whats wrong with my plugs?

[glitched]

So my plan today was to do a compression test and change spark plugs and wires...

well the wires literally fell apart, some in 3 places at once...

After spending extra hours trying to get the pieces of the wire boot out of the chamber and then seeing oil on plugs 2 and 3 I skipped the compression test. I'm assuming the oil on the plugs would tell me teh same thing a compression test would, but what exaclty does it tell me?

and here are my old plugs. They dont look good at all. What does the coloration mean?

And what about the oil!? would it come from valve cover gasket or from head gasket or piston seals?

You can really see the oil on #2, from the threads to burnt onto the white part, Its harder to see on the 3rd one as it wasnt as bad, but you can see it where the Crosses are in the middle.

Link to large image:http://nissaninfiniticlub.net/...1.JPG

[JeromeS13]

Oil on top of the spark plugs indicate a leaking valve cover gasket...

[jdm_master_X]

it seems to me you are running excessively rich. thats carbon fouling.

[teddy]

It looks like there is some oil on the top of that number 2 plug, or is it something else? Oil on top would indicate a leaking valve cover. Oil on the bottom could be a piston ring on the way out or already gone.

You should probably run that compression check anyways so you can get some solid numbers instead of guessing.

[glitched]

It looks like there is some oil on the top of that number 2 plug, or is it something else? Oil on top would indicate a leaking valve cover. Oil on the bottom could be a piston ring on the way out or already gone.

You should probably run that compression check anyways so you can get some solid numbers instead of guessing.

Yeah there wasnt any oil at the bottom tip. Just around the middle of the plug.

I recently replaced the valve cover gasket last month. So i dont know if the oil is from new gasket or old gasket. I guess Ill wait a week or 2 and see if there is oil again and try the compression test. With new wires that wont fall apart, it shouldnt take nearly as long.

[574-240sx]

They look old, how old are they?

http://www.dansmc.com/Spark_Pl....html http://www.nightrider.com/bike...k.htm

[rogoman]

Yeah there wasnt any oil at the bottom tip. Just around the middle of the plug.

I recently replaced the valve cover gasket last month. So i dont know if the oil is from new gasket or old gasket. I guess Ill wait a week or 2 and see if there is oil again and try the compression test. With new wires that wont fall apart, it shouldnt take nearly as long.

From the looks of the plugs in your picture, there doesn't appear to be any excessive oil burning; all the oil on the threads and upper part of the plugs is due to valve cover spark plug chamber seals. However there's heavy carbon deposits on the electrodes and the porcelain is fouled real bad; those plugs look VERY OLD.