Car still not running - put oil in cylinders? good idea?

[dosmainframe]

Hi,
I still cannot get my car to start running it will crank but not start I have followed some advice on this forum looking for spark and fuel delivery, I have spark from wires, fuel pressure is good I have a new main external fuel pump I took out the spark plugs they looked a little black (carbon?) but were wet from fuel and smelled of gas.

So I might end up replacing them tomorrow, I do have less than 1/4 tank of gas left and I know I have alot of fuel injector cleaner (techron and Gumout) in there which I added recently before she decided to stop running, so I'm left with a few choices here I need to put a little more fuel in there like 2+gal. for sure and or change out the spark plugs, and try it again,

but a friend of mine said that he had this same issue and he took out all of his spark plugs and put a little oil in each open hole or cylinder.... is this a good idea? would this work on my older 88 '760 turbo? I've never heard of this before and it really seems weird, also when I took out the plugs originally to look at their condition it seemed like there was a little oil on some of the plugs and threads what's up with that?

[JimBee]

Keep in mind, the engine doesn't sit level, so a tsp of oil might just flow to the low side of the piston. I did this on a "dead" engine and with fresh plugs I eventually did get it running. I put quite a bit (tablespoon?) the problem is all that oil can foul your plugs so the spark will be weak. I took mine out a couple of times and spray-cleaned them with carb cleaner. It's worth a try. I suppose too much could also foul up your cat, so I'd approach it cautiously.

[SimLyons]

That's what you do when you take a compression reading (after taking a "dry" reading. An ounce is plenty for compression reading. If the engine ran before and nothing really changed and you have put a lot of extra miles on those plugs, you might have a weak coil, not giving you enough consistent strong spark to ignite the fuel.

Also, you need to get some gasoline in that tank! These engines won't run on heavy doses of injector cleaner. You dilute the octane to the point where it can't fire.

If the plugs are old and the gaps are OK, it's a cheap fix (if that's it). But wet dark plugs are signs of not firing or weak spark.
Weak spark is from the coil (assumes the timing is correct!!!) no spark is coil, wire or plug or a combo.

Oil on spark plug threads...not dripping in from above? If not it's blowby from the piston rings (check your compression?) and your plugs are tight enough to hold the cylinder pressure (they need new seals and/or plugs). If you have plugs that loose then you are losing compression there as well as possibly the PCV system. Tackle one issue at a time. Start with simplest and cheapest. You'll get it! Good luck!

[SimLyons]

Sorry! NOT an ounce! A teaspoon max! And do it only once, for a compression test. Too many in succession will foul the plugs for sure and if it does start the fire department will be there in minutes! You'll bury your neighbors in white-blue smoke!

[JimBee]

Well I got the smoke alright when mine started but no fire trucks showed up that time.