Oil/Carbon Fouled Plugs?

[Indiana_Jones]

Hey Guys,

Was doing an oil change today and I also took the plugs out to clean/inspect them while I was at it.

The plugs seem to be oiled foul, or carbon fouled, I'm not sure. They also have oil, or what looks like oil to me in the middle of them (i.e. the part where the screw thread is)

Any ideas what this is?

The bike itself is running etc, sometimes hard to start cold, but nothing else out of the ordinary I can think of.

Cheers,

-Indy

[Ixion]

Need a picture to say.

Sounds like the engine may be using a bit of oil. Or the plug is too hard (unlikely). Probably not really an issue, maybe indicative of other things that might become an issue one day

[scumdog]

Hmmm, if it is just on the threads I wouldn't worry about it.

Most of my vehicles seem to have that, doesn't matter how clean the threads are when the plugs go in they always have oil on them when I next take them out.

[Indiana_Jones]

I would put a pic up, but I cleaned them and stuck them back in, wanted to get it done ASAP, plus I didn't want to get my dirty hands on the camera!

The plugs had a black finish on the end, somewhat smooth, so that lead me to think it's carbon fouled (as the bike probably runs a bit rich), though on the other hand it might be burnt oil, hence why I've asked here.

As for oil usage, the bike doesn't seem to be chewing through oil, I think I had to top up a few mL ab out 6 months ago?

-Indy

[Ixion]

Smooth dry 'sooty', fluffy black is usually too rich.

Hard black scaley is engine wear. wet black is either bad engine wear and/or too hard a plug.

Here is a link to some pretty pictures, see which yours looked like

[Indiana_Jones]

Smooth dry 'sooty', fluffy black is usually too rich.

Hard black scaley is engine wear. wet black is either bad engine wear and/or too hard a plug.

Here is a link to some pretty pictures, see which yours looked like

Kinda a cross between 1 & 3 (as they kinda look the same to me)

-Indy

[Ixion]

In (1) the black is wet, like the tip had been painted in oil. In (3) the black is dry and "fluffy" like the tip had been held in a smokey flame.

[Indiana_Jones]

Well none of them were wet if I remember correctly.

I'll take the plugs out after a few weeks and see how they look/take pictures.

Cheers guys

-Indy