustion deposits can eventually (but not usually) fill in the space between the two electrodes.
Does Toyota use Iridium spark plugs?
Toyota offers a variety of spark plugs designed specifically for your vehicle’s engine, including U-Groove, Dual-Ground Electrode, Double Platinum and even Iridium spark plugs. Below are descriptions and benefits of these spark plugs.
What do spark plugs look like when burning oil?
What does an oil-fouled spark plug look like? An oil-fouled spark plug will appear wet or maybe black with a burnt oily color on top of the plug.
How do I know if my spark plugs are rich or lean?
Rich running conditions: If your engine is running too rich, the spark plug will be black and sooty. Lean running conditions: If your engine is running too lean, the spark plug will be white. If the spark plug is black and oily, they are oil fouled.
Does Toyota use Denso or NGK?
NGK and Denso are both fine plugs. Toyota uses both brands in manufacturing. On the V6, sometimes you see one bank with Denso and the other with NGK.
Can I use platinum instead of Iridium?
Platinum may be harder than copper, but iridium is the hardest among the three, and iridium spark plugs outlast platinum spark plugs by almost twice the mileage. The only issue with iridium is that it costs double the price of platinum with little improvements in performance.
What can dirty spark plugs cause?
Misfiring Motor An engine will misfire when bad spark plugs delay the combustion effect. A misfire means one or more of the cylinders in your engine are not producing the power they should. Misfiring motors work harder to maintain power, which saps fuel economy.
When should you replace spark plugs?
20,000 to 40,000 miles
Spark plugs that look worn or damaged could mean that your engine is misfiring or operating at excess heat levels. As a rule of thumb, you should replace your spark plugs in intervals of 20,000 to 40,000 miles, based on how often you use your vehicle and the kind of car that you drive.