Finally managed to bag a bargain on eBay recently (x4 NGK PFR6Q plugs for £10.50). I fitted them yesterday and wondered what peoples opinions were of the old plugs.

The plugs that came out all looked the same and although I'm no expert, various online guides suggest there is no cause for concern. What do the learned people of Briskoda think?

The car is a 2002 1.8T 4x4 estate and was remapped by Jabba some years ago. It is currently on 54K miles and is serviced regularly using Castol Edge long-life oil, which is currently available from Cost-co for a not unreasonable £28 for 4 litres!

This is the plug taken from the cylinder nearest the cambelt end of the engine, although to be fair they all looked pretty much identical:

They don't look bad, just very old. I'd say there's no cause for concern

just a bit oily....the car burns some oil.

And other than that,they look worn

Many thanks for the reassuring replies.

I probably should have mentioned in my original post that the original plugs were fitted 3 years / 21K miles ago.

The car was running fine on the old plugs, but the opportunity of x4 for just over a tenner proved too much!

As far as using oil, I've not known the car to use any appreciable amount, over the last 10K miles (no blue smoke evident out of the exhaust either).

slightly ot: at such a low mileage (54k), then why bother with long life oil? The car must be only be doing 4-5k per year, so that isn't idle conditions for variable servicing, imho.

Looks normal to me, you should expect turbocharged engines to burn a bit of oil, it's all normal, the only thing I'd say it that they look like they've done a lot more than 54k tbh, those probably aren't original either, they normally have multi electrode ones fitted one those I believe.

slightly ot: at such a low mileage (54k), then why bother with long life oil? The car must be only be doing 4-5k per year, so that isn't idle conditions for variable servicing, imho.

I tend to buy the long-life oil in bulk, as it is suitable for both of my current cars (02 Octavia 1.8T 4x4 & 12 Yeti 2.0 CR 110 BHP).

Looks normal to me, you should expect turbocharged engines to burn a bit of oil, it's all normal, the only thing I'd say it that they look like they've done a lot more than 54k tbh, those probably aren't original either, they normally have multi electrode ones fitted one those I believe.

The plugs that came out were fitted in 2010 and are I believe OEM for this engine. More here: http://www.ngkpartfi.....4)&engine=1.8

I did consider the markedly cheaper (multi-electrode / copper core) Bosch super 4. This is listed by Eurocarparts as a suitable alternative for my engine and are around £11 for 4 (with Briskoda -25% discount). They do however require changing more frequently than the NGK platinum plugs.

Bosch Super 4: http://www.eurocarpa...e1f0f77d

NGK 6458 (PFR6Q): http://www.eurocarpa...0657ca93

Ah ok, I didn't realise they fitted platinum tipped plugs to those as an oem fit, you can tell it's a platinum tipped plug by the shape of th centre electrode it kind of comes out then tapers down to a point. The oem plugs I got supplied from tps were triple electrode ones but that was a different engine code to this.

slightly ot: at such a low mileage (54k), then why bother with long life oil? The car must be only be doing 4-5k per year, so that isn't idle conditions for variable servicing, imho.

Because the oil is a cleaner grade, with less dirt particles in it to start with. You don't see the point of using it?

Because the oil is a cleaner grade, with less dirt particles in it to start with. You don't see the point of using it?

If the oil was left in for the maximum service interval, which I believe is 30k miles / 3 years then no. 3 year old oil in the engine isn't going to do it any favours. However if it changed yearly and the OT gets a good price on it then no problem.

The primary reasons for using this oil are two fold:

• it works in both of my cars (one petrol and one CR TDi with DPF)
  
• price (<£30 in Cost-co)
  

I also tend to change my cars on a frequent basis (>130 cars owned since I began driving ) and this particular oil is likely to be compatible with any car I'm likely to own in the future.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, much appreciated.