Bartfriend

Nasty plugs
To me it looks like I am getting oil in the cylinder.
By the way I just bought this IS350. It has 185k on the odometer. There is no telling what kind of maintenance was performed. I just changed the oil and it did not look bad. Suspension needs some attention, but other than that it appears to be mechanically sound.

ldc

It tells me that they were long over due for replacement.

2grfan

Agree on oil. What your consumption rate? Mine is only 1 qt/2500 but I still want to try the BG PN 109 like was recommended in the oil consumption thread.

LXMEUP

how many K's / Miles have you done before the replacement?

Those plugs look WELL overdue for a change.

ttsport15

These come out of an outboard engine...daam

bazzle01

The only way to really read a plug is with brand new ones.
Contamination can come from many sources.

Bartfriend

It is an oil consumption issue...I get a puff of smoke when I stand on it. It is not as bad as the bat mobile, yet.

I just picked up the car a month ago and was just doing basic maintenance. and working on a CEL P0420. I have non idea how many miles are on those plugs but after i changed them I noticed a boost in power and picked up 2mpg.

The oil was not in bad shape and the oil filter looked good. The oil probably looked good because the previous owner had to top it off all the time. My oil is only down 1/4l in 1000 miles, I am going to add some MOA, BG oil additive, in the morning. I'll let you know if that helps or not.

I'll also pull a plug or two and see what they look like.

I performed all of the basic troubleshooting on the CEL and determined the Cats were bad. So I fixed the cats with a punch and hammer.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

The tiny tiny bright spot look weirly like aluminum. Low grade fuel couple with carbon could induce detonation and those flecks could be piston top??? I'd run a few tanks of injector cleaner through it and make sure the tank has 93 octane fuel going forward.

What errors does it have now after punching the cats?
We are talking by the heads or down stream?

leoferus

Severe oil consumption.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

They are well used, but severe oil consumption would have the base near the ground electrodes soaked in wet oil. Not the case. Just carbon. Yes, check oil level every 1k but I bet its not that low. That could be 100k worth of build up on there. New plugs will help tell the story.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Even at 100,000 miles, that's not typical. Overly rich mixture? Lots of things can cause that.

Bartfriend

P0420 and P0430

yes the cats in the manifolds

i have been running 91 (that is as high as we go in SoCal) and I have added Techron to the last 3 tanks.