Attached is a picture of one of my plugs. Kinda hard to see, but the base-ring has an even layer of black soot. Doesn't that indicate rich? Inside the base-ring the porcelain is a nice light brown color. The plugs are Champion RN14YCs.

To check the rods, do I just pull off the cover plate for each one while it's running?

Yesterday when I took it to town it acted like it ran out of gas a few times and died. Would sputter a few times, then die. After cranking for 5-10 seconds it would fire back up and be fine for a half mile. Weird.

Thanks,
-Dave