Are my spark plugs still misfiring?

[72timemachine]

No Tom, I did not replace the spark plugs. I inspected them, cleaned them, tested them with an ohm meter in several places, visually saw that I had spark jumping the gap using a lawn mower ignition system and a ground wire and had rapidly, sizzling water evaporate off my exhaust ports on the exhaust manifolds to check for a misfire.

I understand what you are saying regarding spark plug failure. If the center electrode is all eaten away (smoothed over and is no longer nice and square) due to age, yeah, it's time to change them. Aside from mine getting dirty, they look brand new, however, it is not going to convince me that everything is fine.
Several years ago I experienced a hair line crack in the ceramic insulator where the spark plug boot is attached...it was leaking spark to the exhaust manifold and causing a skip.


Odd thing is, right after I wrote this thread this morning, I got in my truck to head off to work and the skip is no longer there. The engine is running very smooth and there is no skip on acceleration. It has been skipping since I replaced my head gaskets and rebuilt heads. I am not saying the problem is solved just yet, however, if it returns and I find out it what it was, I will let the forum know.

If memory serves me correctly, on YouTube, Tyrell's Classic Workshop, Ian Tyrell had an older 12 cylinder Lamborghini with several misfires he attributed to fouled out ( I believe too rich) spark plugs. He simply started the car and gently warmed up the engine and one by one the skipping cylinders came back on line and the engine ran fine. He is very hesitant to remove spark plugs from these aluminum heads due to wear it causes the spark plug threads each time you install and remove the spark plugs. Makes sense with soft aluminum and this guy has been working on Lamborghini for a very long time...he does not even use a torque wrench when he rebuilds engines. I'm not saying this is what happened to me, however, it is unusual for things to fix themselves.

Thank you.