Those plugs don't look like something I would normally associate with a chipped piston, however it is possible that they are still chipped. The only way to know for sure is to get a boroscope and look into the cylinder or pull the head and look at the cylinders themselves.

As Bill mentioned you were definately getting some detonation and it looks to me like the extreme heat in the cylinder may have melted the tip of the electrode off instead of it being smashed by a physical piece of debris.

Change all your plugs with fresh ones at a proper gap and see how she runs. Find the cause of your lean issue before you go beating on the car again.

Ok, today I replaced the plugs. I also checked every vacuum connection and could not find any leak. I sprayed everywhere with carb cleaner and could not find anything. There was no change in idle speed. I did find, however, that the throttle body assembly nuts were very loose. I had to turn them about 3 times to tighten them. That was possibly my problem. I have this picture below. What is this thing? I know it has something to do with vacuum but what is the little filter for? Mine is all ripped off. Could this be a problem? I felt it and there is no suction so I do not know. I still need to find my coolant leak that is leaving a puddle under the back of the motor right in the middle of the car. There is no coolant leaking from the LIM and none from the coolant elbows. I replace those. Any ideas? Thanks for the help guys, this site is a huge lifesaver!! Also, the #4 spark plug that was burnt to heck, was the same one that I cleaned the coil connection :? could that have done anything or just a coincedence?

That'* your boost control solenoid. It doesn't take long for the foam filter to crumble away. It'* not a problem. This is a short description of how it works.

I'm surprised that with the nuts to the throttle body being that loose that spraying around there didn't change anything. That would cause quite a vacuum leak, and would allow unmetered by the MAF air into the engine. That could have been your problem.

Your coolant leak is a mystery. There isn't much back there where you're describing that would normally leak. I suppose it could be leaking from the knock sensor, or freeze plugs, but I believe that would be unusual.

Many times after you change coolant elbows or other things coolant collects on the frame and cradle to drip off at a later date.

yeah, that could be but that doesn't explain why the reservoir keeps going low :? When I take the cap off of the radiator, the coolant should be clear up to the top, correct? Because that level has not changed. Can you actually overfill it? What happens if you do that?

Well this morning I took the car in to the dealership to have them diagnose the lean mixture and read the codes. They said that one code was for the EGR? He was suspecting that the lean code was coming from a faulty injector. I am done chasing my tail here. It will cost me no more that $65 to diagnose the problem(*). That way we do not have to keep wasting our time chasing our tails on this and actually get to fixing the problem!! I will let you know what they say.

well the dealer called and said that I had a vacuum leak at the map sensor. I think I knew that but the idle never changed when I sprayed the T connector there was no change in pressure. They did say they found a problem with the 5 volt reference wire to the baro sensor :? That is all greek to me so if someone could help me out that would be great!!

$75 dollars later the car runs worse than when I took it in. I have more hesitation when accelerating They found a low MAP sensor signal at the PCM, they wanted to diagnose the circuit but I was getting frustrated with them. Any ideas??????