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Just an update. The plugs and boots came in from Rock auto on Sat so I ended up changing the plugs this evening. I was going to wait until the wires showed up on wed but I looked everything over and changing the wires later on won't be a big deal, and I got antsy having the parts sitting there.
Everything went smoothly, I didn't remove the wheel well liners and it took me 3.5hrs from popping the hood to the test drive afterwards. boots were in good shape but the little brass colored "pill" that lays inside the coil was pretty corroded. Plugs were corroded towards the bottom and I noticed when I looked down inside the cylinder the little bit of the wall that I could see was cruddy looking also. Wires looked good but I'm still going to change them when the new ones come.
I could only get my big torque wrench on the top 8 plugs and I ended up torqueing them to around 20lbs(it's a bar type wrench so I don't know how accurate it is). The bottom eight I had to use my ratchet so I'm sure I got them tighter than they need to be but I guess I'd rather have them a little tight then loose. I also used a bit of anti seize on the threads.
The two plugs that gave me the biggest problems were the ones next to the spring mounts. The rest of them were a breeze, but then I have small arms and can contort into pretty weird angles.
here are the old plugs, I don't think I would've wanted to leave them in there another 50k.
Gaps were all over the place. New ones are all at 44.
Presuming you were not getting any mis-fires (indicating an electrical short condition), I'd say those plugs look fine and were worthy of continued use. Nice and tan-to-light brown for most of them. A few that were darker but by no means were any fouled. Those are in exactly the condition to be expected and desired. Nor do I see any evidence of the plugs exhibiting any pass-through (there would be dark stains on the porcelain just above the hex-head, which there is not on any that I can tell). Overall, I'd say there was nothing wrong with the plugs whatsoever. They are rated for 100k miles after all.
Regarding the gaps as quoted above, all those are within a reasonable variation (less than 10% from the 44 spec). That's completely normal and totally acceptable.
Maybe the lesson here is that you've now convinced yourself (or at least someone else) that 50k miles is premature if no other untoward indications are present.
Maybe the lesson here is that you've now convinced yourself (or at least someone else) that 50k miles is premature if no other untoward indications are present.
Nothing wrong with a maintenance check. Some people don't like to wait until something goes wrong to have a look/see. And if you live where road salt is used, it's good to apply a little anti seize and dielectric grease before the 100,000 mile interval.
I read this thread with great interest. After an engine light came on, the dealer told me that it was shooting a code for the cats. They then said it was because the plugs needed changed. I told them that I just bought the truck and it only had 40k on the odometer. They said yes but the engine had enough hours on it to equate to over 130k!!! Not sure what the truck had been used for but will be changing out the plugs soon. Thanks to all of ya for some good intel.
FWIW, my spark plugs always get changed at 50,000 miles (about 4 years) with either Motorcraft or NGK plugs. Plug wires (on cars that have them) get changed at 100,000 miles. Coil over plugs are left alone until they go bad. Plugs threads and base get a very, very light coat of nickel antiseize. Plug tip that contacts coil gets dielectric grease and inside of coil over plugs or plug wires get dielectric grease. Plugs are torqued by feel with my right hand.
Yeah, this wastes good plugs but I keep my cars/trucks longer than many people and I don't want to wrestle stuck coil over plugs or stuck plugs at 100,000 miles (8 years). And since I use a very very small amount of antiseize I throw the torque spec out the window. Aluminum threads can be so touchy that I prefer a little lube to prevent galling and I'm more comfortable feeling my way than using a torque wrench on such delicate threads.
Antifreeze gets changed every 4 years. Brake and power steering gets changed every 2 to 4 years. Tranny fluid gets changes at half the owner manual's given interval. I can't stand popping a hood and seeing nasty fluid and in my mind, cars/truck parts last longer this way.
That is pretty much my maintenance schedule as well.
I'm getting ready to do a plug change on my pickup, bought 16 of the sp526 motorcraft double platinum plugs just like oem, 76 bucks for that. I'll post some pictures when I get them changed, I have 51k on the pickup but around 2500 idle hours effectively putting the pickup at 100k, I probably will do a trans filter and oil change here shortly. Unfortunately AutoZone doesn't carry mercon lv, so I might just buy a case from Amazon and save the hassle.
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so 1960's
