spark problem, pulled plugs and noticed this?

[eclipsegsx1736]

I'm diagnosing a misfire issue right now on my new 6 bolt swap. It was fine for about a month then started intermittently misfiring and stuttering, usually followed by a cyl 3 misfire code. I pulled the plugs and found this. Cylinders 2, 3 and 4 all look the same and have that black ring like the plug on the left on the pic. These look close to how plugs have always looked when I pull them. I'm running on the rich side now so theyre more black than usual but otherwise ok. Cyl #1, closest to the timing belt, is the plug on the right. It has no black ring and looks a lot cleaner than the other plugs. Also, the black ring on the threads which should normally be near the end of the threads is way too low. The car runs fine 95% of the time but every once and a while it starts misfiring. What's the diagnosis? Am I getting no spark on cyl 1 or a weak spark? What could be bad? I'm thinking of just getting another coil pack, transistor, and CAS. I have a 1g coil pack with 2g transistor and 91 CAS.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

pic?

Strange your plug on 1 is the oddball yet your misfire is on cyl 3. Could be completely unrelated.
When is it misfiring? During cruise? or idle? both?
How old are your wires?
Can you distinctly feel each injector firing equaly?
Just digging for more info

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

Oops. Definitely forgot the pic. I'm wondering if the cyl 1 and 3 discrepancy is due to the switched wiring of a 95 ECU in a 99? It misfires only at cruise as far as I know at least. The wires aren't very old and I ohm tested them, came out to 50-80 ohms depending on length so they're still good. Other than this occasional misfiring problem, the car runs perfect (or at least seems to). The misfire might not happen for a whole day, then suddenly reappear another day for a few minutes and disappear again. I just completely ripped out all ignition related items and redid everything, checked wire soldering, cleaned contacts, but in some new plugs. I'll see what happens but still wondering about the big difference in plug reading. Yes I know this is the worst picture in history, my mom borrowed my cam so had to use the phone which sucks, but you can still see the obvious problem.

 

[romeen]

It looks to me like you are running lean in cylinder #1. Could be a partially clogged injector. The best way to read plugs is to put in a fresh set then do one or two WOT runs without any other driving. Pull plugs and then read them. Usually there will be a ring on the porcelain portion inside the plug tip. If the ring is closer to the tip of the plug this indicates a rich condition. If it is closer to the base of the porcelain it indicates a lean condition. I'm not positive if this applies to a ring on the outside/threads but it seems like the same principle would hold true.

You could always pull the fuel rail with injectors attached and use direct voltage to trigger them to compare spray patterns or just try some injector cleaner to see if that helps. BG44K is supposed to work very well but it is expensive.

 

[luv2rallye]

You could always pull the fuel rail with injectors attached and use direct voltage to trigger them to compare spray patterns

You must use a series resistor if you are going to do this or risk burning out the injector: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253180&page=3#post151130999

 

[nightspeed87]

Mines was missing real bad last weak and I changed the spark plugs and it seemed to not change anything, so then i changed all the wires and now its not missing anymore.

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

I just put in some new plugs and checked them after a WOT pull but they're too new to read anything. The large amount of meth injection makes reading a plug a lot harder as it cleans the plug off really well. I don't think it's running lean on the cylinder although it's a possibility. My EGT gauge is on that cylinder and isn't abnormally high, and I'm able to run 28 psi on meth injection and 91 octane with virtually no knock (less than a degree). I was thinking it could be from the spark not firing and not causing an explosion so the fuel was just cleaning the plug. I'll check the plugs after a few days of driving and see how they look.

Last night I pulled everything ignition related and redid everything. Resoldered and cleaned all connections and checked everything along with the new plugs. So far its been running perfect but only put about 10 miles on it so far.

 

[nightspeed87]

It could be ecu related too. I dont think the 2gs had the leaking caps problems but not sure.