When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My ground electrodes didn't look great when I pulled mine. I have actually changed to a colder plug with a silver electrode and am going to see how that works for my application, but with the supercharger and a 997.1 engine, my setup is different than most.
Another great story and write up. Results are exactly as I expected per comments on other post. IMHO what you are seeing is ash deposits from burnt oil. Probably the mineral remnants from additive package (calcium?) . Since you oil analysis is perfect enough, I would think the oil intrusion is not from the cylinder area but possibly from the valve train/ valve guides. (Not cylinder scoring). Since your oil consumption is low compared to Porsche specs, you don't have a problem overall. Worse case is if it is all being done in one cylinder then you do have maybe an issue there but probably not to the level of " problem. ". Although your oil reports do not show a fuel dilution problem, (injector issues) I would strongly suggest a regular (define regular?) addition of a fuel system cleaner aka the Lubrizol product marketed as Techron or from Wurth or Liqumoly. A Seafoam process is not required here and probably would not work.
Fuel injector health is often overlooked and almost never addressed. We change sparkplugs religiously on a schedule but the injector goes through an electrical event and a mechanical event the same number of times. DFI engines go through more times. Fuel system cleaner is more concentrated than fuel injector cleaner.
I would not be concerned at all. It is running good/great and will continue to do so.
Along with only top tier fuel, I would use Techron or other known good solvent materials on a reqular(?) basis. That is easy if you write it down when you do it.
Italian tune ups are always good and a bunch of 150 miles ones can substitute for the fewer 2000 mile ones. They are also good for you too .
Others will disagree. I'm usually wrong anyways.
Unless I'm not getting it here I would assume that the 'white' areas are where you can still see the piston crown with no carbon build up. Take a look at this....
Carbon build up on the crown with some areas with no carbon build up, or where the carbon deposits have flaked off - all looks normal.
Apart from........oh the horror - BORE SCORING!! This engine must be about to implode!
Don't worry I stole this picture from a Honda Fit forum, no one over there seems to be too worried about a bit of piston slap scoring their bores :-)
Worse case is if it is all being done in one cylinder then you do have maybe an issue there but probably not to the level of " problem. ". Although your oil reports do not show a fuel dilution problem, (injector issues) I would strongly suggest a regular (define regular?) addition of a fuel system cleaner aka the Lubrizol product marketed as Techron or from Wurth or Liqumoly. A Seafoam process is not required here and probably would not work.
Fuel injector health is often overlooked and almost never addressed. We change sparkplugs religiously on a schedule but the injector goes through an electrical event and a mechanical event the same number of times. DFI engines go through more times. Fuel system cleaner is more concentrated than fuel injector cleaner.
I would not be concerned at all. It is running good/great and will continue to do so.
Along with only top tier fuel, I would use Techron or other known good solvent materials on a reqular(?) basis. That is easy if you write it down when you do it.
Italian tune ups are always good and a bunch of 150 miles ones can substitute for the fewer 2000 mile ones. They are also good for you too .
Others will disagree. I'm usually wrong anyways.
I'm starting to use Techron on a "regular" basis myself..."regular" meaning every third fill-up until I feel (undefined) that I can go to maybe once a quarter.
While I have CPO coverage, not knowing the car's history just seems to make this an inexpensive bit of maintenance.
Hey friends,
I need you please calm me down. (Porsche 997)
I have a torque handle with a diameter of between 28-210NM of the brand "AMPRO".
In hindsight, I noticed that I tightened all 6 plugs about 10ftlb more than the specs I see in the forums.
I did not feel I was tightening too much and I heard a "click" and everything closed fine (because it is a simple handle and it is the bottom middle of the handle I noticed that there is almost no difference between 32NM and 42-44NM). I just want to be calm.
Instead of tightening between 22ftlb (31-32NM) I tightened about 32ftlb (42-44NM).
It happened to me because I was confused with reading the numbers on the torque handle.
I was referring to the top line next to the number and not the bottom line (Attached is an illustration image).
Everything is fine right?
Thanks
Hey friends,
I need you please calm me down. (Porsche 997)
I have a torque handle with a diameter of between 28-210NM of the brand "AMPRO".
In hindsight, I noticed that I tightened all 6 plugs about 10ftlb more than the specs I see in the forums.
I did not feel I was tightening too much and I heard a "click" and everything closed fine (because it is a simple handle and it is the bottom middle of the handle I noticed that there is almost no difference between 32NM and 42-44NM). I just want to be calm.
Instead of tightening between 22ftlb (31-32NM) I tightened about 32ftlb (42-44NM).
It happened to me because I was confused with reading the numbers on the torque handle.
I was referring to the top line next to the number and not the bottom line (Attached is an illustration image).
Everything is fine right?
Thanks
If the plugs tightened without stripping and feeling like they were skipping, then yes, you're probably OK
Depends on how far off the torque values on your wrench is. Those handle dial type torque wrench, especially the cheap ones, are not very accurate and at the low range the discrepancy could be as much as 40%. It is up to you whether you want to leave it as it is. While it seems fine at the moment but there might be a danger of stress crack on the engine after repeated heat cycles. Personally I would re-torque those spark plugs with an electronic wrench just to be on the safe side.
Depends on how far off the torque values on your wrench is. Those handle dial type torque wrench, especially the cheap ones, are not very accurate and at the low range the discrepancy could be as much as 40%. It is up to you whether you want to leave it as it is. While it seems fine at the moment but there might be a danger of stress crack on the engine after repeated heat cycles. Personally I would re-torque those spark plugs with an electronic wrench just to be on the safe side.
My torque wrench is really cheap and simple... You may be right, and although I was aiming for 32FT-LB ~ it could very well be 22FT-LB ~.. :-/ Luckily the difference in tightening is not huge.
In any case I tightened the plugs the tightening did not feel too tight or loose.
I will replace my plugs again in about 20KM or in a year / two to be on the safe side. I will not wait 60KM or 4 years.
Are digital torque wrenches more recommended?
As I understand it, you have no issue. If you are worried, buy a new plug and replace. Do not untwist the old one... it is done. Of course if you were to loosen the old one by 1/10 turn, you would not blow up your engine, but to be totally neurotic and be able to sleep, replace the plug.
Think about what can happen..... your plug will hit the top of the piston? If it did, I suspect you would have heard it... but regardless, the damage (if any) is done so forget about it. Maybe having the plug in there deeper by what, .25 mm (WAG) it would affect the timing of ignition? Again, you would have triggered a dash light and or the ignition system will compensate. Maybe the plug will be more difficult to remove next time? I doubt that would be an issue if you follow Porsche's maintenance interval of 40K miles or every two years. Two years is not a long time for anything to seize up.
All my opinion here..... others weigh in.... but overall, you are fine.
If it were me.... well it was actually.... I know I over-torqued one plug on Her Lexus IS250.... what did I do about it? Nothing. Car has not blown up and that was years ago. Maybe there will be trouble when I try and remove it at the next service, but I doubt it... no science, but I really doubt it.
Here is a good article on torquing without a torque wrench... they denote 1/2 turn once seated by hand for a plug with a washer.... this will result in 22 ft lbs of torque. Again, my opinion, these systems have quite a bit of tolerance in their design... just think about all the ham-fisted knuckleheads working on cars... the designers should have this thought through for this.
I’m no expert. But the plugs have crush washers in them. I would remove the plugs but new $6.00 Bosch OEM plugs and torque them correctly.
As well as washers they have a one time use coating ... So you shouldn't use anti seize. Note that I said one time use coating. If you take them out then do not try to use them again.
I think you are fine. People have installed sparkplugs for thousands of years without torque wrenches. The washer provides a big range of "tight enough" as it really is a torque to angle. Since you noted that it felt OK when you wrenched it ,that means to me that you have some experience in installing sparkplugs. Therefore since you did not react to the wrench click as being somewhat wrong, things are not bad. Maybe not completely correct, but probably not bad.
Here is what I would do. Cheap torque wrenches typically under-torque if they have not been checked (spring gets weak). You may be in an under torque situation more than likely. Find a friend who has a torque wrench, a good old Craftsman beam type that is not wrecked or bent will work just find. Connect it to your cheap one with a clever set of socket adapters and measure the torque on the borrowed one when yours just "clicks". This will at least tell you if your wrench is out of spec or not. Most wrenches can be adjusted through an access hole with a hex wrench. Now that you know if your wrench was accurate or not, you can rejoin the original discussion. If you want to go back through it, just recheck the plugs with your "calibrated wrench. Do not loosen the plugs. If they prove to be tight, just leave them and be happy. Granted, it is an aluminum head, but you did not overdo it to the point of damage.
10-09-2020, 09:14 AM
