Black sooty valve...what causes this??
 

Well I removed the intake manifold today as I am investigating a problem on cylinder 7.

I noticed that one of the valves was black and sooty...where as all the other valve were nice and shiny...wat would cause this...and is this what they refer to as a burnt out valve???????

Looks like the cylinder isn't firing

That's intake valve and they are normally nice and shiny even if you have valve stem seals leaking oil petrol washes it off. Could be leaking valve letting combustion gasses in the intake and overheating valve in the process

burnt valve
 

A burnt valve sounds about right. Once I get the head off I will know for sure. Need to get a extra long socket set to get to the head bolts....which I will do over the next few days...and then I will take it off....

Will be good to find out what eventually went wrong with this car...