Plugs & Wires

[duckduckdog]

When do you typically change them.... I believe the manual calls for them at 100,000, but I'm wondering what you guys are typically doing.

[99'HEARTBEAT]

When do you typically change them.... I believe the manual calls for them at 100,000, but I'm wondering what you guys are typically doing.

When my Truck was New, I removed/replaced the old ones, which had.....85,000 miles on them, when looking at the old ones, they looked Great!!, but I went ahead and installed new plugs and wires......as to when is a good time to replace the plugs-wires..........IMO depends on how many miles you have on them and also How your Truck is Running????

Edit:.....I would also mention, that I just installed, a new set of Plugs-n-Wires, my truck has right at 170,000, and once again they(Old Plugs)Looked Great....both sets of old plugs, could have gone to 100,000 miles with no problem.

[Pikey]

I agree with @99'HEARTBEAT, I replaced the plugs in my 2002 with 80,000 miles and they looked fine. The gap was still within spec. I also replaced them in my 2003 yukon xl with 120,000 on it when I bought it and they still looked pretty good and were still within spec. I don't mind replacing them every 75,000, they are not all the expensive and it gives me a change to get the old plugs out and anti-seize the new plugs. One of my Mechanical Engineering professors worked for Ac Sparkplug, he was the lead engineer on the platinum and iridium plug development projects. He said that when they were developing them, they considered them to be a "lifetime" plug. They were more concerned about the plug seizing to the head passed 100,000 miles than the plug failing at that mileage. He said that most of the tests they ran the plugs outlasted the engine itself. It was decided that if the plugs were to start having issues at high mileage (over 300,000) the consumer would not be very happy about the cost of complete head replacement because the plugs were stuck.

[duckduckdog]

Truck is still running great, just didn't want to wait too long and have them siezed up. Had that happen in a '94 S-10 and it was a bear!

[99'HEARTBEAT]

When the Time comes for you to install a new set of plugs, the ones you want to go with are the A/C Delco Iridium Tip Spark Plugs as mentioned above by Pikey

A/C Delco Iridium Plugs,
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ac...-size/5-3l-325

[TRPLXL2]

My 01 s10 4.3 got a tune up at 56,000, rough idle and would stall a lot. 3 out of 6 were fouled, ac delco plugs are awesome, but they don't recover once they are fouled.

i pull the plugs out right when the vehicle is brand new now, I smear the threads down with never seize made for aluminum heads and reinstall them. I could tell you some good stories about aluminum heads lol!!

[goldie]

Hey TRPLXL2
What kind of plugs did you re-install on your S10?

[TRPLXL2]

I went with the ac delco iridium platinum tips, I was told the vortec motors are picky about plugs so I went with what was suggested. I mentioned the fouling because on my ls1 swap we just finished, we fouled out close to a full set while getting it tuned. They do not clear up on there own, this was how I learned how to tune ha ha. Lots of p300 codes.

[Conlan Rose]

Yah... Change them before they seize or you will have this happen....


Oh the memories....... But the plugs I (my shop at that point) removed minus that one were in great shape. Use lots of PB blaster or other penetration oil and make sure you add the anti-seize. I may just pull and put back in my plugs every 30,000 to keep them from seizing.

[TRPLXL2]

Yep conlan rose is right, when we had the ls1 on the engine stand we changed the plugs and two of them snapped off in this manner. The one destroyed the threads in the head, ended up have to use a keen cert to fix the threads.

a friend of my dads has and still is working for a Chevy dealer since the 70's. he said very rarely do people actually get 100,000 miles on these plugs. Your engine would have to be running perfect all the time, and I know myself sometimes you can't afford to fix something right away so you drive with the check engine light on for a couple months, well that's why they go bad early.