Pink/red deposits on spark plugs.....
 

I know its not an issue, but I'm curious as I look at countless cars with normal deposits on the plugs, then up pops one with pinkish/red coated plugs, so...

Anyone who has had pink spark plugs please post what fuel brand fuel they were using and what additives (if any). Obviously bear in mind they could be stained from using a previous brand of fuel or additives, so if the car was bought second hand and still has the same plugs or you have switched brands, please state so.


And if anyone knows what chemicle causes the pinkness, feel free to educate me; As one of side studies is finding out which brand fuels contain what chemicles in their additives to boost/maintain octane/combustion cleanliness. :)

Probably Manganese from an octane booster.

Nick

I bought a turbo which had a light pink dusting inside the exhaust turbine housing which I thought was a bit strange!

I ran tesco 99 Ron and had pinky plugs!!

V-Power too! although octane booster eg Millers will give a pronounced orange coating.
JohnD

Optimax-V power + Millers OB=

Attachment 49753

More orange than pink IMHO.

Will be pulling plugs very soon that have been using only V-power+OB to see if there's any difference. I doubt it as the orange comes from the manganese in the OB, as already said..;)

Cheers guys...keep them comming. :)

The car I had pink plugs on (not a Subaru, not that it makes a difference) was running on Shell 95Ron for the past 4 to 5 tanks. Before that Is anyones guess as I didn't have the car before that (although its only 12months old).

Will get the pics later (looks like my home PC has crashed or the internet is down as I can't remote acesss it, so will have to wait :rolleyes: )

Defo Octane booster IMO... eats plugs a little quicker than normal but nothing to worry about.

Andy

How often do the plugs need changing?

Those plugs look very dirty! How many miles?
JohnD

here we go:

Attachment 49749


I've since been told that previous fuel shouldn't make that much difference and that the deposits would be burnt off after several tank fulls of different fuel.


So thats Shell 95Ron....strange as they must have changed it recently as last time I pulled the plugs on my Impreza they were normal (and that also ran on Shell 95ron from the same petrol station) although maybe shell have chnaged their 95ron as well, like they did with opitmax to Vpower? Hmmm :wonder:

Could be your camera but thats some weird ass looking plugs

Look normal to me? If not a bit "Festive" :D

Yeah, the wear and level of deposits look normal, no eveidence of tracking or arching on the the base either. But that is the actual colour, I kid you not :lol1:

No real problem, plugs were just inspected to confirm the mixture was ok, the inner cylinders are possibly slightly leaner than the outers at the time the engine was last run. Other than that nothing abnormal, apart from they are pink!

I wonder what colour o2 sensors are :wonder:


But seeing I'm very nosey at what fuel suppliers put in their fuel, I'd like to investigate what it is, how it affect the flame fronts and colorific values etc.

~12k (car @24k), posted them up on here when changed and although it was said they were tired looking and needed changing all seemed well.

The first (OEM) set I put up on here were similar, although had more metallic deposits on them, which may have been due to them being in from new, or so I was told..!

Will be pulling current set soon, so will also be comparing them..;)

http://www.autolite.com/pdf/PlugTips.pdf

Colour looks ok to me, but gaps are way to big!! Off the top of my head cant remember what gaps to set on new plugs, but a search of site or a Google will let you know what gaps to set on the new ones...........

Gaps are 1.02mm as per manufacturer's specs. A tad on the tight side for a modern n/a engine but the CR is 10.9:1, so it expected.

Cheers for the link.

Latest plugs
 

Just changed these after 11k (engine done 33k):

Attachment 49754

Attachment 49755

To me these look better than the previous 2 sets I've removed (@12k & 24k), the latter of which is shown earlier in this thread.

pink plugs
 

i use tesco 99 octane, and have used the halfors twin pack with injector cleaner in first tank full then booster 2nd tank full, just changed plugs 2day and the center core is red but rest is a normal darker sooty color, plugs are PFR6B, changed them as car had a lack of boost made no differance tho still lack of power... any 1 got any ideas y this is had subaru garage look at it and they could find nothing dont no how good the garage is tho, kinghams south croydon.. would luv suggestions anyony, cheers kev mac