Grats on getting your first problem solved.
As far as the carbon on the plugs, that means it's running rich. A defective coolant temp sensor can cause this along with a mis-timed motor.
I'd try cleaning the MAF (since it's cheap), timing the motor, clean the crank angle sensor with contact cleaner (since it's cheap), then replacing that coolant temp sensor. See what that does.
pc
As far as the carbon on the plugs, that means it's running rich. A defective coolant temp sensor can cause this along with a mis-timed motor.
I'd try cleaning the MAF (since it's cheap), timing the motor, clean the crank angle sensor with contact cleaner (since it's cheap), then replacing that coolant temp sensor. See what that does.
pc
