I agree with all of your comments.
Although it grated on me to no end I had to wrestle several barbecued Subaru turbochargers that were replaced under an emissions warranty and the cause of failure was coked engine oil due to not changing the oil on a regular enough basis and thrashing the car.
ok4450, failure due to misuse is not covered. Someone caved because the verbiage in the warranty is quite clear on this aspect. There are two warranties; performance and design & defect. Here is an excerpt from the performance warranty:
A. PERFORMANCE WARRANTY
The Performance Warranty covers repairs which are required during the first 2 years or 24,000 miles of vehicle use (whichever first occurs) because the vehicle failed an emission test. Specified major emission control components are covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles (whichever first occurs). If you are a resident of an area with an Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) program that meets federal guidelines, you are eligible for this warranty protection provided that:
Your car or light-duty truck fails an approved emissions test; and
Your vehicle is less than 2 years old and has less than 24,000 miles (up to 8 years/80,000 miles for certain components); and
Your state or local government requires that you repair the vehicle; and
The test failure does not result from misuse of the vehicle or a failure to follow the manufacturers’ written maintenance instructions; and
You present the vehicle to a warranty-authorized manufacturer representative, along with evidence of the emission test failure, during the warranty period.
Here is an excerpt from the design and defect section:
B. DESIGN AND DEFECT WARRANTY
The Design and Defect Warranty covers repair of emission related parts which become defective during the warranty period. The Design and Defect warranty for model year 1995 and newer light-duty cars and trucks is outlined below:
Design and Defect Warranty Coverage for 1995 and newer light-duty vehicles:
Emission control and emission related parts are covered for the first 2 years or 24,000 miles of vehicle use (whichever first occurs); and
Specified major emission control components are covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles of vehicle use (whichever first occurs).
According to federal law, an emission control or emission related part, or a specified major emission control component, that fails because of a defect in materials or workmanship, must be repaired or replaced by the vehicle manufacturer free of charge as long as the vehicle has not exceeded the warranty time or mileage limitations for the failed part.
I’ve never seen plugs mentioned before but you have an excerpt with them listed. But, it is limited to design and defect. Normal wear would not be covered.
No, the ground tang is the normal malleable metal used in all plugs. Only the center electrode has the pellet attached in any of the plugs I have seen.
While I totally agree with you that abuse should not lead to a repair covered by warranty the sad truth is that it’s often done anyway.
In the case of the turbocharger problems (Subaru) this decision, and the order to do it, came straight down from corporate Subaru at the regional office.
One of these cars had less than a 1000 miles on it and whoever was behind the wheel must have had it under full boost for the entire 1000 miles from the looks of things. It was roasted so badly I had to drag out the cutting torch and hack the turbocharger off of the engine.
The cut and pastes I provided are words directly from the EPA and spark plugs were treated just like the turbocharger problem; although very very seldom does anyone run across a bad plug or one bad enough to cause a noticeable problem.
Platinum plug gap can be adjusted. One just has to do it carefully; preferably with the aid of a pair of plug gap pliers.
Many people may use one of those pocket style tapered gap gauges and this will put pressure on the center electrode if someone is trying to widen the gap with the tool.
It’s best to widen the gap with a pair of needlenose pliers and then carefully bring the gap back down to what it should be.
Adjusting spark plug gap?! WHY would anyone NEED to do that? I’m well aware that some people do gap adjustment on ultra-high performance engines: but, I know of NO need to adjust the gap on any other application. Of course, you can MEASURE the gap, if you have doubts that it is set at the specified gap; but, unless damaged (by, like, dropping onto the electrodes) they are precisely set at the factory. Check out a new set, for yourself, if you must. I have.
ADDED: If, for some reason, the factory set gap isn’t the same as the specification for the particular engine, CAREFULLY bend the side electrode. Don’t apply ANY force to the center electrode, while bending the side electrode. For me, so many spark plugs were right on, out of the box, that adjustments haven’t been needed in a long time. I DON’T re-gap worn out spark plugs, for re-use. It’s false economy, to me.
The last 2 sets of plugs I’ve installed in my cars have needed the gaps reset. The Lincoln Mark plugs were off by approx. .010 on every single plug and the set for my hot rod Ford 302 were all off also; just not by near as much as the Mark.
Something for consideration here.
Plugs for both my old and current Lincoln Mark (4.6 DOHC) are Autolite APP104 and the recommended gap is .054.
Plugs for my old Mercury Sable (3.0) were Autolite APP104 and the recommended gap is .044.
Compare this to the .010 difference I found on the Mark plugs. Does this mean I got a set of Sable plugs and if so, how would one ever know?
The last set I installed, every single plug was WAY off and had to be adjusted. I’m talking 0.010" or more. None of them showed any sign of damage or mishandling and the protective cardboard sleeves were all in place. Typically, they are set right on or very close but I never trust that and just install them without checking. Good thing I did on the last set…
Yeah, that ticks me off to no end. Corporations fold because they can just pass the costs on to the rest of the their customers. So we all end up paying for the chuckleheads that can’t be bothered with picking up an Owner’s manual and following instructions, paying for routine maintenance costs or just plain respecting and taking care of their stuff. It happens in every industry too. I’d like to see some more backbone displayed by companies and more accountability generally expected by society but I think those days are long gone.
One would also have to have a “one gap fits all” spark plug because many plugs fit a huge number of applications.
The copper core variant for my Lincoln is an Autolite 764 (now superseded to a different number across the board) and the plantinum equivalent was AP 764.
While I don’t rememeber all of the applications involved, it seems the APP 104 (which is what the prior AP 764 has become) fits at least a 100 or so models and engine types and that’s just on Fords.
Something else to keep in mind is that the wider the gap the harder the coil has to work. Once the plug ages the wider gap then just makes the coil work that much harder and is likely the cause of some or possibly many coil failures that occur.
Set a plug gap at .040, run the engine on an oscilloscope, reset the gap to .055 and watch what happens to a firing line when the process is repeated.