Decided to do a tune up on my 1993 New Yorker with the 3.3 Engine. You BITOGers may know this engine from your Caravans, and know how tough it is to get at the rear plugs.

250,000 kms on it and only changed once before.

Figured I would try the E3's as i've heard their quality has improved, and my friend tried them in his Jeep and they worked great.

I wanted them for the range claims (5 years/100,000 miles) because the plugs are in a tough spot, and didn't feel like doing them again.

Old plugs were the basic Bosch Supers. Looked alright to me, gap had widened but they still got 20MPG and I don't drive the car conservately.

So front three, first, all goes good. Then the rear. Cylinder no 1, seems a little tough to get out, but I didn't see any anti-seize on the front ones (2,4,6) so I just attributed it to that. I also swapped the plugs, figuring E3 might have cut the threads wrong, but it felt the same. Got it in (it was tight) and started the car to make sure that it still ran good. It did.

So I worked on no. 4 cylinder now. Jeez that one was tough to thread to get back in, and extremely tight threading. Got it in as far as I could and figured it was seated. Did no. 6 cylinder just fine.

Start the car up, and I got the dreaded misfire like I heard about the E3's on the internet when they first came out. I attemted to drive it to the auto parts store to get some factory champions. I shut it off at a stop light, it was misfiring bad. It wouldn't crank over to start again. I figure the computer disabled the engine to prevent damage. Pushed it into a parking lot, and it starts right up.

So I get the champions, go home, and I hear a sound, like compression, like a loose plug. Turns out the no. 2 and 4 cylinders are only in by a few threads. Somehow I had crossthreaded the plugs, or possibly the last people to do it. At this point I can't even get the old plugs to go back in. So this time I walk to the auto parts store (20 min walk) and pick up a spark plug thread tap. I cleaned and tapped the threads (with extreme difficulty) and got the plugs to seat. Now, the E3's stop missin.

Reset the computer and now I'll be tracking MPG. Engine doesn't lug as much, and sure accelerates smooth. This would be the first time i've used a specialty plug (I'm a NGK G-Power fan) so we'll see how it goes. E3 does honor their warranty, so if the plugs conk out on me, i'll be mailing them back to them and throwing NGK's or OEM's in.

Its not as hard as on a caravan as it is in a car with a big hood like a fifth avenue. But still a pain, especially after cross threading two holes. Ended up taking about 5 hours total with going back and forth to get tools and parts with no transport.

And one more tidbit, I'm a fan of the blue NGK plug wires, and they've always been a perfect fit on everything. Not this time. The wire set for the 3.3 in the New Yorker sure isn't long enough to get in the clips or avoid touching the valve covers. Also, comparing it to the autolites that came out, the numbers are all in the wrong spots for the sizes. I checked in another box, and its all the same.

My belief is NGK uses the same plug wires as the caravans, which might not match up with the older 3.3 engines.

good luck with the E3's I put them in my GMC truck, screwed everything up. Check engine light, missing, etc. Switched to ACDelco everything good now.

Yeah, I don't know why anybody would use these plugs. They are not even platinum or iridium for long life. Not sure how they will go more then 30k miles like a regular plug. I had a friend give me a set of E3's to install in her WS6 Trans Am. I explained the old plugs in there from the factory were better than those E3's and not to go backwards with a plug. She insisted, I installed them and within 2 weeks she was back with misfires. In when NGK's and that's been a good 8 months ago.

Im interested in how this all turns out.
I have heard nothing besides complaints about specialty plugs. If they have turned themselves around and are now making a quality product I would love to hear how it works.

i'll be sure to let you know, as long as it doesn't blow out a plug or two like the ford 5.4's used to do!

at least I know the best way to access the rear plugs incase I have to change them

My cutlass ciera, transverse V6, has some stamped tin heat shield whatzamajigger on the firewall immediately behind the rear plugs. Good way to lose a lot of blood.

ah, noticed a kind of a twitchy idle this morning. Although I'm only using 4 new plug wires and 2 old ones, because my set doesn't fit.

I'm hoping that the twitchy idle goes away with a full set of plug wires. If not, i'm going to give the computer a week to get used to the E3's, but after reading here, it seems like everyone gets to the same conclusion. It starts missing, and will light the Check Engine Light.

Oh well, NGK GR45GP's will be going in in about a week if the twitchy idle doesn't go away tonight. It idled smoother on Basic Bosch Supers, but it might be the plug wires.

get the code (key dance) something else may be up. I don't think that 93 has misfire detection.

I don't think it does either. When I definitely had a misfire from a plug falling out I did the key dance, and got code 12 and 55. Just saying the battery had been disconnected and end of codes.

It's not missing right now, just a rough idle.

I'm curious now how come E3 doesn't have as many different heat ranges and such as all other spark plug manufacturers.

energy in = energy out

1. If you want a bigger spark and more energy OUT OF the spark plug, ya gots ta get more electrical energy INTO the spark plug.

2. The e3 may be a "better" plug, but if your vehicle's ignition system cannot supply enough electrical (ignition) energy to make it work properly (statements on the e3 website reveal this requirement), performance will suffer. Misfires are a natural result of this.

3. None of the bullet point items presented on the e3 website are necessarily real benefits that enhance engine perfomance in real life.

4. e3's are in no way superior to any premium spark plug, with NGK Iridium IX as a good example: http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/products/spark_plugs/iridiumix.asp?mode=nml

So I predict that e3's will be a total waste of time and/or performance detractor for over half of users. The other half will be happy with perfomance on par with typical platinum plugs.

Don't pay extra for e3. Put the money toward premium plug wires.

K

That would be the (censored) (censored)(censored) shield....same thing on the Lexus RX330 3.3L V6 easier to just remove the engine.

There was an improvement because you had ancient plugs n there, and these were brand new.
All I can say is good luck!

BTW, good job getting her back running. I'm sure a few choice words were uttered!

Well exchanged the ngk plug wires for the premium autolite pro fits, and changed em in the parking lot. $11 bucks cheaper too. Now these are good wires designed for the car, not a caravan!

And with all matched good wires, my idle twitch went away. I'm still kind of worried with what i've heard about E3's, but i'm going to stick with them for now. I talked to my salesman at the auto parts store and I can return them to them up to a year, unlimited mileage. After that for the next 4 years, I have to send them back to E3 to get reimbursed.

Gotta try em once, otherwise my trustworthy NGK Gpowers go in. Never let me down in the past.

I replaced the factory plugs in the Honda at 100,000 miles with E3s and it runs great.

I returned the E3's and got the NGK Platinums. Runs perfect and quiet, and full power.

But holy [censored], the mileage on the e3's dropped to 11.2MPG. I had 20.1MPG the previous week. (Calculated via gasbuddy.com) 60km in and it had burned through 1/4 a tank. Also can smell the gassy exhaust in the morning.

So their warranty is 5 years, 100,000 miles. I got 2 days and 60km. Never again.

NGK platniums for the win! They never let me down in the Stratus and Explorer. Single Platniums is the highest i'll ever go though. Double platniums and iridiums just seem like a waste of money in my opinion. Who cares about longetivity of the plug? I like working under the hood!