Somebody tell me in plain, stupid person, english, about spark. Heat ranges, timing, and whatever else. Also, are stock timing is advanced, like I have 14 degress advanced timing, correct? Lastly, I have oil on the #1 plug, on the electrode side, I can only narrow this down to the valve seals or piston rings. That's it, damn, I feel dumb, thanks!

The heat range I believe is determend by the length of the insulator, the longer the insulator, the colder the plug. colder plugs take longer to warm up, and will foul if most of the driving you do are short trips. Ignition timing is when the spark fires in relation to where the piston is. The stock ignition timing is 15 degrees at idle. Of course as rpm's increase, the edu increases timing advance because the piston is moving faster. Advanceing the timing fire's the spark sooner, so that the "flame" from the combustion reaches the piston when the piston reaches the top. If it wasnt fired until the piston reaches the top, the piston would already be on its way down by the time the combustion pressure's reached it. Humm, dont know if I explained that very well. Tell me if you understand it.

Do a compression test and add 1 cap full of oil to the cylinder to see if it increases the compression. If it does then its the rings if not it could be the valve oil seals.

Originally posted by LogicalRetard
Somebody tell me in plain, stupid person, english, about spark. Heat ranges, timing, and whatever else. Also, are stock timing is advanced, like I have 14 degress advanced timing, correct? Lastly, I have oil on the #1 plug, on the electrode side, I can only narrow this down to the valve seals or piston rings. That's it, damn, I feel dumb, thanks!

From ser.net:

Sparkplugs come in many heat ranges. This is so the plug can be matched to the type of use an engine receives. For low speed, short hop driving, the plugs electrodes must stay hot enough to burn away and self-clean fouling carbon deposits. For this type of driving a hot plug is needed. For high speed racing at high rpm, the plug can become too hot and glow like a diesel glowplug causing pre-ignition and detonation. This can quickly destroy an engine. To prevent this a cold heat range plug is needed.

The length of the insulator of the center electrode determines a plugs heat range. You can tell a cold plug from a hot plug by looking at the center electrode’s insulator. If the porcelain insulator is short, it is a cold plug. If it is long and extends deeply into the steel shell of the plug, it is a hot plug. This is because a cold plugs short center electrode has a short path to conduct heat out of the electrode. A hotter plug has a longer path and dissipates heat more slowly.

here is the link for more info: http://www.se-r.net/car_info/engine_performance_tuning.html#Spark%20plugs%20and %20Ignition%20systems

Go here to learn about plugs
ngksparkplugs (http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinfo/spark_plugs)