Changed my plugs after 38k (PICS)

[marcus]

I'm cranking 1-2 seconds 80k km

[swidd]

For smooth gears, spray the top of the gear box, the linkage, with WD-40. Smooth never tasted so smooth!

[BLAZINBLUEVITZ]

Originally Posted by swidd

For smooth gears, spray the top of the gear box, the linkage, with WD-40. Smooth never tasted so smooth!

done that this weekend for the second time BUT i wasn't refering to shifting when i said smooth through the gears....

[RedRide]

Yes, an iridium plug will "last 100k miles.
However, why change them at 100k? Is 100k a magical milestone?

Any plug wiil deteriorate over it's life. Granted, an iridium pluge will deteriorate much more slowly but, it's still not the same as it was when new.

So, if your car is just a ocasional grocery getter, leave them in for 100k if you like
However, if you want to maintain top performance, change them more often.

["G"]

Exactly! ^^^

[bzinn 1]

Do not rely on that old anti seize left on head threads to work for the new plugs,always with aluminum heads put on new antiseize......or the next time it very well will be a head change needed when you break off the plug trying to get it out.....been there done that.

["G"]

Anti seize really is not necessary since the plugs have a trivalent coating on the threads. If they seize it's because they were overtightened. Also here is a link for the newbs >> http://www.ngk-elearning.com/

[Hershey]

Remove / install plugs when engine has sat for awhile is one .

[fj40dave]

Just ordered the:
Denso Iridium Long Life Plug 3324 SK16R11 .044"
(Original Equipment Manufacturer and/or Original Equipment Equivalent) $9.35/ea
from sparkplug.com

I have 90k on my originals....we'll see what difference there is when they get here and I get 'em installed.

I know my mileage is off....I'm at about 35/mpg when I used to be close to 40.


OK....they have been swapped out.
I put some anti-seize on 'em.....I always use anti-seize when I do plugs.....hate fishing out plug holes (helicoils or rethreading)...

["G"]

Nope, 7-year-old info needs to be updated. So when people search they are not reading outdated info.

[mirageman]

Originally Posted by "G"

Nope, 7-year-old info needs to be updated. So when people search they are not reading outdated info.

Hit the nail on the head. I am about to change mine out tonight and started reading this many-years-old post from the beginning. Maybe late answer for the original conversation, but not a late reply for this thread at all. Keep it all in one thread, otherwise we'll have a thousand threads.

[mirageman]

Well, at 101,000 miles, I changed out my oem spark plugs. Pictures look better than actual. I usually get 46-49mpg this time of year, and I have only been getting 44.5 at best this year. We'll see if the sparkplugs will help. First plug had lots of resistance when I was taking it out, I sighed, thinking I ripped out head threads, but was pleasantly surprised when it came out clean. Turns out (pun intended) I had overdone the anti-seize a few years ago on the spark plugs when I tested compression at like 18k miles (I reused the oems at that point) and it just was too gummy after all these miles. I vacuumed out each hole with a vinyl tube and the house vacuum.
I did not go with the oem iridiums. They were over $9 a piece. I found these at Advanceautoparts.com.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...6953/5531691-P

Their description online says they are "oem approved". Although they are rated for 30k miles of use as opposed to 100k, they are 1/4 of the price. Made in the USA with Japanese and domestic parts it says on the box. V-groove gimmick looks cool. The way I see it, changing these out 4 times will get me farther than the 100k, and I'm out the store door with 4 new ones for $8.40 with an online coupon! Plus if I get rid of this car before the next 100k miles, I'll be losing money on the iridiums. OEM on mine were Densos.

I feel nothing different. Starts and goes just like before. I did however do a resistance check on the new and old. 3 new spark plugs were just about 5,200 ohms, one of them was 4,820. I only was able to test one oem used one at 6,400 ohms, the others did not give a reading, I guess due to the carbon, I didn't bother trying too hard to clean the tips and get a reading. On each of the 4 oems, tips and ground straps were worn on one side only. Funny how the picture doesn't show that. I think only the good sides were facing the camera!

[mirageman]

Yay! 48.3 mpg highway, light throttle 60-68mph.... loving these cheap plugs!

[BIGTAZ351]

Well then, I have some "Updating" of my own...It was found incorrect to depend on NGK’s "trivalent coating" and not using anti-seize (my mechanic friends joke as “irrelevant coating”). It has been discovered in the mechanic world that it isn't as good for corrosion/seizure protection as once thought, especially on subsequent (after first factory installation) new plug installations, as can be seen in many of the removed plug photos you will have carbon in the plug and head threads, and that can/will cause seizure of the plug, if you don’t clean it off (not recommended as you dump that crap down on top of the piston and it can damage the cylinder walls) or add a small amount of anti-seize and torque them to the proper “lubed” torque spec. After the steel “coated” but not anti-seized plug has been installed and heated thousands of times in an aluminum head, and that heating/cooling causes the plug to microscopically “walk” in the head due to the dissimilar metal’s expansion rates, creating a carbon grinding action, which breaks down the coating, and allows corrosion of causes seizure. The plug manufacturers don’t want you to use anti-seize because not many people know how to de-rate the torque spec for installing the plugs. However, there are automotive manufactures that DO recommend using anti-seize, regardless of the plug mfr’s recommendations.

Just what I have learned from the Automotive and in the Power-Sports world, in the last 8 years…

I have always used Anti-Seize as taught to at the small engine mechanic shop I grew up in, but it was more a personal preference thing. (I even use it on lug nuts and other long-term attachments, never had a problem, EVER.)

I also change my plugs long before the 100,000 mile recommendation.

[rayfloyd170]

Originally Posted by auxmike

Car left the factory with NGK, Toyota dealers sell DENSO replacements. Car seems to run a LOT better now. I don't care what they claim, I ain't leaving my plugs in for 100K.
NOTES:
1)The factory plugs I removed are covered with what appears to be sticky cosmoline on the threads, like the stuff they rub down old military rifles with! That's what it smells and looks like.... It's NOT motor oil.
2)There appears to be a "pad" attached to the inside of the hook part of the plug across from the iridium center electrode. Never seen that on any other plug before.
3)The iridium is like a pin tip, hard,brittle and delicate.
$38 shipped Priority mail from Covina Toyota in Cali via Ebay....
The pics are from a Blackberry, so please excuse the quality.

My manual says to use 90919-01164 or Denso K16R-U11, can i use this iridium type SK16R11? will it make a difference?

[dogsridewith]

If wrong heat range, can get to looking like those nasty examples in photos above.

[myfirstyota]

I just go to the dealer. What they give you has to be right...no?

["G"]

Yes, incorrect heat range can make them look similar. These are the correct heat range, they just have a solid 100k on them. Yes, you can buy the standard oem plugs from the dealer, but they are overpriced re-badged denso anyway. Also, the dealer doesn't offer the top of the line model like the "POWER" plugs.