A lot of times it just slowly turns itself loose until near the last thread she pops off. Which means you still have almost all of the threads still intact. As long as you can tighten her to about 25 ft.pds she's good. I wouldn't even worry about it. I blew a plug in a Mitsubishi once 300 miles from home at night. I pulled the injector wire off to stop the gas flow and drove home like that on 3 cylinders. LOL....it sounded like an old John Deere tractor when they would come under load. That plug screwed back in also OK.

 

Spotty,

I've read through quite a few posts regarding this whole spark plug thing, and have come across many different values as far as ft.pds...I've noticed that 25 is more prominent than the 11-15, but has there been a clear, concise way to actually measure that on the #4 cylinder? I guess just using a torque wrench on #1/2 to get a feel for it, then do it by hand on 4? Or what is the best way people on here have found?

BTW, as a side note...I'm originally from MN, what part are you from?

Thanks

Chris

 

25 ft.pds. is the new spec. You should be able to get a torque wrench on #4 OK....maybe move a few things to get a swing.


We are 12 miles NW of Forest Lake, Mn.....out in the country.

 

Getting a torque wrench in there with out extensions and not rubbing against anything is near impossible. For a torque wrench to work properly it must be free of contact with other parts. If your a mechanic you can rely on feel and get it as tight as possible w/o over tightening. It's a feel thing, most experienced mechanics know what I'm talking about. Everyone's broken a bolt some time in there life and you know the feeling just before it happens, knowing you should have stopped a bit earlier. As time and projects go on you know when to stop before it's too late. I've removed and installed thousands of spark plugs in aluminum heads and never had a failure yet.

 

I am by no means a mechanic, but can work myself out of a box with a few tools...but yeah, I do know 'the feel', however, it's the 'whoops I should have stopped' that I do NOT want to have happen. I've just resigned myself to the fact that it's running, it doesn't sound like there's any leaks, so I'll just leave well enough alone for now.

Lovin' all the MN love here! I'm from a little town about 20 miles outside of Mankato...