Is this engine coolant on my spark plugs? P0300
 

Hey guys I’ve been getting a P0300 the last couple weeks. It started the first cool morning I left for work after getting back from Z1 where they installed their CAI and upper intake plenum and tuned the car with ecutek.

Today I checked all my spark plugs really just making sure none had come loose and I noticed this green type substance but only on the white part of each plug where the coil pack plugs over it. The plugs weren’t wet on the bottom and I didn’t notice anything in any of the plug wells.

I guess I’m hoping this green **** is some kind of grease that Z1 puts in their coil packs…it’s got Z1 coil packs that I just put on about 3 months ago.

Any thoughts are much appreciated. I’m pretty bummed out with this P0300

What does it feel like? What does it taste like? What does it smell like?

Feels kinda greasy, smells like...not much, tastes like liver and fava beans with a nice chianti.

It is not coolant, that is for sure. It could be the grease put on the rubber insulator of the coil pack. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

That's a relief. It'd be kinda cool if they didn't use grease that was the exact same color as my engine coolant.

Could be di-electrical grease. Use it to keep the boots from sticking on the plugs. If it had a sweet taste to it. It could have been anti-freeze.

Wipe off all of the green shieeet from the spark plugs and from the coils. If the p0300 goes away then you know it was the grease. It could be causing arcing. If it still persists after that, you're going to have to join the ever since club and take your car back to Z1.

Well if it is the grease then it only started causing an issue 1) after Z1 tuned it or 2) after the weather got cooler.

Care to elaborate? Ever since what? Has Z1 changed ownership in that last few years or something?

Ever since refers to customers who come in for an oil change for example. Then, they say "Ever since you changed my oil my brakes are squeaking." They then proceed to demand a free brake job or whatever they come back complaining about. It's a term Technicians use to describe these type of people.

I wasn't saying you are that type of person just used the term.

I've been a professional technician for 8 years and it makes me laugh everytime someone plays this card.

Any luck with your Z?

Ohhhhhh I see haha so it’s more at jab at those types of people rather than Z1. Yeah I mean I have asked Z1 for their input but I live 5 hours from their shop so I don’t see myself taking it back to them.

It hasn’t thrown the code since I got it back together yesterday but the real test will be tomorrow morning.

When I started seeing that green stuff on the coils I thought surely I had a blown head gasket. So I’m just relieved it’s not that.

Car didn’t throw the code this morning.

Still not ready to say all is well though. I did a bunch of stuff Saturday while I was under the hood. Cleaned my MAFs, tightened all the hoses, checked and retightened all the spark plugs, a few of which didn’t seem to be screwed in all that tight, though none were totally loose inside the well.

I did order a new fuel cap yesterday. Which is long overdue. I have thrown codes in the past if I didn’t screw the gas cap on just right. Which is a known issue, with the early Zs at least.

So I’m just going to continue to keep an eye on everything.

Car threw the code when I left work this afternoon �� How would I go about getting a datalog for Z1?

You have ecutek? If so plug the obd 2 Bluetooth in and use the ecutek app to data log.