Are my plugs in good condition?

[Kozhyar]

Hi, I have a 2023 mustang GT N/A , gutted headers, and backfire tune.
pulled one of my factory spark plugs out at 17k miles, And it looked like this.

My car is pinging especially when giving it some gas at higher gears,
I tested "Spark knock" and it retards timing as much as 4.8 degrees.

I suspected the plugs and one of them looked like this.
I have been using the same fuel and it started pinging just recently, tried different gas stations and it's the same.

The backfire tune was on the car when i bought it and it is really aggressive, Can it cause such issue?

And shouls i swap my spark plugs to new ones? or re-gap them?
what gap should i go for if i do so?

Thanks alot for any help

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[80FoxCoupe]

Can you provide a picture of the plug that can actually convey some information?

 

[robvas]

They look fine. Measure the gap and if they're in spec put them back in.

 

[Kozhyar]

Can you provide a picture of the plug that can actually convey some information?

Sorry, How should i take the pictures to convey more information?

 

[Skye]

What is the fuel's octane or RON that you've been using?

Did the car just begin pinging, or has it been doing this for some time?

Do all the plugs look the same?

Does the car consume oil between oil changes? If so, how much?

Is the car's operating temperature in it's normal range?

With respect to the photo, the ground, electrode and insulator cone are most interesting. If you can capture a photo from that end of the plug, that'd be great.

Edit,

You have a backfire tune and you're hearing pinging all the time.

Are there logs associated with your tune that indicate any problems?

Is the engine throwing any codes, like a misfire code for one or more cylinders?

Any indication if the engine is running rich or lean? I suspect rich, in support of the backfires.

If you flash back to stock, does the pinging stop?

 

[Kozhyar]

What is the fuel's octane or RON that you've been using?

Did the car just begin pinging, or has it been doing this for some time?

Do all the plugs look the same?

Does the car consume oil between oil changes? If so, how much?

Is the car's operating temperature in it's normal range?

With respect to the photo, the ground, electrode and insulator cone are most interesting. If you can capture a photo from that end of the plug, that'd be great.

Edit,

You have a backfire tune and you're hearing pinging all the time.

Are there logs associated with your tune that indicate any problems?

Is the engine throwing any codes, like a misfire code for one or more cylinders?

Any indication if the engine is running rich or lean? I suspect rich, in support of the backfires.

If you flash back to stock, does the pinging stop?

*This is the full test of the fuel im using.

*It's been 6 months since i bought the car, I heard it 3-4 times in the first 5 months, But now i hear it everyday, It's not so loud though but you can hear it clearly.

*Most of the plugs almost look the same yes.
Here are as many plugs i could pull out:

*It's been less than 3,000 miles since my last oil change, It was at the max level on the dipstick, Now it sits at between the min and max holes of the dipstick.

*Yes, Oil/Cylinder head/coolant temperature, Are at operating temperature.

*I don't have a tuner device, I can't log the tune data or flash back to stock, I do have forescan and Vlinker FS device, Please tell if there are any tests or logs you want me to provide so i do it.

*No, I don't have any trouble codes.

I will gladly provide any more information you need.

 

[Skye]

I'll give you my opinion, for what that is worth. People will continue to see this thread and provide their guidance.

The RON/octane level seems fine. The US equivalent is 93. Good.

Normal operating temperatures. Good.

You're burning some oil, but we don't know how much. You should track that. See how many miles/kms it is before you have to add one quart/liter. Burning a little oil in normal driving is OK. But I'm afraid the oil being burned is contributing to the pinging. All the spark plug threads have oil on them. The plug threads should be dry.

For regular vehicles in normal driving conditions, Ford considers burning more than one quart in 3000 mi/4800 km to be excessive and needs to be investigated.

For performance vehicles, Ford considers burning more than one quart in 500 mi / 800 km excessive.

The electrode ends of the plugs look OK. That's good. There are some deposits in some areas. I attribute this to the oil and excess fuel being burnt.

Those are Ford plugs. Since you're making the effort, I'd buy one new set of plugs for that engine. Gap them to the recommended gap. Plain, stock spark plugs recommended for that engine. Buy from a reputable business or web site, so you know you're getting the real thing. Counterfeits happen.

Tracking the oil and new factory plugs will help create something of a baseline. But what you're most in need of is a tuning device and a stock tune file. Something you can flash back to the stock configuration.

I know what FORScan is, but I do not have a tune and do not use that software. Maybe someone reading this thread could be of help with that. But there are so many variables to change, there'll be the concern of catching them all, correcting them to factory and without error.

With new plugs and a stock tune, if the problem rights itself, you know it was one of those things. Most likely the tune. But if the pinging continues or intensifies, that's a tell of mechanical issues.

What concerns me is you have a used car which used a backfire tune for some time. You don't know what the parameters of this tune is. It could be pushing the limits of fuel and timing, which could have now developed into a physical problem.

With the information you have, I'm afraid that's all I can comment on. Hopefully, you'll get some more feedback.

Best Wishes and Good Luck.

السلام عليكم

 

[Tripp051420]

If I was in your shoes, I would stop driving until I could flash a stock tune on the car. Unknown “backfire” tune and knock sounds like a bad combination to me, regardless of what the spark plug looks like.
However, MANY people on this forum are much more experienced than me. So, go with what they say

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