Spark plugs

We have a Lincoln Nautilus with around 6000 miles and that will be long gone before the warranty is up. An 05 Escalade with 96,000 and a 97 F-150 with 98,000. As far as I know neither of the last two have had the plugs changed. Haven't noticed any problems with Ethanol and spark plugs so far. Hope it stays that way.
 
I will never own a new vehicle and have no desire to do so. Way to expensive and take a beating on depreciation once it is driven. You guys keep on buying those new vehicles and keep the market supplied with quality pre owned vehicles for us common folks.
 
Lily'sDad said:
Do the electronics start going out in high milage cars?
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The F-150 has not had any electrical issues and everything works fine. The Escalade had a few when I got it. The rear hatch lock didn't work and the PRNDL indicator wouldn't light up. The rear hatch was an easy fix but the trans. Indicator required the removal of the dash and re-soldering the resistors on the circuit board. I think I replaced some of the instrument lights also. I've worked on a couple of these and they are easy to work on. The dashes in this era of GMC products are known for these issues. Really doesn't take much to remove the dashboard.
 
Only issue with electrical with my 04 Avalanche is the HVAC Blend Door Actuator got out of sinc a couple times. Easy fix once I found out how to do it. Shop wanted $500 to replace the part. Left rear door does not want to lock. Haven't checked in to that yet, waiting for warmer weather.
 
chieffan said:
I will never own a new vehicle and have no desire to do so. Way to expensive and take a beating on depreciation once it is driven. You guys keep on buying those new vehicles and keep the market supplied with quality pre owned vehicles for us common folks.
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I dont always buy new. My subaru is 2 years old and had 20k on it when I bought it. 30k new. Bought it for 20k. The first owner ate the depreciation and I saved 10 grand.

My jeep wrangler was used it was a year old. Had 12k miles on it. Ran it till the power train ran out. Actually wanted to keep that one but I was tired of replacing drag link bushings and other front end parts. 34k on the lot new. Paid 27k. Traded in for 23k.

Wifes van was new. But rebates made a new one cheaper than low mileage used ones.

If you buy brands that hold their trade in value you then you can do just fine rolling them in and out.

Nothing domestic holds its value well except for diesel trucks....
 
Lily'sDad said:
??? Somehow I think everyone hates Champion because everyone else hates Champion.

I knew a kid when I was young who had a hot rod '63 Impala that needed new plugs. To replace the Champions, he bought 8 ACs. He tested them on a compression plug tester and 5 of the 8 were defective. Of the 5 new ones, 2 more were bad. He ended up putting the used Champions back in.
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No, that’s not it... I hate them for personal reasons.

And it’s not exactly hate. It’s more a combination of Stockholm, Pistanthrophobia, and battered spouse syndromes with a dash of seething guttural rage.
I have never seen another plug brand that will work fine on Monday and refuse to even half spark on Tuesday. Or (IMHO worse yet) they will fire every THIRD pull. They are the sole reason I own spark checkers and I have been known to take my aggression out on a few.
I’ve said for years the best way to see if a spark plug is junk is to see if it’s name starts with a C.

Damn, now where did I put my soap box? I’m going to need it if we talk about them any more.
 
And yes I’ve seen it too. About bad spark plugs. Put my MF 14 away for winter once. Drove it in. Shut it off. In the spring it would not start. Took a used plug out of my John Deere and put it in the MF. Both the same plug. Started right up. What would make the plug go bad over winter, while not in use. ???? Any way, that’s the way it is I guess. Could of happened to any brand of spark plug. Just my opinion.

Noel
 
I run old OMC outboards just because I like them. The Merc. 40 is the one exception. My OMC's were manufactured between 1955 and 1965. I've had good luck with Champions in them. On the other hand in Japaneses cars and motorcycles NGK outperformed everything else by a wide margin. I've had AC and Autolite run good in some some machines when nothing else would. I think the new electronic ignitions have gone a long ways toward extending plug life.
I will say that if I run into a plug problem NGK quite often will cure it.
 
Cvans said:
I run old OMC outboards just because I like them. The Merc. 40 is the one exception. My OMC's were manufactured between 1955 and 1965. I've had good luck with Champions in them. On the other hand in Japaneses cars and motorcycles NGK outperformed everything else by a wide margin. I've had AC and Autolite run good in some some machines when nothing else would. I think the new electronic ignitions have gone a long ways toward extending plug life.
I will say that if I run into a plug problem NGK quite often will cure it.
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I had a Honda trail 90 in 1967 that came with NGK plug. The NGK plugs would last just over a week. I finally put a used AC Fire ring plug in it. I rolled over the odometer with that plug and it was still running when I traded the Honda for a Studebaker Low boy. Don
 
you guys b!tch about Champion plugs... and some say they like ACs instead.... Know what AC stands for? Albert Champion!!! Yup...
though every time I have tried ACs in a Dodge product, I get a whine in the radio that wont go away til the ACs come out....
 
dodge trucker said:
you guys b!tch about Champion plugs... and some say they like ACs instead.... Know what AC stands for? Albert Champion!!! Yup...
though every time I have tried ACs in a Dodge product, I get a whine in the radio that wont go away til the ACs come out....
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I thought it was Art Champion? Anyway, he disliked the plugs so much he sold the company and set out to design a better one. :) Dodge uses Champions as their factory plug. I think the plug used by any particular OEM brand is the best replacement. I try to stock up on old stock plugs for small engines. I was told the glaze process isn't as good today and that is why newer ones fuel foul easier.

On another note of things that make you go HMMM. I pulled Delco plugs out of a newer GM product and on one side it had Delco and the number. On the opposite side it had NGK and that number. Everybody claiming to have good luck with NGK and I've always called them "no good krap" I've just never seemed to have much luck with them.
 
Some thing I found the other day while I had my mad scientist hat on. I decide to check the ohms in the copper core of the H10C plug that was in the John Deere, which I'm having trouble with. I tested from where the spark plug wire connects to the plug, to the electrode where the spark jumps to ground. I am not an ohms expert or do I know what an ohms measurement means, other than a low reading is normally good for continuity. So the old plug measured 3.8 ohms. I had bought a new H10C plug the other day and measured it. It was 0.5 ohms. So would the difference be a big deal or not. The JD was having missing fits at full throttle under load, but not every time load was applied. Would that old H10C plug cause the fit. Another thing my genius mind, hehe, figured is, that the copper core in the spark plug, would it gain resistance over time, because of age, heat and electricity flowing through the copper core. Would any of this make any sense ?
Thanks for your wisdom on this problem and my thoughts.

Noel
 
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