1st spark plug change - should have done it sooner

[ramen4uramen4me]

Thought I'd share what my plugs looked like at 60k on my 11 s4. Car was idling pretty rough and acceleration was not smooth getting up to freeway speeds between shifts.

Swapped in some new NGKs and that fixed everything. Car drives like it new again! Lol

[Luis_Heineken]

.....

[adbender]

wow..glad you are back to norm.

NGKs are going in on Monday...im 90k km, so its just overdue. no issues like you describe though.

[cspcrx]

3 pf those look very nasty!

[PLSTKBMPR]

Whats the recommended interval to change them out? I'm at 40k...

[DGVR6]

55k/6yrs according to audi.

[RWD2quattro]

Wow, are you stock or tuned?

[AKPS4]

Yikes that doesn't look good

[AZT]

Is the white insulator actually melted/damaged on a couple of those? Almost looks like the plugs were overheating (due to preignition, running lean etc.) unless those are just deposits making it look deformed. Are you stock ?

[TexasDfwS4]

Wow, are you stock or tuned?

This

[BoostEasy]

You've got what looks like pretty substantial oil contamination on 3 plugs.

I'd look into a carbon cleaning as the intakes ports are probably worse than the plugs and carbon buildup will definitely mess with idle quality, engine smoothness and power. Its part of the maintenance on a DI engine.

Did the plugs or plug socket have oil on them? Were the 3 plugs will oil contamination on one bank? I'm wondering if a valvecover gasket might be leaking as the 3 plugs with oil on the tips seem to have a bit on the threads too.

[cspcrx]

Thats what i was keying in one. Looks like there is oil on several.

I am just shy of 50k. Sounds like a good 50k project. Have to search for they diy thread on changing them.

[DGVR6]

Just bumped it for you, im not sure of the torque values on the plugs though. Anyone?

[IceSilverS4]

While doing the recall, my car had to have the intake port and valve cleaned. Two hours job while the supercharger was already off the car. So, I ordered some ngk and I'll change the plug and let you know how they look, see if carbon buildup is related or not. Btw, my car is on stock plugs, at 71,000 km and tuned (only 2000km on the tune).

[ramen4uramen4me]

The car is all stock so I was a bit surprised by the condition of them when I pulled it.

[ramen4uramen4me]

@AZT the insulator was damaged on several of them. Anything i can do about this if it is running lean? Comjng from a Subaru im so used to going to my tuner to get my fuel map adjusted. Audis are srill a pandoras box for me lol
And God only knows how the previous owners handled this car... so far the car is running so much better with the new plugs. Drove 150 miles this weekend and no hesitation

[AZT]

@AZT the insulator was damaged on several of them. Anything i can do about this if it is running lean? Comjng from a Subaru im so used to going to my tuner to get my fuel map adjusted. Audis are srill a pandoras box for me lol
And God only knows how the previous owners handled this car... so far the car is running so much better with the new plugs. Drove 150 miles this weekend and no hesitation

OK - then indeed likely preignition/detonation. Was there a pattern to where those 3 were pulled (all in the same bank)? I've not heard any reports of this kind of issue especially on a stock car - if it was running that far out of spec I'd think you'd see the MIL lit. As you said it is possible it was an issue that occurred for the previous owner that got corrected but left its mark on the original plugs - hopefully you'll be good to go now.

[ramen4uramen4me]

Unfortunately no pattern. 2 of those plugs were on the passenger side while the other was on the driver side of the engine. The middle bank (?) Both had similar condition plugs

[cNEGOTIATOR]

Our of curiosity, what is the part number of the new plugs you installed?

thanks

[PitchS4]

I did my plugs at 30k because it is a 2010 so it was more the age then the miles.

Torque spec is 23 ft/lbs do NOT overtighten

[Mr.Tan]

does anyone know the proper gap for OE plugs?....im thinking of changing the plugs myself to try and save some $$ at the 55k service interval thats coming up soon for me.


or can i even do any of this myself without screwing up something with audi themselves by doing some of the required service?

[cNEGOTIATOR]

does anyone know the proper gap for OE plugs?....im thinking of changing the plugs myself to try and save some $$ at the 55k service interval thats coming up soon for me.


or can i even do any of this myself without screwing up something with audi themselves by doing some of the required service?

Th OE gap is .032. If you are stock, I would keep the OE gap ( but I would also check my new plugs to make sure they are all gaped properly)
You can change them out yourself, its not difficult. Here is Saxons DIY - http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ug-Change-3-0T

My mechanic told me to pay attention to the direction the heads are facing, as they can make a bit of a difference in performance. (can someone comment on this? )

Many VW guys with modified cars (particularly the 2.0T) are re-gaping to 0.028. Here is the APR video on how to re-gap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0cl_YrfjMc

[BoostEasy]

@AZT the insulator was damaged on several of them. Anything i can do about this if it is running lean? Comjng from a Subaru im so used to going to my tuner to get my fuel map adjusted. Audis are srill a pandoras box for me lol
And God only knows how the previous owners handled this car... so far the car is running so much better with the new plugs. Drove 150 miles this weekend and no hesitation

You can see the plugs in person and I can only see what's in the picture provided with moderate detail level but it doesn't look like the insulator is damaged. It looks like you've got oil cooked onto 3 of the plugs and some of it is flaking off the center electrode insulator. Scary but harmless (roughly speaking). So unless you have a clearer picture, or can tell us that you can see more of the center electrode because a chunk of the insulator is missing, I'm thinking it's just oil contamination. Very common on DI engines.

If you actually managed to crack insulators on the plugs your car would run pretty rough, the electrodes would almost certainly be melted/damaged and your engine would likely have damage. You'd want a leakdown test done to confirm.

But it's probably just oil and you're in need of a carbon cleaning and check the valve cover gasket.

[cspcrx]

Th OE gap is .032. If you are stock, I would keep the OE gap ( but I would also check my new plugs to make sure they are all gaped properly)
You can change them out yourself, its not difficult. Here is Saxons DIY - http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ug-Change-3-0T

My mechanic told me to pay attention to the direction the heads are facing, as they can make a bit of a difference in performance. (can someone comment on this? )

Many VW guys with modified cars (particularly the 2.0T) are re-gaping to 0.028. Here is the APR video on how to re-gap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0cl_YrfjMc

This is called indexing your plugs. When the plug does not sit in the center of the combustion chamber this can help. You basically aim the opening of the spark gap to the area of the combustion chamber that will deliver best combustion. You use special washers to do this, did it on another motor and it actually helped with pinging.

better explanation right here.
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2000/07/indexplugs/

[Mr.Tan]

Th OE gap is .032. If you are stock, I would keep the OE gap ( but I would also check my new plugs to make sure they are all gaped properly)
You can change them out yourself, its not difficult. Here is Saxons DIY - http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ug-Change-3-0T

My mechanic told me to pay attention to the direction the heads are facing, as they can make a bit of a difference in performance. (can someone comment on this? )

Many VW guys with modified cars (particularly the 2.0T) are re-gaping to 0.028. Here is the APR video on how to re-gap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0cl_YrfjMc

its stock sans an intake, but that wont warrant a adjustment in the gap... thanks for that info, it'll be helpful in the near future. Trying to save every penny i can from my 55k service since i have no more audicare to take care of it, plus it would be nice to learn this car and do things myself as much as I can... i learned a lot from doing work on my GTI so i can try and transfer some of it to this confusing car (so many more electronics and sensors haha!).


i do run .028 on my big turbo 1.8t mk4, so its fairly common on all their engines for people to do it.

[cNEGOTIATOR]

This is called indexing your plugs. When the plug does not sit in the center of the combustion chamber this can help. You basically aim the opening of the spark gap to the area of the combustion chamber that will deliver best combustion. You use special washers to do this, did it on another motor and it actually helped with pinging.

better explanation right here.
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2000/07/indexplugs/

Thanks for that! Am I correct to assume this is the direction I should make them face? ?

[cspcrx]

For some reason I can not see the picture but you want them to face the exhaust valve. I personally saw no change in dyno results on my car, very low HP motor, but like I said it did fix the pinging which told me the burn was better.

[IceSilverS4]

FYI, I just changed them out and had a carbon cleanup done 2 weeks ago. My plug a nowhere near as the OP, only thing was the gap was now at 0.38 instead of the recommended 0.32. Mileage is 70915 km (43774 miles) almost entirely on stock tune.

Here's a picture of the passenger side plugs (driver side looked identical) for reference: