[quote=Buzz Green
It sounds like you might be running a little rich, in which case I would use a octane booster, this should get your plugs nice and clean.
Good point Buzz. I wanted to reply sooner, but I had a job interview... at Steve's Tire up near Springfield. first things first! Ha ha.
One other excellent trick for removing carbon deposits from the pistons, spark plugs and valves is to trickle some water into the intake. I learned this trick a long time ago when my dear old Citation used to suffer from a combination of pre-ignition & combustion itching. Back then it was easy with TBI - just drip the water in the intake hole. With the the modern Contour/Mystique setup, I ususally just thread the hose up past the MAF, making sure not to tangle the butterflies. Start the motor and let it warm up at idle for about 30 minutes, then turn the water on. Not too much!! Just a trickle until you see steam coming out the exhaust pipes. Let that drip for about 20 minutes, feathering the throttle up to about three grand and back to idle. If you have an OBDII device, you can monitor richness and O2 ratio, which will tend to drift due to the supersaturated exhaust.
It works wonders. Clears the carbon out. Then you can do an old fashioned "italian tuneup" by driving the car and letting the motor bounce off the rev limiter a time or two. It's amazing the difference. It's completely reduced my need to run Octane Booster. Now just plain 86 octane at the Clark station is all I need. Isn't it great the way a little effort can really take care of problems.
Bud Miller
** No mystake, it's a Mystique **
