I have removed the heads from the 99 DII so I started to clean everything up. I got to the heads and took out the spark plugs more than half were gunked up with black soot. on both sides. The head gasket is bad on the driver side U.S.
I have attached a photo of these plugs they only ran a short time before finding the head gasket bad. there was a cyl 3 misfire so I changed the plugs and it ran fine, the plug that I took out originally looked ok not as gunked up as the new ones that I just removed .
Does this indicate a worse problem? I'm about to spend money getting the heads machined.
Should I be looking at something else? the tops of the pistons look ok none steam cleaned none black and burned.
am i Just Paranoid?
Thanks for getting me through this. It's interesting

 

To me your spark plugs look fine, even though I wouldn't put the same ones back in there, I mean, you're already there. The gunk you see is carbon, a normal byproduct of the chemical reaction when gasoline is burned. Additionally, your bad head gasket could have let engine oil into the cylinders, which would explain quick creation of the soot you experienced. What was your mileage?

 

Hard to say much from only a distant picture of plugs, but they seem to me to be too black, which may very well mean burning oil. Are you sure your rings are still sealing well? Head gasket won't cause oil in cylinders, but rings will.

 

not sure of anything but the pistons looked ok ? I hope I didn't do all this for nothing
The pic is right when I lifted the head off spilling coolant everywhere This is the DS where the head gasket was bad. Also #3 misfired Changed plugs drove about an hour the plugs only had an hour on them. Look bad to me

 

Wow, that completely changes things, only an hour on those spark plugs?! And yes, earlyrover, I meant piston rings not gasket, but you should also check valve guides/seals as they would also be the cause for burning oil.

 

You have a rather tired engine and as such there are many things you should have checked such as the timing chain, cam lobes and all lifters and valve train for wear all of which will cause poor running and misfires.

 

Those plugs are a gimmick and are goofy.
No wonder the engine misfires.

Put in NGK or Champions with one electrode and you'll be better off.
Those plugs are not hot enough probably.

I never use gimmick plugs.
No Bosch plat tip junk, no 4 electrode plugs.
Junk.

 

Heads are in the shop now. He is starting on them Tuesday should know something then. I think the timing chain was changed when water pump was ( I think) How do I check lifters rods and cam I see nothing obvious. Can't see much of the cam.
Any way to check other than inspect at this point?

Most of the plugs looked this way so there must be something in common with all. I don't think all piston rings would go at once, or the cam ? I hope like heck it's major,

 

What is your fuel economy like? Also, how much oil do you need to add between changes? Looks to me like running super rich.

 

Not adding hardly any oil gas mileage 14 -15 like always. not sure what happened the last few miles. I just thought it was head gaskets? not sure now-- all plugs getting gunked up? maybe where it was missing bad and have not heated it up after that enough? wish I had know before tearing it down would have run a compression test.
Machine shop Tue. Maybe they will find something