Installed the new plugs this morning. Old plugs with 116,000 miles had about a .068 gap. Should these new plugs go 100,000 miles +, like the old ones did. Actually the old one were running pretty good.

Truck seems to run a little bit better than before with the new ones, especially at low rpm with load. I will check the gas mileage on a few tanks and see if there is any noticeable difference.

My neighbor has a 2000 Ranger 2wd with 3.0 and about 60,000 miles. I think it is an automatic. Talked to him this morning as he noticed I was working on my Ranger, and he says he has no ping and is using regular 85 octane and gets about 22 mpg with original plugs.

He thinks maybe I am wasting money using 87 octane, but that is what I have always used. We got to talking and we are wondering if maybe at 5200 feet elevation that maybe we dont need the higher octane. I remember with my old 289 smallblock Mustang, that I advanced the timing about 6 degrees. 1 degree for every thousand feet was a rule of thumb that an old hot rodder told me back then.

I am tempted to try 85 with the price of gas, but the owner manual says 87. I'll run a couple of tanks of 87 for my commuting and see if I have an improvement over the 22.5 to 25 mpg that I have been getting.

 

Higher elevation = less dense air = slower combustion & less cylinder pressure, which means that the fuel going into the chambers has to burn faster to compensate. Lower octane fuels burn faster than higher octane fuels. This is why octane requirements go down as elevation goes up. In fact, high octane/premium gasoline helps with pinging for that very reason - because it slows down the combustion process which helps resist detonation. A very good and relevant article on the subject, especially for the times, can be found here: Car & Driver Article - Regular or Premium?

IMO, if you can use 85 octane and have no pinging or driveability concerns, then by all means do it.

 

I received the new AGSF12FMF6 plugs yesterday and installed them right when I got home. Cranked her up to check for any misses and it seemed to run a bit smoother at idle. Havnt run the truck yet to see if it helped the pinging. I have a question about the old AGSF22PP plugs i took out. They were in my truck for maybe 15k miles and there was a rust colored build-up on the threaded side. The ceramic insulation near the spark was a brownish red and so was the metal arch thing. Anyone ever seen anything like this?

 

the red is from using a fuel additive or using a gas with a additive it is normal and it is not harmful the rust might just be from normal moisture

 

Checked mileage on my first full tank since changing the plugs. Got 25.1 mpg, most of which was on the interstate but about 50 miles were rocky mountain driving with two dirt bikes in the back. I think maybe the mpg has improved a bit. Will know better after a few more tanks.

 

I've been reading about sparkplugs in this thread and haven't seen anyone mention the tourque specifications for the 2001 FFV 3.0. Does anyone know the proper torque spec??

 

Hey Bob you still around I need some modern day info if you are I know this is an old post but we have the same vehicle and I've hit a stalemate on current info.