Anybody good at reading plugs?

I just hope he's not driving around near me.

 

The link I posted shows you how to check for proper heat range and that your ignition timing is correct , easily noticed on the ground strap

 

Yes, and the ground straps looked good. One plug may have had some raised sooty deposits around the base ring, but it was hard to tell and I didn’t have a magnifier handy. The insulators did not show any signs of preignition. The link you provided stated that the info was only for full load acceleration where the engine was promptly shut off, so I’m not certain how directly the information actually applies to the plugs in question. The Champion webpage seemed to apply more to a normal driver pulling well used plugs, and did lead me to believe that the plug in question was showing a rich condition in that cylinder. Whether it’s enough to be concerned with, I’m not sure. I’ll see what kind of gas mileage I get this week, and check the plugs again. If one still shows a rich condition then I’ll probably run a tank or two of SeaFoam and see the situation changes before I resort to replacing injectors. By the same token, I did a pile of work on a 22-RE(port and polish head, header, header wrap, ungraded exhaust, new cam, try to tune the air flow sensor and settled on the stock setting, try a couple intakes but went back to stock) and the biggest improvements I got were clean/balance injectors using RC Engineering, flex fan, and Bosch Platinum 2s in that order. So yeah, at 208k it might not be a bad idea to throw in a set of reman’ matched injectors if the one plug stays sooty.

On the 22-RE the injector work gave it new life and drastically improved fuel economy, the flex fan made a slight but noticeable difference in power and a slight increase in fuel economy(probably due to decreased weight compared the stock fan and clutch), and the plugs improved starting, idling, and possibly power between 750rpm and 1250rpm, and that was compared to new NGK V-Powers. I want to say that fuel economy got a teeny bump, but I’m not certain on that front. It still made it a more pleasurable experience. The ‘08 that I just put plugs in idled much more smoothly than the 22-RE did with stock plugs, and while the 4.0 was a little slow to start, I’m sure that had as much to do with plug condition as anything else.

 

v6=denso or ngk COPPER

 

I’m surprised you haven’t had a tire blow out running at that pressure. It’s insane to be running at that pressure. The mpg difference at lets say 50 psi wouldn’t be much more than running at 80 psi. I couldn’t imagine a blow out at that pressure at highway speeds. That’s a liability, not just to yourself but others IMO.

Anyways if you have done fuel treatments, new plugs, TB looks clean, etc. maybe your next thing to do is clean your MAF sensor.

Also driving around a 2.7 with 10 plys probably is half the reason your MPG sucks. Unless you’re doing serious off-road there isn’t need for 10 ply tires. If you must run off-road tires just get some nice standard loads. Also if you have a hard on for MPG but insist on running a aggressive tire, maybe look into some pizza cutters

 

It doesn't appear that you are all that familiar with vehicles and Tacomas. I would highly recommend you find a good local mechanic and let them do the work. Good luck!

 

No it's not limited to high speed runs , it can also be used for normal driving conditions !!!!

 

Just going by the second paragraph of the page you linked to.

 

Clearly.

 

The 2.7 gets perfectly fine gas mileage that is perfectly inline with the EPA estimate, and has since I bought it in 2010. The 2.7l 4x4 gets about 22mpg on the highway if I keep to 60-65mph. That drops to about 19mpg if I’m driving 75-80mph(within the speed limit). It gets 18-19mpg in town. Those evil 10-ply’s brought my fuel economy all the way to approximately the window sticker!

The question was regarding the 4.0 that’s getting less than the EPA estimate, although after actually filling the tank to see how much was used, although it was poor, it wasn’t as far under the EPA estimate as I’d feared. After filling up and going through 3/4 tank, it was clear that I wasn’t getting the 16mpg that I expected.

 

I put iridium plugs in my 4.0 engine, runs great. Acceleration is much smoother than before I changed the plugs. Not because the iridium is better, but because when I pulled my old plugs the gap was like .090 or something ridiculous on all 6. The engine was running pretty rough before I changed them lol.. but no problems whatsoever with the iridiums, I've put about 8k miles on them so far

 

Don't listen to that guy, just research stuff before you work on it. You can learn to work on your own shit and save a lot of money on simple maintenance and repairs

 

I’m in the same boat. I can’t compare them to new copper plugs, but compared to some very worn plugs, the Iridiums definitely feel like an improvement. Although the engine didn’t run rough before I swapped them. It take a few revolutions get started though, and now it starts right up.

 

Ha the op is running his tires at 80psi. He needs to let someone with experience work on his vehicle lol

 

Been working on my own vehicles for 18years. I’ve never had a mechanic work on any of cars outside of a few TSBs on a 2010 2.7L Tacoma. Contrary to your apparent belief, running my tires at 80psi has not cause my hands to fly off the steering wheel, my tire patch to approach zero, or my springs to stop being springy. Yes it changes the ride quality, but its not a wild and dramatic difference. I somehow get the feeling you don’t have experience running your tires at 80psi. I’ve done it for close to 500,000 miles.

 

I've been checking /reading my plugs for many years using this method and no you don't need to do high speed passes or test hits

Reading the timing mark ( discoloration) on or near the 90° bend on the ground strap can give you very useful tuning information such as heat range issues or ignition timing or ignition spark output

Any mark on the strap higher or lower than what I mentioned will be the cause of driveability problems

Also the area of the plug where the electrode attaches to ( spark plug base ring ) can indicate if you're getting to much fuel especially at idle

 

The tires on my service truck are run at 90psi. If OP is only street driving and his tires are made to be run at 80, then it won't hurt anything. In fact his milage is probably a little better with his tires like that.

 

The manufacturer of the vehicle dictates the proper psi you should run. I'll give you a hint toyota doesnt reccomend 80 psi

 

Toyota doesn't reccomend modifying your vehical in any way at all either. Yet here we are doing just fine.