I finally got a chance to do the spark plugs. This was my sister-in-law's vehicle before I got it. She had it for 5 or 6 years and I know she never did the plugs and I doubt the owner before that did them as it would have only had 50k - 60k miles on it.

Anyways, the whole job took 3 hours with just me working. All went fine except those 2 blasted back passenger side plugs. Those were rediculously hard to reach but I got them done and actually didn't even split a knuckle on anything. Amazing!

Truck is smoother and seemed a little stronger when I drove it. I'll see what the mileage does.

Here's the old plugs:

Driver's side with the left one in picture being the front plug.




close up of the front 3 driver's side


close up of the back 2 driver's side


Passenger side




Front 3 passenger side


back 2 passenger side


The gap on all the old plugs was around 0.070 -0.075 except for 2 that were close to 0.090. I don't remember which two those were.

 

Yeah...those were due.

 

Yeah, very much due. Sad but I think the only thing ever done on this truck before I got it was oil changes and maybe an air filter every now and then. Oh, they did have to put some shocks on it but they put some cheap off brand.

Next up is tranny fluid/filter that has never been changed. Then I will be doing the rear diff/front diff/transfer case fluid changes as once again, I know they have never been done.

Tuff ol truck huh?

 

Something else to maybe look at replacing also are the oxygen sensors. Again a very easy step with the right tool. I also took off the throttle body on mine and cleaned that up. It deff needed a cleaning, along with the maf sensor. Again very easy to do, and mine seemed to have a way better response on the go pedal.

 

With no maintenance and 156k you're lucky they weren't seized. I've seen worse on a lot less than 156,000 miles, must have been a good, tight motor from the factory.

 

That and there's no salt/rust down here to speed up the corrosion.

 

Cleaned the throttle body last week. Seafoam disolves that carbon build up in a hurry.

 

Looks like it was running good the whole time. I changed mine at 135k miles after I bought it and they looked like that and it ran pretty good too. This is one example of why the V-10 doesn't have the siezing problem of the 3 valve motor.

 

It always ran good. Every once in awhile I would get a slight stumble feel/sound at idle. I'm sure it's from the middle plug on the passenger side that had the rust at the top of the plug. Probably keeping it from getting good enough contact with the spring coming from the coil.

 

def needed to be done, but as others said they look pretty damn good!

i dont think mine have ever been done, i'm at 83k miles i plan to do them very soon.

 

They were long overdue for a change. You are right, probably original with 150k. That said, the coloring and deposits look normal. Maybe a little detonation on 2 cylinders but it's insignificant.

Under the unusual circumstances, you might consider a re-tightening after 10 or 20k to avoid the possibility of a plug that didn't seat right blowing out.

Lou Manglass

 

Mine has 47k on it and I`ll be doing them in a month or 2. every once in a while it has a stumble to it at idle. and my gas mileage has dropped approx. 1 mpg since I bought it with 17k on it. I always tell people not to fall for the 100k mile tune up on the new cars. that 100k is for the easiest mileage put on a car which the majority of people do not do! I`ve pulled plugs out at 80k before with well over .090 gap on the well worn plugs.

 

I'm not an expert on spark plugs, but it sure appears as if

the driver's side plugs were getting a lot of moisture somehow.

 

You're right, the back drivers side get water in them because it drips down from the hood. That engine probably had misses from time to time.

 

Of course I've only had it for a little while but have only noticed a slight miss maybe 2 or 3 times at idle.