I change the spark plugs myself on my RWD Hemi V8. All 16 of them, sadly… But they’re fairly easy to access.
But I wouldn’t touch a FWD V6’s spark plugs. Those 3 against the firewall are well nigh impossible for normal humans to reach.
All my cars (3) are Japanese (Honda, Toyota, Mazda). I only use NGK. Toyota came with them. Mazda was used so I don’t know what was OEM. The Honda needs a platinum plug to resist electrode recession and a widening gap. Tried the manual recommended Denso once and one of them fouled causing the engine to miss. Never experienced any problem with any NGK plug in any engine.
I remember a Consumer Reports review of some car (a Chevy Monza 2+2?) that required lifting the engine to change the plugs.
I bought a new 55 Cheve with the V8 engine and the plugs only lasted 1000 to 1500 miles no matter what brand or heat I tried. The insulator glaze was burned so cleaning did not help. The dealer suggested I put in a dual-point distributor but that made no difference. I traded the car in on a new 57 Cheve with the 6 cylinder engine and plug life was short on that engine also until a new plug called “power tip” was introduced and then the plug life was about 5000 miles.
Why even question why to use plugs other than OEM plugs? On my 1999 4Runner the OEM plugs are dual electrode.
It’s fun to reminisce about the old days, when ignition and fuel systems were much more variable and unreliable, but as @Triedaq said a week ago, that’s not the story today. With the constant adjusting done by onboard computers that is always setting the fuel/air ratio and the timing of the spark depending on lots of variables, spark plugs are not as involved in the fine tuning to establish good running. They last for 100,000 miles often. Manufacturers do want to save pennies, but they also want to avoid warranty claims and government environmental recalls so they use good plugs. I never understood why someone who got 100,000 miles out of a set of plugs wanted to use something different. Do they really still think that there’s a magic spark plug that will turn their SUV into a fire breathing, tire smoking beast? There’s a very complex computer under the hood that’s in charge, and the spark plug is just a good soldier.
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@wentwest There used to be advertisements in magazines for special sparkplugs that would boost performance and increase gasoline mileage. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I tried the dual electrode sparkplugs that I purchased at Western Auto and found they didn’t work well at all. The only way a special spark plug would improve performance and mileage is when the original spark plugs weren’t firing properly. A spark either occurs to fire the fuel/air mixture or it doesn’t. It’s like lighting the charcoal in my grill. As long as the match lights, it ignites the charcoal lighter. A “special” match to ignite the charcoal won’t make it burn better.
If you believe the brain washing advertising then the answer is YES.
By today’s PC standards the ECU isn’t a very complex computer.
Reminds me of what is said of navy carrier aircraft: Designed by guys with masters and doctorate degree, flown by guys with bachelor’s degrees, and fixed by guys with high school diplomas. I am always amazed by engine designs that bury routine maintenance tasks.
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Spark plug changes are not routine maintenance anymore, FWIW. 80,000 to 120,000 mile recommended changes are pretty common nowdays.
It was the V8 version of the Monza that required that jacking the engine.
A friend of mine owned one. It really wasn’t required. He just used one of his collection of funky spark plug wrenches to remove them. But it is a meme that won’t die.
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They aren’t design with maintenance in mind, but with streamlined assembly at the factory. Fitting all the bits in a smaller, and therefore lighter and more fuel efficient body enters into design as well.
That’s Detroit thinking: we build it once, so let’s make that easy for us and too bad for the guy who has to look after this for 10-15 years.
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@mdixter. It’s not only Detroit thinking. Most vehicles are much more difficult to repair whether it’s a U.S. make, an Asian make or a European make. My son has a Toyota Sienna. He had have the alternator replaced. To replace the alternator, the radiator had to be removed. On my 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass, I could remove and replace the alternator in less than half an hour.
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And Asian, and European…
Right now I’m struggling about buying a new battery for a 2016 CR-V. In California where the climate is mild batteries can last a long time, but this one seems to be dying and I’ve been researching why. Turns out that Honda created a charging system that only puts out maintenance voltage in local driving conditions, and steps up the voltage at higher rpms, higher engine heat, etc. The local run around driving we do leaves the alternator putting out only only 12.5 volts or so unless a series of things happens, then it steps up to a higher level.
It’s deliberate, to lower alternator drag in “city driving” and save gas. But it kills batteries.
The list of things that go into designing a gasoline vehicle these days is very long. Electric cars are coming quick.
I agree…it’s not just Detroit.
Not so sure it’s planned that way or just the engineers not really thinking about it or too many engineering silo’s and then when they put everything together it’s not always perfect. Some of these designs/manufacturing are just plain stupid.
I had to replace the starter on my 84 GMC pickup. I could disconnect the starter, but to drop it down I’d have to remove the exhaust. So I tried to bring it up through the engine…ALMOST. One of the engine mount bolts was in the way. The end of the bolt stuck out just enough to block the starter from being pulled up. Solution was to turn the bolt around so the head of the bolt was at that end. This gave me just enough clearance. Was that engineering or manufacturing?
I, for one, just can’t read big rambling blocks of text without paragraphs.
Hurts my eyes.
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Dylan-32 , I also just ignore posts like yours . Keep it short and to the point on Forums might get you more people to read and comment. Others might not be bothered by posts like yours but some are.
+1
I refuse to even attempt to read a “gray wall of text” that is lacking paragraph breaks.