Dont overlook your sparkplugs! (Like me!)

[Trav]

Trav, did you see that 1 and 3 had bare metal on the ground electrode.

Yes the pucks are gone, it happens.

I'll sure take your word that it's common, since you've changed many more plugs than I have. I just haven't seen that much rust before on plugs that came out of a running engine, and I do live in a cold climate (eastern SD).

A lot depends on the engine, some are worse then others but I don't want to find out which ones the hard way. Subaru engines are known for this for example but have also run into it with some Toyota, GM, Ford (the Kent engines inc the Endura-E were the worst of any I ever ran into) and a few others. I think its possible has to do with the way the plug is angled in the head.

 

[1 SX]

Regarding the rust on the treads, thankfully they broke free after a little effort, but i was worried the washers were going to fall into the motor because they were unscrewing when i was taking the plugs out. This was a nerve racking change lol. in the pictures, i did not touch the washers, they just unscrewed that much!.

This is a NY / cold winter car, that seen some short trips - under 5 miles a day with a 30 mile one way highway trip once a week or so. and NEVER a red line, or city traffic. (we live in the country, and its a 4.5 mile round trip just to check the mail) but i know short trips and not exercising the RPM range are not the best for a engine.

This engine has no misfires, quiet when warm, idles smooth, pulls nicely to red line, and shifts smooth and direct. We all know about the years 11-16 Hyundai NU 1.8L they replaced the 2.0L with, and that motor has a ton of problems, esp the early build ones.

I will be posting another thread regarding "piston slap when cold" with a video on this 2.0L.. I dismissed it, because it sounds so smooth and quiet when warm, but i would like BITOG opinions.. I cant take it any where to look at it unless i leave it for hours to cool down.

Thanks!

 

[madeej11]

Good thing you replaced them. They look like they definitely needed it. That looks pretty similar to the ones in our Camry that went to 209,000. They were Denso Irdiums. We replaced with NGK still going strong 70,000 miles later.

Why did you switch to NGK when Denso is the factory plug? After all you got 209k miles from them, what more do you want? The Denso are every bit as good as NGK.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Why did you switch to NGK when Denso is the factory plug? After all you got 209k miles from them, what more do you want? The Denso are every bit as good as NGK.

We like NGK and Denso. The NGK is what showed up on Napa’s computer of being recommended so that’s what my dad bought for it. And I think they were out of Denso at the time too but I can’t remember that’s been almost 4 years ago. I’ve used Denso in things before and they are great.

 

[joekingcorvette]

Great to hear it runs better and it looks like it was time to change them.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

They were ready for replacement. Also best to buy plugs from a reputable dealer. I bought some cheap NGK plugs on Amazon and they turned out to be fake NGK. Lesson learned.

Fakes are a huge problem. Even stores get hit with fakes. It is high up in the supply chain where they get ripped off and trickle down to even big name stores