Spark Plug Corrosion

ash_raz · August 5, 2013

Hi,

In my car, when i drive above 60kmph, it starting to give me jerks... so I took it to a mechanic and checked it. and find out that the 2 of the spark plugs have been damaged( I instralled them 1 month ago and done only 600kms) they got corossion.

The mechanic said, its a head gasket issue and he is not sure.

What do you think guys??

Please help me out

MV-5 · August 5, 2013

If you can post some image, forum members will get a more clear idea. or at least try to explain which part exactly got corroded.

this is a document i normally refer before i am going to do my 5000Km inspection. i remove 4 plugs and go through this document (since i am not good at keeping these things in mind :-) )

web link

Rumesh88 · August 5, 2013

I think you must be using water from Rathupaswala area in your radiator.

Seriously, it is very unlikely for a plug to corrode in one month unless you are using sulfuric acid instead of petrol (then again with the alleged low quality fuel imports to SL no one knows what would happen). Were they corroded or covered with deposits? What was the plug tip color like? Even if there is a gasket issue it is highly unlikely that would result in corrosion of plugs. BTW were the plugs original?

GayanR · August 5, 2013

If you can put some pics here...it's not easy to get it corrode that soon...is it blacked out?may be you are referring to carbon...

ash_raz · August 5, 2013

Check the link to see the spark plugs, click here

In the morning when I rev the engine, water spraying out from the silencer too

Rumesh88 · August 5, 2013

You seem to be using NGK BKR6E-11 type plugs. The plug gap should be 1.1mm (unless it was meddled with), but according to pictures it seems to be more than this. Did anyone adjust the gap? If so it could be the reason for excess deposits. Another thing is the heat range of the plug which is 6 (as in BKR6) which may be too cold for your engine (check this with OEM specs of your engine). What you have on your plugs is NOT corrosion but excessive deposits. However, before using a hotter plug like BKR5E check the OEM specs first. If you are using 95 octane then you can go for hotter plug without an issue. If there is no issue with both gap and the heat range you may have to do a tune up to get the air/fuel ratio corrected. What is your car btw?

All this however assumes that the petrol that we pump in and pay for actually has the correct octane specs as quoted!!!!

MV-5 · August 5, 2013

On 8/5/2013 at 5:33 AM, ash_raz said:
In the morning when I rev the engine, water spraying out from the silencer too

this is a kind of sign about leakage of head gasket. but not necessarily

Edited August 5, 2013 by MV-5

MV-5 · August 30, 2013

Hi,ash_raz

Any update?

NZer · August 30, 2013

If it on all 4 or just one?

ash_raz · August 31, 2013

On 8/30/2013 at 6:50 AM, MV-5 said:
Hi,ash_raz
Any update?

It was a leak in the head gasket, and the cyliner with bad spark plug was also damaged. So I had to rebuid the cylinders and replaced all 4 plugs again

On 8/30/2013 at 4:23 PM, NZer said:
If it on all 4 or just one?

Nope, only in one

NZer · September 1, 2013

You probably have a blown head gasket

MV-5 · September 1, 2013

On 8/31/2013 at 7:03 PM, ash_raz said:
It was a leak in the head gasket, and the cyliner with bad spark plug was also damaged. So I had to rebuid the cylinders and replaced all 4 plugs again

Thanks for the update machan. now we have a conclusion!.

A thread with a conclusion is so helpful as a reference (later) :-) .

Strikeee · March 16, 2014

Any idea about what type of Spark plugs should I use for a Honda Civic EK D15Z4 engine???

is it NGK ZFR5FGP or any recommendations

The Don · March 17, 2014

On 8/5/2013 at 7:23 AM, MV-5 said:
this is a kind of sign about leakage of head gasket. but not necessarily

I think you are mistaken. Head gasket issues do not usually lead to water coming out of the silencer. Whatever gets in the silencer has to come via the combustion chamber as the exhaust is connected to the engine via an exhaust manifold directly connected to the exhaust valve. If there is water in the combustion chamber you would either have the engine not start, or start with a lot of knocking.....

It just so happened that in this occasion the issue was that, but you can't infer that from the above symptom.

MV-5 · March 19, 2014

AFAIK, water spray from exhaust (first start after long time, probably morning start), then white smoke(due to high moisture content) is well known sign of "head gasket leakage".

This high moisture (H2O) content will be there in the exhaust as totally in "gas" form. at the very end of the exhaust pipe, it will be turn into water drops(in to liquid form).

technically , water in liquid form will not be there in the combustion chamber.

The Don · March 19, 2014

On 3/19/2014 at 3:18 PM, MV-5 said:
AFAIK, water spray from exhaust (first start after long time, probably morning start), then white smoke(due to high moisture content) is well known sign of "head gasket leakage".
This high moisture (H2O) content will be there in the exhaust as totally in "gas" form. at the very end of the exhaust pipe, it will be turn into water drops(in to liquid form).

technically , water in liquid form will not be there in the combustion chamber.

Yes, if you get constant white smoke, it could be an indicator of head gasket problems. The thing is in a humid country like ours you get white smoke from most cars in most mornings.

Water is a by product of burning hydro carbons. So it is normal to get some water down the exhaust as a result. On most occasions this indicates fairly efficient combustion. Most cars will have water droplets falling out of their exhaust particularly if the exhaust is leaning down from the box.

In my car you literally get water spray if you rev the car hard (mixed with soot) as water seems to collect in the silencer because the pipe is in a higher elevation.

Edited March 19, 2014 by The Don