Orange (Rust Colored) Plug Discussion

[OwnerCS]

Back in late November, the 99 Maxima 5-speed stopped running after receiving new heater hose, valve cover gaskets, and intake gasket and an assortment of clean up items that I give all of my DSC4s soon after I purchase one. This time the 99 Max engine experienced an extreme compression loss on 2 cylinders when trying to start it. Naturally I blamed myself for making some mistake in the process that caused the problem.

Tonight I was moving some boxes around in the garage, and I found the original plugs that I removed from the 1st engine hiding in a box. I knew there was something wrong with the threads on the plugs when two were extremely hard to remove. In looking at the plugs in the picture, I can spot the plugs that must have been installed by the previous owner or shop. Within the red box in the picture below you can see how the threads appear to be damaged. Also, those two plug tips are covered in an orange/rust color deposits compared to the other plugs.

As I move forward with dissecting the former engine to determine if the heads can be salvaged for use on the replacement engine, I'll post pictures of the findings.

Plug pictures are below.

[NutriaforBreakfast]

first thought is antifreeze burning

[OwnerCS]

first thought is antifreeze burning

Actually the picture doesn't show all of the orange rust looking material that is up around the plug insulator.

I may find a bad or blown head gasket from when the previous owner let the car run hot and used stop leak as the fix.

[OwnerCS]

I did find this about orange plugs. On page 2 and 3 or the document it indicates exposure to coolant from a cracked head. So the head most likely cracked with the previous owner when the stop leak was used to plug the failing radiator.

http://www.rjmann.com/pdf%20files/stitt ... alysis.pdf